The Stainless Steel Rat Returns

The Stainless Steel Rat series is one of Harry Harrison's great series. The other one of comparable length is the Bill the Galactic Hero series; and his Deathworld has, I believe, 3 entries and a number of short stories.

I had the honor to see and hear Mr. Harrison at a Worldcon and liked his "Make Room! Make Room!", the basis for the movie "Soylent Green." I appreciated the first Bill the Galactic Hero story, but I guess the cynical attitude about the armed forces, one based on Harrison's real experiences, didn't put the series on my must-read list, I'm afraid.

I intended to approach the SSR series without prejudice. My preference would have been to start with the first one, but it wasn't at the library. My uninformed and poorly researched guess was that "The Stainless Steel Rat Returns" was the second of the series; it turns out to be the 11th. Ny first clue was the reference to "sub-prime loans"; then I found out it was published in 2010.

My take-away from great sweeping reviews of the SF field like that of Brian Aldiss and others is that it is quite difficult to continue a series with consistent good quality throughout. Having said that, the hard-pressed book publishers tend to like to continue "successful" series, series that made some money, and most authors find it difficult to resist satisfying the publishers.

Obviously, the Rat has a dedicated following and is successful. Therefore, in the previous 10 books, he has got married, had a son, and had many improbable adventures. I am not saying this is a bad book; if you have followed the Rat so far, I suspect you will be further charmed and amused by this addition. Unfortunately, I don't tend to be charmed by lovable rogues, so although there were amusing parts to this novel, I suspect I have read all I am going to in the Stainless Steel Rat series.