"Society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as the old wooden buildings had more rats than the concrete buildings that came later. But they still had rats. Now that society is all ferroconcrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps between the joints, and it takes a smart rat to find them. A stainless steel rat is right at home in this environment."
Welcome to the world of James "Slippery Jim" diGriz. Jim is a professional thief, or more correctly, a con-artist...for what he does is truly an art. He makes his living by pulling off grand schemes of theft and burglary, but does it all with a touch of class. He's a "stainless steel rat": a rat, yes, but a smart one who is able to out think nearly everyone and is nearly indestructible. That is, until one operation goes wrong and he finds himself face to face with the Special Corps, the sort of FBI of the future. The Corps however, is not made up of fools, and rather than arrest diGriz, they offer him a job. The criminal has become a cop. His mission sends him on a chase that puts his life and his heart in jeopardy as he pursues the shapely, stunning, and equally sharp Angelina.
Harry Harrison has created a story here that I found myself totally absorbed in. You may recognize the title as one of our favorite bloggers, Carl, has titled his blog "Stainless Steel Droppings" as an homage. In fact, I got my copy of the book from Carl in my recent prize pack from the Once Upon a Time Challenge! I read this book in a few hours because I just couldn't put it down. I kept thinking of Sin City while I read this book. While the story line has nothing in common with Sin City, the feel of the novel was similar. It had that old detective story throwback narration feel, with a futuristic sci-fi story. Harrison's writing style is incredible and my quotes journal saw quite a few entries from this one.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting as good of a story as I got here! I was expecting something more pulpy, but it wasn't very pulpy at all. This is really a sci-fi classic and it's story telling at it's best. I'm not going to give away the ending, but I will say that the ending did leave me a little bit sad and possibly a little disappointed, but I may have to read the sequel to see what happens with a couple of our characters.
If you're looking for a good, fast paced, action story with lots of imagination, futuristic 007 type adventure, and a wonderful sci-fi story, I highly recommend that you check this one out. And I'm sure that Carl would recommend it even higher than myself!
