The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat

The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat is an omnibus edition of the first three Stainless Steel Rat books (self titled, Revenge, Saves the World), all featuring Slippery Jim deGriz, best thief in the galaxy. A high-tech bandit in a society where perfect law enforcement means that criminals are very few and very skilled, deGriz steals because he's bored with a bunch of high-tech gadgets and simple cons, avoiding killing people at all cost. His skills and ethics get him recruited into the Special Corps, the real secret police, run by former thieves.

On the plus side, when the books work they really work. Slippery Jim always has a new identity, a clever plan, a non-lethal solution that has a lot of chaos and him walking safe and sound show more through the middle of it. It's high-action and high-octane.

The downside is that the stories get increasingly lazy. I quite enjoyed the first one, where deGriz is recruited into the Special Corps and tracks down a psychotic con artist who built an ancient battleship in plain sight and then slipped right out of his clutches. But the next two books have less cleverness and more straight up non-lethal violence with sucker punches, sleep gas, and smoke grenades as he goes after militarists trying to conquer the galaxy and a time travelling megalomaniac. Some parts of the book haven't aged well at all. Angelina, deGriz's first enemy and than wife after Special Corps conscience surgery, is positively cringe worthy. This might also be the first time I've been concerned about a fictional character's alcoholism, as deGriz works his way through bottle after bottle. I've heard that authors who drink while writing have their characters drink to excess, and it sure feels like the drink or two Harrison had as he did the daily writing turned into a drink on every other page, punctuated with epic benders. A lot of fun, but ultimately fluff that never quite becomes first rate. show less

At least it's a fast read.

The back cover blurb makes comparisons to Terry Pratchett's work in fantasy. Which is just ludicrous. Sir Terry is funny, and satirical. Harry Harrison is neither. Perhaps the best comparison is Conan the Barbarian. See stuff, break things get stuff. I think it's supposed to be a farce, but a farce is supposed to be funny.

Slippery Jim in a thief in a utopian human empire 32000 years in the future. Where people still smoke. A relatively peaceful future where crime of all sorts has been sociologically altered out of people. Except for a few atavists like slippery Jim. Who runs around with an arsenal of miniaturised weapons, that none of the police or military have. After getting caught by robbing one bank too show more many (would they really have physical currency or even any currency in 32K AD?) Jim is co-opted into the Special Corps, by the master thief Inkspp himself. Who manages to lose any traces he once had of being such a thief. Jim gets to track down a rogue battleship being stolen by another masterthief - Angelica.

In the later two stories Angelica becomes an annoyingly simpering typical Bond girl, I fail to see how this is farce. Maybe it's a product of the times it was written in. But compare with say LeGuin ti shows a marked lack of foresight. The only area that was well predicted (or lucky) is that Earth in 20000 has suffered huge and irreversible climate warming.

As a change from the Golden Era of SF that was being written at the time this was perhaps a dramatic shift. But it's much closer to being a B movie than an increase in literary quality. It's internally inconsistent, it suffers from poorly imagined future technologies, there's no character development or depth, even for the hero. There are no jokes, just badly written inept 'bad guys'.

On the plus side - it is fast paced, actions rush from one scene to another. The TimeTravel was almost well done, and at least acknowledged the paradoxes created. But that's about it.

Readable only as a contrast to other works of the time - badly dated and not worth it now.

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If you wish to comment on this review, there is a thread to do so, HERE as part of the Review Discussion group. show less

Holy cow, this is Old Skool scifi!!!! I enjoyed the writing style and there are some laugh out loud moments but the rampant sexism and eracism that is, sadly, characteristic of a lot of Old Skool scifi is just a bit much to take. I finished the first book but am going to leave it at that. So I got a taste of the fun personality of the stainless steel rat but there's no way I can continue reading the series.

There is nothing complex, or deep, about the Stainless Steel Rat books... But they are a wonderfully fun read. The main character is a lovable rogue, and he makes the rest of the world look unimaginative and dull (deliberately). In a world of ultimate conformity, diGriz stands completely apart.

For me, these books will never grow stale.

Science Fiction Book Club collection--"the adventures of the STAINLESS STEEL RAT"--a comfortable, quick read.

The Stainless Steel Rat-01 (The Stainless Steel Rat)

It's comforting to know that Harry Harrison can be depended on for a short, sharp thriller…with no excess complications in plot or story line. This is the beginning of a series of steady 70's adventure stories designed to merely entertain--not enlighten, frighten or impress. Jim DeGriz is the "good anti-hero", keeping life exciting for those whose lives consist of the same humdrum grind. This is the character who is clever, without overdoing it. The man who can think faster than almost anyone else and relishes the challenge. Many are the life lessons I've learned from this show more hero.

The Stainless Steel Rat-02 (The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge)

More of the same: implausible predicaments and incredible escapes…but just on the edge of believability. Also, the one thing I definitively remembered from the first time I read this story over 50 years ago: how to fool a lie detector! Oh the things you learn from reading sci-fi.

The Stainless Steel Rat-03 (The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World)

This is a nice change of style for Harrison…a time travel mystery that explains how/why the Earth was destroyed so many years ago and ends with a non-ending (i.e. an isolated time-loop). show less

Slippery Jim diGriz is one of my favorite characters in sci-fi, and the first of the series remains one of my favorite novels for sheer mindless fun. The first two sequels, also included here, are likewise fun, though not as original as the first.

This book actually contains the following three books: The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge, and The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World.

These books are very much a space-opera style story. No significant effort is spent on making science realistic. Instead, science is twisted around to server the plot. This is not necessarily a problem, but could be irritating to some people, as there are issues that are somewhat anachronistic, or not entirely thought out. I'm sure some of this is due to the fact that the stories were originally written from the late 1950's through early 1970's.

All three books present a character who could easily be seen as invincible. Somehow, Harrison is able to develop plausible plot lines and show more problems that present serious problems to the hero. He writes everything in a unique style that couldn't exactly be called funny, but is humorous in an off-beat sort of way.

Don't expect serious, heavy reading here. Instead, this book contains light, non-stop action where anything might lie around the next corner. 4/5 show less