Rating: 
Summary: Bizarre
Review: I'm starting to have trouble understanding why I like the works of Robert A. Heinlein so much. They're certainly fun to read, with a prose style that is somewhere between Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegut, but some of the lesser read works (such as this one) are so self-referencial that they're almost unreadable to anyone who hasn't read a specific book in the Heinlein cannon. Case in point--I just finished The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, but I haven't read Number of the Beast. I think that was a mistake. Why? Ok. The first two-thirds of this book is basically a humorous detective story. The last third is where Heinlein starts preaching, using many old characters from his other classic science fiction novels. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the change in tone, combined with the few characters I did not recognize and the odd gimicks that didn't make any sense really brought my opinion of the book down a lot. From several hints at the end of the book, it seems that Number of the Beast would have cleared some of this up for me. Oh well. But I still had a blast reading the novel (hence the four stars). The story is fast-paced and included just enough of Heinlein's politics, such as his strangely deferencial, yet somewhat insulting opinion of women and gays, to make me enjoy reading it. I think the more Heinlein I read, the more I "get it." And that's the basic problem with recommending the book. If you haven't read much of his other stuff (especially the future history stories, Time Enough For Love, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and (it seems) The Number of the Beast), don't attempt this one. Otherwise, you've obvisouly gotten the hang of Heinlein already, so you won't be dissapointed with The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
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