Book description
In the vastness of space, the crimes just get bigger and Slippery Jim diGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, is the biggest criminal of them all. He can con humans, aliens and any number of robots time after time. Jim is so slippery that all the inter-galactic cops can do is…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Stainless Steel Rat as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
If you experience bouts of nostalgia for classic pulp sci-fi, you should read this.
While not all aspects of this 1950s book aged well, I love its style and its protagonist, “Slippery Jim” diGriz, for his ideological stance, which involves zero grand motives. He intentionally chooses the life of crime because he believes it’s public entertainment in an otherwise pristine system, but is ultimately out-conned and forced to catch other criminals for an organisation called Special Corps.
This makes for a fun journey.
From A.'s list on heist novels set in space.
While not exactly a pioneer in spy-fi, still when I posed a query to a number of fellow sci-fi authors asking who they would nominate for a Top 5 list of spy-fi writers, Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat stories were listed more than any other series. The tongue-in-cheek intergalactic adventures showcased “Slippery Jim” Di Griz morphing from a successful criminal into a reluctant secret agent for the Intergalactic Special Corps reporting to its leader, Harold Inskipp. In a series of novels and short stories, DiGriz Moves from planet to planet, universe to universe, traveling in time, and sharing his world-saving…
From Wesley's list on containing the origins of Spy-fi.
If you love The Stainless Steel Rat...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Want books like The Stainless Steel Rat?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Stainless Steel Rat.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,340
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Stainless Steel Rat, you might also like...
Foxfire in the Snow
It's a time of change, between magic and alchemy.
Born the heir of a master woodcutter in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, nonbinary Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place. At seventeen, an opportunity to attend an alchemical guild fair and secure an apprenticeship with the…
The Main Gate
Dr. Elise Marquette has spent years burying the past—until the past refuses to stay buried.
Hired to join Earth’s first interstellar contact team, she hopes the vastness of space will finally offer distance from the ghosts of war and the wounds left by a mother who never let her be…
