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I first read this novel upon it’s publication, July,1968, just a few years after Cap made his reappearance in the pages of The Avengers #3, March, 1964. Whatever happened to that book, I’ll never know. Hey, I’m getting old here. I recently found another copy and had to reread it and get reacquainted with my youth once more.
The plot here concerns a plan to loot the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City of thirteen billion in gold.
It starts with a man being shot down with a laser beam in the street and whispering the name, “Captain America,” with his dying breath. Cap is called in and, searching the body, he discovers a chunk of gold with a U.S. seal and a partial serial number in one pocket. As you know, at that time, private ownership of gold bullion was illegal.
It starts Cap on the trail.
Here the book breaks for a flashback sequence that details Steve Rogers’ transformation from a skinny, disease prone young man into the symbol of America during WWII, to his disappearance right after, to being discovered frozen in suspended animation in a block of ice, to becoming a member of The Avengers.
Let me stop here to mention something else that appeared in the book. Remember the man killed with a laser beam? He was described as short and squat, with thick gray-flecked hair, low hairline, and thick eyebrows that gave him a simian appearance. He was identified later in the book as a man named Andrew “Monk” Mayfair, which, all of a sudden, had me wondering when Doc Savage was going to make an appearance. (Sigh) It never happened though.
The chunk sends Cap to the federal Reserve where he finds a hidden opening deep in the bank leading to a tunnel to an unfinished subway line. A quick audit shows $800,000 missing and the thieves somehow find out, blowing up the tunnel with Cap still in it.
There’s a gang led by three people, all known by code names, Starling, Sparrow, and Robin, a woman. There is an unknown leader, Eagle, that the three have only spoke with by phone.
The little setback doesn’t slow the gang down, getting Cap thinking about who else is involved. Thirteen billion in gold is HEAVY and much to big a job for just a few criminals. What enemy of America is out to ruin the U.S. economy?
Cap, to his dismay, learns an old enemy is one of the participants.
The style this novel was written was of the old pulps, short and punchy. A lot of fun and I really enjoyed it after a forty year absence.
Not The Baseball Pitcher 
I would find this cool myself. I always enjoyed Capt. A’s adventures and hey, we could use him these days. And that’s a nifty cover.
I bed I’d like this one too. Interesting about the Monk character getting shot. I wonder what that was all about.
Wow! Really love that cover. Cap seems like a natural for novelizations; some super heroes work in that context, some don’t.
I, too, read that novel the minute it came out, then traveled the streets of lower Manhattan myself, very cool.
Wow; I didn’t even notice Monk Mayfair in there. I was a big fan of Doc Savage, too.
Gotta get me a copy of the Great Gold Steal….always did love that dramatic cover, though, for me, Cap don’t need no stinking pistols!
I still own the paperback copy that my mom bought me way back in 1968. At the time I thought I was reading a very adult novel because of the number of deaths that takes place in the story. About twenty years ago I re read it and smiled at what I once considered adult story telling. Yet, I still consider the Great Gold Steal one of the better Super Hero novels that I have read. And like all the others who have commented on it the cover is great a painting I have always considered heads and above Jack Kirby’s late 60’s art work.
GREAT READ LOST MY COPY WILL REPLACE ASAP
My friend bought a copy for Me when I was freshman in college I was playing football I always loved Cap America was an inspiration and fab book. I called Stan Lee in 1990 asked him where I could get a copy he said he had one and an extra I asked if I could but it he blew Me off.
I was 12 when this book came out and I too remember reading it and thinking how “mature” it was, Probably because of the number of deaths in it and the fact that the plot revolved around something real (gold) rather than science fiction (the cosmic cube,etc…). No doubt the reason I spent a whole 50 cents on it was because of the very dramatic cover. It sure beats some of the paperback covers produced now ! Thanks for the plot summary – it brought back memories.