The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat

by Harry Harrison

A stainless steel rat for a stainless steel world...

Meet Slippy Jim, aka The Stainless Steel Rat, aka James Bolivar DiGritz. A man of many names and many talents... all of which add up to make one of the greatest con men of all time.

Charming, quick-witted, physically fit, a master of disguise, a skilled liar, an accomplished bank robber and exceptionally talented at breaking and entering, he's everything a master thief should be. He's also about to be caught, turned, and sent back out onto the streets as part of the Special Corps.

But joining the Special Corps is only the beginning; there's a beautiful - beautifully villainous - woman in charge of her own battleship, an interstellar war, a guerrilla campaign and an evil plot by an ancient nation, known as the United States of America... It's up to the Stainless Steel Rat to save the world!

Join the adventure in this omnibus edition of the first three Stainless Steel rat adventures: The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge, and The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Humor

436 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Deborah Sheldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this series when I was a kid. It was nostalgic fun to revisit the first three adventures of Slippery Jim DiGriz, a.k.a. the stainless steel rat. Gotta love his everchanging stash of conveniently-appropriate weapons, suitable for all occasions, no matter how outrageous. Plot armour, anyone? Ah, it made me smile.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to rate, fun and silly sci-fi but not aged very well as it's immensely sexist.

The plots are great but I realised Jim never actually gets out by himself, every time he's about to die he gets saved by someone out of nowhere with a 'we were waiting and ready all this time' plot device

[Lois Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The three books contained within this omnibus are still as funny and fast-paced as I remember them.

[Jessy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a delightful surprise. Witty, imaginative, and beautifully paced, The Stainless Steel Rat follows a charming anti-hero through a clever sci-fi adventure full of humor and heart. Harry Harrison’s writing is light yet intelligent, making the story both entertaining and thoughtful. It’s the kind of book that makes you smile while still appreciating its creativity. A truly enjoyable and timeless read.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 3.5 for me - I liked and would recommend a couple of the books to SF fans but not to non-SF people. There are some great ideas in this, but the charcters grate and fast paced rapid plot turns wear thin.

Of the 3 books in the omnibus the first, "The Stainless Steel Rat", is the best. It is just a good fun caper.
The Second book, "The Stainless Steel rat's Revenge" is a quite effective commie bash and justification for the CIA, but it really dragged out at the start.
The last book, "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World" was better than the second book and kept a good clip throughout the 2 "alternate history" sections, but dragged out a bit when mrs rat turned up to save his smugness and they went to an undercook future sequence and lame wrap up.

I won't be bothering with anymore of these.

[Dearbhla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slippery Jim is our narrator, and our hero, of sorts. He is also the Stainless Steel Rat, or at least that is how he describes himself. Slipping through the technological world and committing many daring acts of thievery and innumerable cons. Safe and secure in the knowledges that his wits, charm and logic will get him out of danger. Until, that is, he is caught. The Special Corps, so special that no one is really sure they exist until, of course, they catch you, succeed in arresting him. But instead of throwing him in jail, or punishing him they offer him a job. Come and work for them. So he does, after all, he was never a bad man, just one who wanted his bit of freedom.

http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2...

[Djinnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had read one of these three stories a long time ago and had forgotten that, while they are a fast paced adventure story, there really isn't much substance to them. The third one in particular, The Stainless Steel Rat saves the world, really skips over a lot of things that leave some rather large holes in the story. It is all convenient "Due to my ingeniuity, I cobbled together some whizz bang device that saved my butt, but I don't need to go into any details about how I did that in this backward time."

Anyway, I'm probably showing my age in my lack of appreciation. I would steer a younger crowd towards these books.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first sci fi novel. I really enjoyed it. Thank goodness non of the main characters had unpronounceable names, which seems to be the norm in sci fi, and why I have avoided reading this genre for so long.

It was written years ago, but felt contemporary and was an easy and enjoyable read. The main character was slightly weak and there was a slight flavour of sexism running through it - but then the novel was written in the 60's I think, so this is not surprising.

Really it was an adventure/detective novel set on other worlds.

[Jana Tetzlaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

"First-person narrator and I like it nonetheless ;o)"

There were a couple of giggly and lough-out-loud moments.

On to the "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge" now.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to the world of sci-fi, read it when I was around 10 and have returned to it a few times since. Great fun.