Rating: 
Summary: The Stainless Steel Rat Retires...
Review: ... and based on this work, and the last few in the series, it is about time.It seems to be a constant in the reviews for this work that the Rat series has lost its edge, its driving humour, the sense of satire on hard SF (and frankly detective books) that the early works portrayed so gracefully. Yes - all the old character traits and established cast are present - Angelina is beautiful, and slightly vicious - the twins are essentially interchangable and never presented as personalities in their own right. The real disappointment is with the characterisation of Jim DiGriz - the Stainless Steel Rat of the title - thief, con man, policeman, gentleman. I am used to seeing Jim as the centre piece of the books in this series - competant, articulate, cunning and very much in control - until something goes wrong. The Jim DiGriz I knew and loved was a master at improvisation and lateral thinking, and displayed the instincts of a thief - living with a healthy distrust and cynicism of everything arround him. In this book, he is presented as a 'patsy'. Ignoring the inconsistencies with previous books in the series (I believe that a prior reviewer has already pointed out the lack of knowledge of the banking system for instance) - I simply cannot believe that the Stainless Steel Rat who ended the careers of so many other criminals could ever have been this gullable. From almost page one he is used and manipulated by the protagonist in a fashion that he would never have succumbed to in his earlier adventures. The only explanation I can come up with for this disappointing effort is that Harrison was attempting to show that senile dementia was finally affecting our hero. Read the earlier books in the series - skip this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Light-hearted sci-fi comedy, emphasis on light. =)
Review: Hello, fellow readers! This book was purchased mainly to complete my current SSR collection, and although decent at a few places, it lacked the comedy "punch" that the others in the series had. In my opinion, the comedy aspect in this book compared to the others in the series is the worst, but then again it did provide a nice mystery, which I reluctantly followed. Still, it was worth the few bucks I paid. Don't get if you don't follow the SSR series, though, it'll be a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Light-hearted sci-fi comedy, emphasis on light. =)
Review: Hello, fellow readers! This book was purchased mainly to complete my current SSR collection, and although decent at a few places, it lacked the comedy "punch" that the others in the series had. In my opinion, the comedy aspect in this book compared to the others in the series is the worst, but then again it did provide a nice mystery, which I reluctantly followed. Still, it was worth the few bucks I paid. Don't get if you don't follow the SSR series, though, it'll be a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Jim deserves a better eulogy
Review: 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......
Rating:
Summary: Jim deserves a better eulogy
Review: 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......
Rating: 
Summary: New Rat Not So Rusty
Review: I must admit that I was a little hesitant about reading SSR Joins The Circus. As a big rat fan of many years I had been disappointed by Harrison's last couple of attempts. SSR Sings The Blues and Goes To Hell were both pretty poor in comparison to earlier rat books so it was with almost reluctance that I read his latest chapter in the life of Jim DiGriz. However SSR Joins The Circus is a pretty good rat book. The story is well paced and exciting enough to keep you interested and the world of Fettorr is well developed and interesting. Not as good as Harrison's earlier ones but non the less a quite enjoyable read. The main villain in very menacing and has poor old Jim on the ropes for the majority of the tale, but this is also one of the books major flaws. DiGriz doesn't seem anywhere near as sharp as he used to be, yes he pulled off a couple of nice capers to appease his blackmailer but you get the distance feeling that poor old Jim is getting a little dim witted in his later years. Once again he is forced to rely upon the twins to get him out of tight scrapes. I have personally never been a fan of the twins as they provide Jim with an easy escape route anytime things get tough instead of doing it himself. That plus the fact that Harrison can't tell them apart anymore and gets them mixed up towards the end of the book. Also the book has a number of typos and you get the feeling that it was thrown togeather very fast. Yet despite these shortcomings SSR Joins The Circus is a pretty good read if you enjoy the exploits of the Stainless Steel Rat as I do. Not Harrison's best effort of behalf of good old Jim, but certainly not his worst either. 3 out of 5
Rating:
Summary: Slippery James DiGriz slips.
Review: Imagine if James Bond were reborn in the future as a cocksure interstellar thief. You would have the spirit of Slippery James DiGriz, AKA "The Stainless Steel Rat". Unfortunately, in the latest book in the series," The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus" our favorite science fiction hero, does not measure up to the earlier tales of his exploits. Somehow in his old age, the Stainless Steel Rat seems tired and his fabled arrogance worn down. Unlike the earlier books in this series, it seems that the Stainless Steel Rat has become more and more reliant on the skills of his family rather than his own renowned cleverness. If you are a Stainless Steel Rat fan, this book is welcome addition to the series, if only to see our old pal back in action. However, for a new reader this book holds little interest and they are better off reading "The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat' which is a compilation of the first three books of the series.
Rating: 
Summary: bye bye dear ratty and thanks for the laughs
Review: So this is the last "Rat" book but what a good one to end on. This is a welcome return to form as Slippery Jim robs banks, avoids the tax men and makes daring escapes - exactly why we like him in the first place! I think the author is right to end the series now if only because Harrison has allowed the Rat to age naturally. He is not the same devil-may-care hero first seen in ASF so long ago. However, a movie is long overdue. If we have to suffer through "The Avengers" why not a Rat movie?
Rating:
Summary: Last SSR book? Thank god...
Review: The book ends "THE END(?)" and I must hope that it is. The books have apparently run their course. Harry Harrison is a good writer -- too bad he and his editors fumbled this one so badly. From inaccurate cover art to poor copy editing and inconsistent writing, SSR Joins the Circus is not what I had hoped for when I found out Harry Harrison had returned to the Stainless Steel world of Jim DiGriz. Normally I read an SSR book in a sitting -- this one remains unfinished by a few pages after 4 weeks. Unfortunately, all the old concepts are there, such as DiGriz yelling about his wife's beauty and kids' intelligence, all the while holding down a drink or three. It just doesn't gel in this edition, as if someone read an essay on what makes the SSR books special and tried to write their own version. It's sad to a long-time Harrison fan to read, and I am having trouble finishing this installment. DiGriz is also massively inconsistent with earlier incarnations of himself. Those who read SSR is Born know the first major teachings he had from the Bishop regarded international banking systems. Yet, in this volume, he professes to neither know nor care a thing about banks -- ludicrous, really. He's also quite a bit stupider in this book, along with being much more the pawn and helpless plot twist. Disappointing. Slippery Jim also becomes an even greater lush (wow, how cool...) and can't differentiate between the twins - but neither can Harry Harrison, who gets them confused and switches them mid-sentence towards the end of the book. Read just the first 3 pages to understand the rusty state of affairs for this once-Stainless Steel series of fun space-fiction books. I gave it 1 star for nostalgia.
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