“Here’s to crime.”
James “Slippery Jim” diGriz is a master criminal, a stainless steel rat in the wainscoting of society, a society that is becoming increasingly devoid of crime thanks to the successful efforts of the galaxy’s infamous Special Corps. Cocky and self-assured, diGriz goes about his business with rare aplomb, each caper uniquely different so as to stay one step ahead of what passes for the law on whatever planet he happens to find himself located. When a particularly clever theft goes awry, Slippery Jim finds himself a cornered rat in a maze that lands him in the lap of the dreaded Special Corps.
And to make matters worse, the inmates are running the asylum, for the Special Corps is headed by none other than the most famous criminal mastermind ever: Harold Inskipp, aka Inskipp the Uncatchable. Soon DiGriz is presented with an offer he cannot refuse. As the old adage goes, “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”.
At any rate, it is better than having your mind wiped.
The first of Harry Harrison’s popular Stainless Steel Rat series was published in 1961, although portions of the story saw life in Astounding Science Fiction in 1957 and Analog Science Fact and Fiction in 1960. Slippery Jim DiGriz is the prototypical anti-hero. Skilled in the art of crime and yet highly moralistic in his respect for life, DiGriz is a step nearer the heroic mold in comparison to those protagonists written by Alfred Bester, for example, in The Demolished Man or The Stars My Destination, and he is the precursor for loveable rogues like Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds. In Jim DiGriz we see some of the vestiges of the chivalry and honor of the 1950’s coupled with the shifting changes in attitude about government that came about in the 1960’s. In addition The Stainless Steel Rat was somewhat prescient in showing a future where the free and casual use of drugs and alcohol was later born out in the late 60’s and in the 1970’s. In fact, The Stainless Steel Rat sits on a very interesting dividing line by including some of the older, now dated ideas that dominated science fiction in the 40’s and 50’s and other ideas about government and crime and the immensity of space that are relevant today.
In James DiGriz’s universe, a bank of psimen was used to send messages telepathically across light years and the future remained filled with a great deal of paper when it came to the wheels of bureaucracy. Computers used punch cards and destinations were laid into starships using course tapes. At the same time Harry Harrison envisioned space as the kind of massive place that even with largely populated galaxies an enormous warship could be impossible to find and envisioned a future in which women were every bit as clever and capable as men. All these things aside, what makes The Stainless Steel Rat a “vintage” novel that remains worth reading today is that it is a fast-paced, witty, fun story with just enough timely twists and turns that it remains satisfying from start to finish.
Slippery Jim’s schemes are cunning in their planning and execution even when they do not work out entirely as orchestrated and he soon finds out that to be a really good cop in the Special Corps, it pays to keep the criminal skills in good working order. The Stainless Steel Rat is a quick read and I continue to find it absorbing enough that I wouldn’t hesitate to give it to any young boy or girl looking for a rollicking good science fiction adventure, nor to any adult wanting to read something fun with a hint of nostalgia to it. The story never flags, it is paced beautifully, and the dated elements never get in the way of the action.
I fell in love with the world of the Stainless Steel Rat as a pre-adolescent, when Slippery Jim and the lovely Angelina were the kind of characters who excited a young boy’s imagination and stirred his emotions. When I got older and picked up the book to read again I discovered that Harry Harrison did what many try to do and fail–he created an adventure/detective series set in a science fictional universe that has a timeless appeal because it is both smarter and better executed than many novels of the same mold that went before and have come after. Not all of the Stainless Steel Rat books are gems, but the first two especially (The Stainless Steel Rat and The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge) form a nice two-part tale that holds up well today from a pure enjoyment factor.
After 3+ decades of being a fan of his adventures, I readily admit to a bias towards (most of) Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat stories. Yet even in my fanatical devotion, witnessed by the title of my blog, I like to think that I have enough objectivity to see that there is really something here. There is a spark that good older science fiction stories have that keeps them popular to some degree today. Slippery Jim DiGriz will delight you with his escapades and you will walk away with a smile on your face, even if it is a wry smile.
*A word of caution, if you happen to snag the copy that I show pictured above then avoid the back cover copy, which essentially tells you the gist of the entire book in three bullet points. Not that the story veers far off predicted paths, but still, a little surprise is nice.
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It was a real pleasure to re-read The Stainless Steel Rat as my first classic read for The Vintage Science Fiction Month. Check out the tab at the top of Andrea’s site to see other vintage science fiction novels reviewed during this event and feel free to jump right in and participate.
This book is also a selection for The 2012 Science Fiction Experience which takes place through February and is also open for your participation.
Stainless Steel Rat is on my list of “books I need to find already!!”. I was able to pick up a Stainless book last year, but by the looks of it, it’s way later in the series.
really, all you had to say was criminal and anti-hero, and I’m there. 😉
You definitely want to start with book one and then read the second one. Actually the first three (Stainless Steel Rat, Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge, Stainless Steel Rat Saves the Wordl) have a bit of through story with the relationships between a few of the main characters. After that there are several prequels and some sequels, some of which are very good others of which suck. And while opinions may vary about which are which there are a couple that are just terrible.
I listened to the audiobook last year and it was superbly done. Somehow I never read this series as a kid but I was loving the first book as an, ahem, adult.
I suppose I should join the scifi experience. Almost half of what I read could be considered scifi so I don’t really need much convincing that it’s a great genre. 🙂
You might as well experience it with the rest of us, and please post any SF reviews you do to the review site!
Who read the audio? I’d love to get a copy of that.
The audio was read by Phil Gigante. It was released last year. I saw it on the new arrivals shelf at my library and it was the perfect opportunity to finally experience a classic I’d never gotten around to reading.
Thanks Leslie. I’ve now put it on my Amazon list.
I have a couple of the books from this series. One day I will actually read them!
Yes, and I could say “ditto” to your statement for a bunch of other books folks are reading. 🙂
Ahhh, Stainless Steel Droppings – I get it now! This book sounds like great fun. I’ll definitely have to pick it up sometime. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, the oh-so-clever combination of the Stainless Steel Rat and rat droppings. 😉
That is exactly what it is, Emily: fun!
What a thrill to see that cover at the top of your blog this morning! That was the version I read at about age 11. I read it constantly – I remember wandering around in the parking lot of my church one Sunday morning reading it, instead of going inside to Sunday School (pretty much sums up my life since then, too, come to think of it) – it just enthralled me, and a large part of that was the humor. I still count the Rat’s party-crashing scene to be one of the funniest in SF, ever. It was because of this book that I even found your blog to start with.
Thanks for the lovely reminder, again.
My first, and most oft-read version is the three novel combination, The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat. That was how I discovered Slippery Jim. I was able to pick up this version a few years ago at a used bookstore and although it was kind of fragile I wanted to give it at least one last read.
LOL, I could certainly see the temptation to skip Sunday School for Slippery Jim, especially considering how many times over the last 3 decades his adventures have thrilled me.
Glad you found your way here and appreciate you sharing the wonderful story of your own affection for DiGriz.
I read the first two or three decades ago, probably when the short version was in Astounding, then later I think I had a SFBC omnibus with 2 or 3 of them. That seems to have slipped out of my grasp over the years. I’m tempted to hunt up a copy of this one on BookSwap and reread it.
Certainly if you like this sort of thing it is worth reading. I’m not sure how I would classify a novel like this. Perhaps slightly above being the sfnal equivalent of a beach read. However, wherever one would slot it in, I think it is a fine example of this type of book done right. Especially when you compare it to some of Harrison’s other books like the Bill series, which are a bit too comical for me, or the two book series Planet of the Damned and Planet of No Return which are entertaining but feel like a pale imitation of these first few SS Rat books.
Loved the classic SF cover! I’m always a sucker for the old school covers.
In all the years I have been reading SF, I never read much by Harry Harrison. The only story I remember reading was the one he had in the anthology Astounding: The John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology. I read it back in 1973 when it first appeared. If you don’t have this one, I would suggest picking it up. I plan on re-reading this anthology in the spring.
The Harrison story in that collection was “The Mothballed Spaceship” which happens to be a “Deathworld” story. I plan on reading “Deathworld” this year and hope to get to more of his books later in the year.
Me too Jim. I also like the Richard Powers covers for the Stainless Steel Rat books an awful lot.
Oh, definitely want to read that if it is a Deathworld story. I read the trilogy of novels over the last few years and liked them all quite a lot. I’ve read those, his Stainless Steel Rat books of course, the two Planet novels which are just okay, and one or two Bill the Galactic Hero novels which are not quite my cup of tea. A bit too silly.
I want to get to his To the Stars trilogy at some point (Homeworld, Wheelworld, Starworld). They’ve been sitting on my shelves for far too long.