The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell

Stainless Steel Rat #9

by Harry Harrison

Slippery Jim diGriz , alias the Stainless Steel Rat, the galaxy's greatest thief and con artist, returns in his most devilish caper yet.

DiGriz is strenuously fighting boredom on a ritzy pleasure planet when his beloved wife disappears while vising the Temple of Eternal Truth, an enigmatic institution that promises its patrons a sneak peek at Heaven--for a price.

Determined to get his wife back, diGriz takes on the Temple. He thinks he's ready for anything, but he never expects to find himself banished to Hell, complete with pointy-tailed devils. Has Divine judgement caught up with the Rat at last?

Of course not.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy, Space Opera

253 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 15, 1996

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

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another Stainless Steel Rat tale and it is much the same as the others. That’s not intended to be a disparaging comment, as sometimes it’s nice to get exactly what you paid for.

Actually, I think this one had more genuine laughs per chapter than any of the previous volumes, so that’s good. The less than 100% successful win at the end also leaves Slippery Jim slightly less smug than usual, which was also nice. As much as I like this series, the protagonist’s almost permanent excessive hubris does get a bit wearing after a while. Even the ever-charming Han Solo must become slightly unbearable if you’re forced to be with him 24/7, after all...

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has got to be one of the better, if not one of the best, Stainless Steel Rat novels. It was simply interesting and not at all what I thought it would be. I mean, sure, I kinda expected an ACTUAL trip to hell because that's the kind of thing you expect in huge-hubris over-the-top comedies like this.

But here's the fun bit: it's totally over-the-top SF and full of great SF concepts and it runs with all the neat doodads.

And it's funny. :) Heaven, hell, lots of entropy-defying dimensions, and one persistent thief. :)

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of my 2020 Social Distancing Read-a-thon

My life really hasn't changed all that much by the pandemic, but even introverts like myself miss being able to leave home freely. As a result, my attention span is not up to snuff and I'm struggling to enjoy what I'm reading these days. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this silly story of Jim DiGriz engaged me when more serious books just didn't.

Maybe it's just these circumstances, but I think this Stainless Steel Rat book is better than the last couple of installments were. I especially enjoyed Angelina's prominent role in the action, especially when she tells her husband and sons to tone down the testosterone and to allow her to be devious!

All the universe hopping is just the thing to cheer you up when you're stuck at home for a while.

Book number 362 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project

[Thom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Our author returns to the 6th book in the original series (or 9th including prequels), and I was again disappointed. That just leaves the question of how badly?

While we don't expect a lot of reality or hard SF in these books, they are at least internally consistent. In this book, Harrison has written the character into a corner with the various bizarre realities. Now under the Rat's control are the powers of time and universe travel, time stasis, a molecule thin shield that is impervious to everything, and an undetectable thought-level infinite speed communication.

All that silly reality aside, the one thing that drew me to Slippery Jim in the first place was completely missing from this book - the rat. Expert criminal, insanely intelligent individual capable of stealing anything (and not killing anyone in the process). When I started writing this review, I was thinking two stars ("it was okay") but I have talked myself down to one star ("did not like it").

I am still committed to the series and plan to finish it in the new year - but this one is sadly to be avoided.

[Barry Leighton · Rating 1 out of 5]

First book I have read in the series, in fact the first book I have read by Harrison. Maybe I've missed something by not reading previous books, maybe all the humour was used up by time he got this far. 'The Monty Python of the spaceways' it states on front cover, maybe on a bad day. Absolute rubbish.

[Tadas Talaikis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm ultimately bored by everything.... Nothing to read, nothing to watch, let's see maybe this one is better than last.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in the stainless steel rat books. They are all quick reads with alot of humor in them. The stories remain fresh and new. Very recommended, especially to teen readers or someone new to SiFi

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell" is a classic Harrison romp, but spookier. Jim DiGriz, the galaxy's most notorious thief, is back and up to his old tricks. This time, his wife disappears when trying to visit Heaven, and in his attempts to rescue her, he ends up in Hell. With non-stop action (who needs character development, after all?), Jim and his sons fight to retrieve Angelina, Jim's beautiful bride. In true Stainless Steel Rat fashion, he is initially successful, though his wife ultimately has to do the real rescuing. Ahh, and it ends with an attractive young woman intentionally duplicating herself so she can marry both of Jim's sons. While the description of Hell was truly horrifying and now lives rent-free in my head, the book is still worth a read for any Steel Rat fans!

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having neared the end of my the Rat Read-a-thon in publication order (only Circus and Returns to read) this is my second favourite SSR. Rat is Born is still my favoutire. This one is almsot a spoof of Slippery Jim. Being written comparatively recently it doesn't have the anachronisms the the early books do. It's a little episodic and some episodes really don't have anything to do with the main story, namely the sojourn on Glass, but all of it is imaginative and engaging. The best thing about it though, is it is fun. It is non-stop all action 200 proof Stainless Steel Rat.

[Bradford D · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is less biting and more tame than Harrison’s early work. I guess success breeds contentment. It has all the trappings of a “Rat” book but he cooperates with authority, values wife and family, and lives the elite life. These are the same people the earlier “Rat” would rob.

[robert Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for the genre

Convoluted I just wonder how many readers have noticed the use of the Names in ALL of these books and their origins. But still easy reading. Just like spaghetti westerns. THANKS

[paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rat goes to hell

I truly enjoyed this episode of the stainless steel rat. It been years since the last one and I have 3 more to read. I recommend this series to readers of all ages and genres.

[Shhhhh Ahhhhh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more interesting Stainless Steel Rat adventures and I like the way they eventually foiled the villain.

[Michael Hancock · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Alexander Fedyunin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't force myself to finish that for 1 year now, something wrong with that book, that doesn't engage as previous in the series.

[Martin Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witty and inventive.

[Dan Becker · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Stainless Steel Rat completists only.

[Michael Lasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have always loved these books, but hadnt read this one. Harrison feels a little dated but how could he not? If you like Slippery Jim, ya like Slippery Jim, what can i say?

[Ted Wenskus · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. If you're this far in the series, you know what you're in store for -- and you'll get it. A fun, pulpy romp.

[Tony Theberge · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Gabe Tomlinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the strongest one in the series… out of nine books, there’s definitely better. But it was fun; exciting enough once you got about halfway. Best thing was the salami

[Kynan · Rating 3 out of 5]

TL;DR: Back in the "original" timeline, and definitely better than the majority of the prequel books. It does some hand-wavey science validation before getting down to the core comedy escape and adventure. Not a bad book, not a good book ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

TL: Way-hey! If you're reading these books in published order then we're (finally) back in the "original" timeline, last seen three books back in The Stainless Steel Rat for President. That means that not only is Jim the right age again, but once again he's capably side-kicked by the ever-lethal Angelina and his apparently slightly less-larcenous offspring, James and Boliver. Also making a return to provide scientific backup and gadgetry is Q Professor Coypu with Inskipp along to bankroll the whole deal.

Interestingly, similar to the way that The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues played out, this is less reminiscent of the earlier Stainless Steel Rat books, and is more of a sci-fi story bent into the shape of a Stainless Steel Rat escapade. It's a lot more Stainless Steely than "Sings the Blues" was, but there's still a lot more sci-fi plot here than in the prior escape-fest stories.

The book starts out with Jim and Angelina having "retired" to the planetary equivalent of Florida, mostly because Angelina felt she needed some rejuvenation (having spotted nascent crows-feet, and Jim not disagreeing as he notes he's becoming a slighty more silver-hued Rat). Angelina spots a scam on their ludicrously expensive resort world that she elects to deal with alone and, much like the opening of The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You!, her subsequent disappearance prods Jim into action. The story spirals out from there and, honestly, it kinda borrows a lot from earlier plots.

This plot centers around a rather obsessive and manipulative gentleman with quite the ability to study and instantiate newish concepts in the world of cutting-edge physics. The concept of (slight, and honestly, not important spoiler) there being a multiplicity of universes is (ab)used to allow the antagonist to create quite the involved process, and to throw Jim a number of amusing curve balls. There's a much more sci-fi-feel to this book as the story spends a lot of words attempting to add an air of legitimacy by espousing what I'm pretty sure was scientific mumbo-jumbo about string-theory in order to validate the plot. This is mostly a waste of time because it's a silly plot in order to allow Jim to do his usual silly dance and, if I didn't know better I'd think that Mr Harrison is very much a one-trick pony. However, I know that this isn't the case, having read the Eden series (starting with West of Eden), as well as the Deathworld Trilogy which has similar vibes to the Stainless Steel Rat, but doesn't resort to the same set of tropes that we see over and over (and over and over) again. Anyway, I don't know what it is with Mr Harrison and time-travel, but he really likes it as a plot device. This time around we're re-treated to Coypu's chronological tricks (with the temporal inhibitor from "Sings the Blues" making an annoying cameo, along with the time fixator from The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World) along with a bunch of other unlikely physics shennanigans. It's got some interesting things to think about (I did very much like the concepts that arose given the intersection of entropic decay, wormholes and time).

In closing, it's another kinda fun romp (for want of a better term), with the Stainless Steel Rat playing the lead-joker role and an amusing supporting cast smashing their way through some interesting worlds in an attempt to save the day. Much better than some of the (publishing order) interstitial books, not as good as the standouts of the series. It's a step-up from "meh" 😁 Maybe 2.5 stars? I'll round to 3 stars because it's definitely better than the low-points that came before.

[Barbara Bengston · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Stainless Steel Rat is so much fun, and this book continues the excitement/.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This adventure that has slippery Jim diGriz gallivanting across multiple universes does not have the quality of dialog that most of the other Stainless Steel Rat stories have. Some of that is made up by the satire of religions, specifically those that offer salvation if you donate a great deal of money.
In this story there is one chief antagonist called Slakey and he is capable of duplicating himself and any other person. One of the most powerful features of the duplication is that all versions of a person are at all times aware of what is happening to the other versions. This allows Slakey to literally be in more than one place at a time and to duplicate another and hold one captive so the other is forced to do his bidding.
Heaven and hell both exist and are simply different universes where entropy operates at slightly different rates. Slakey has developed a way to send people to the other universes and their bodies will adapt to their new surroundings, which can mean a change in appearance. Including their morphing into an actual red devil with a tail.
Given the various environments the Rat finds himself in and the different versions of Slakey that he encounters, there is also less sequential continuity in this story than in most of the other Rat tales. Therefore, I rank this book as a three out of five star item.

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Stainless Steel Rat series is one of my favorite science fiction series. My personal favorite are the first three books. In this book, The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell by Harry Harrison, I was interested to see Jim diGris being his older self again (for a while, Mr. Harrison was doing flashback books).

But I do find that the later books do not have the same cutting edge that the early books had. I loved the humor in those books. Still, Jim is entertaining, but the situations he gets into in the book do not seem as hopeless as they do in the early books. I am not saying the book is bad.

On the contrary, The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell is a fun read and very enjoyable. It just doesn't have the zip of the The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge, and The Stain Steel Rat Saves the World.

If you are a lover of Slippery Jim diGris, you should pick up this book and see how Jim deals with being stuck in Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory. He does it only in a way that a slippery stainless steel rat could.

I rated this book a 7½ out of 10.

[melydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is only my second Stainless Steel Rat novel, but I think I need to go back to the beginning and check out the first few in the series. Not only were there loads of characters and references to past events with which I was unfamiliar, this SSR story felt tired and forced. I felt like the author was just throwing in new twists and calamities for the heroes in order to boost his pagecount to novel length. There was no real flow to the plot and many of the events that either saved the day or ruined it seemed too convenient to be believable, even given a wide suspension of disbelief. Don't get me wrong - I still enjoyed the SSR's witty banter and sarcastic commentary, but overall I felt like the story was a little too aimless and random.

[J.P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a case of the author should have quit while he was ahead. This book was written over 30 years after Harry Harrison started the Stainless Steel Rat series and it shows. I'm into the occasional escapist quick read as much as anyone else but the story line of this book reads like a multitude of rejected plots from B science fiction movies. How off the wall does it get? An attack is made on a universe by going through a garage door portal using a salami as a weapon. At least it won't break as easily as if they had used a loaf of stale bread.
I liked all the other James diGriz books better. This was just too silly.
If you're new to this series for pity's sake don't start here. Read one of the earlier books first.

[James Mourgos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell

Jim DiGriz has his family, his twins and all is well. Until Angelina “goes to church” and gets herself abducted. Most of the book is about Jim’s adventures in finding the con artist who took his wife, uncovering a major conspiracy – multiple bodies, time dilation, multiple universes and a new element on the Elemental Table that creates eternal life.

But this is all very much not the DiGriz I read about years ago as a teen of such novels as Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge, Stainless Steel Rat for President, etc. There is no real con going on with Jim and he is not surmounting authority or the law, like he usually does.

A bit disappointing but if you’ve never read a Stainless Steel novel you will be entertained.

Happy trails!

[Raj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another adventure for Slippery Jim DiGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat. This time there's a conman on the loose, promising rich people a glimse (and more) of heaven. Jim's wife is missing and he has to track down the physicist at the heart of it before it's too late.

A major problem that I had with this book is the the tame scientist on hand, ready to invent exactly what's needed to move on to the next bit of plot. What keeps it going, however, is Harrison's sense of pace. He keeps the book going fairly quickly, and you get drawn in. Enjoyable fun, but over-reliant on the gadgets and not the Rat's own abilities.

[Jon]

A number of years ago, I truly enjoyed the first books in the Stainless Steel Rat series, by Harry Harrison, which featured the master criminal, Slippery Jim diGriz, in a number of sarcastically related adventures. Once again, either the series just went on far too long, and Harrison ran out of good ideas and worthy plots, or Harrison himself went on too long, and began to lose his touch in his later efforts. The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell was about Jim and his sons, James and Bolivar, rushing to the rescue of his wife Angelina, who has been sent to Heaven, or reasonable facsimile thereof, by an con artist turned preacher. Frankly, don't bother.