The Stainless Steel Rat Joins The Circus (Hardcover)

by Harry Harrison (Author) "I'M EXHAUSTED," ANGELINA SAID..." (more)
Key Phrases: stainless steel rat, armored van, bearer bonds, Special Corps, Great Grissini, Gar Goyle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Life is always full of adventure for Jim DiGriz, the master criminal known as The Stainless Steel Rat, but this time he may be in over his head. After taking a job infiltrating a suspicious circus on a four million credit a day retainer, DiGriz finds himself and his family bound up, literally at times, in a planet-wide swindle. Someone is robbing banks and other sources of wealth using The Rat's good name while he dutifully performs his magic act under the big top. Soon DiGriz is hunted by endless factions of the police, his son Bolivar is jailed, his wife Angelina kidnapped, his formerly benevolent employer is getting more sinister by the hour and worst of all, The Stainless Steel Rat is actually losing money! In true space marauder fashion DiGriz outwits his enemy at every turn, or does he? "The dark forces" are never far behind and as the trickery and malicious blackmail get out of hand. DiGriz wonders if he and Angelina are getting a bit too old for this. As the book progresses, readers will wonder how many got-yous Harrison (The Stainless Steel Rat Goes To Hell) can fit in a clown car but his prowess as a ring master will shine through. After jumping through some spectacular hoops in this romp, DiGriz may be tempted to retire but hopefully Harrison, who turns 74 this year and who began writing about the Stainless Steel Rat in the early 1960s, won't.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Following his frolic in Hell (The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell, 1996), the eponymous Slippery Jim diGriz runs off to join the circus. Jim and his wife, the lovely and talented Angelina, are approached by Imperetrix ``Kaizi'' Von Kaiser-Czarski, the galaxys richest man (and, possibly, the oldestafter 40,000 years his memory's none too reliable). Kaizi's being robbed, systematically yet undetectably, and he's willing to pay four million credits per day (plus expenses) to catch the thief. Our slick duo's single clue: a circus was in town when each robbery occurred. It wasnt the same circus, but always on the bill was Puissanto, the Strongest Man in the Galaxy. To question him, Jim and Angelina must travel to the remote and uninviting planet Fetorr and its equally uninviting city of Fetorrscoria. Another splendid romp for Harrison's picaresque pair. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (November 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312869347
• ISBN-13: 978-0312869342
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,002,424 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Jim deserves a better eulogy, May 2, 2001

By	Carl V. Anderson (Blue Springs, MO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Stainless Steel Rat Joins The Circus (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to agree with all the other reviews I've read of this book that this is one of the poorest examples of writing that I have ever read. SSR was the first character outside of the Star Wars universe that I read as a child and I am extremely fond of all the DiGriz adventures and reread them on a fairly regular basis. This book, however, was horrible. The proofreading was nonexistent...I lost count of how many grammatical errors were in the book, not to mention the confusion towards the end of the book where Harrison mixes up the names of the twins within the same paragraph. I disagree that this series is "tired" or "out of date". I think there is always room for a cunning anti-hero with a good heart and Jim Digriz has always been that. I geniunely hope that this is not the last SSR book....mainly because it was so horrible. I would like to see Harrison write at least one more SSR novel in which he remains true to the character that is beloved by many. Give us one more Harry, only this time, put your heart in it......

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy., June 19, 2001

By	James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Stainless Steel Rat Joins The Circus (Mass Market Paperback)

First there was "The Stainless Steel Rat", our introduction to the character of Slippery Jim DiGriz, aka the Stainless Steel Rat, galactic con man, thief, and all-around troublemaker. This was followed by four sequels: "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge", "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World", "The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You", and "The Stainless Steel Rat For President". Then, apparently growing bored with the direction his stories had taken, Harrison wrote a prequel, "The Stainless Steel Rat is Born", followed by a sequel to the prequel, "The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted", and a sequel to the sequel to the prequel, "The Stainless Steel Rat Sings The Blues". Then he returned to the original sequence with a sequel to "The Stainless Steel Rat For President", with "The Stainless Steel Rat Goes To Hell". This book follows that one.

In the initial book of the series, we are told that Jim has had a long and successful career being one jump ahead of the law, but we see that career coming to an end as he is recruited by the galactic Special Forces as an agent, on the theory that it takes a thief to catch a thief. He is "recruited" by being caught and faced with the choice of joining or going to prison.

That pattern is repeated throughout the series; he's supposed to be incredibly talented, clever, and intelligent, but he is invariably outmanuevered whenever it's necessary for plot development. This book continues that pattern; he is outmanuevered consistently throughout the book. Just once I'd like to see him actually demonstrate his claimed competence. But beyond that objection, this story was very poorly written, or at least very poorly proofread. There's a typo (generally involving a missing word or a wrong word being used) about every 30 pages, and as some other reviewers have mentioned, the author even gets his characters confused late in the book; admittedly, they're twins, and I understand if another character can't tell them apart. But there's no excuse for an author making such a sloppy mistake, and not catching it himself or making sure his book is proofread well enough to catch it. (One of the twins approaches DiGriz, and he calls out "Bolivar!", but the twin says, "No, James. Bolivar is..." otherwise occupied. But then on the next page, the present twin is continually referred to as "Bolivar".)

Like the others in the series, this book is fun brain candy. But unlike the others, it's not even particularly well-written brain candy. Read it for a quick lark if you are familiar with the series, and have missed ol' Slippery Jim, but if you are new to the series, there's no reason to bother with it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Did Harry not care?, December 8, 2000

By	Jonathan Simon (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Stainless Steel Rat Joins The Circus (Mass Market Paperback)

This book flows quickly and easily. It's a finely crafted piece of schlock with no depth or feeling. It felt like Harrision had no joy in writing it and was just doing it for a paycheck. Earlier SSR books had me caring about the heros, hating the villains, and loving the action. This one kept my attention with skillful prose but did nothing for me. I own a copy of almost every book Harrision has written and love most of his work to pieces, but this is one of if not the worst he's ever done.