The original end to the series sees Slippery Jim diGriz retiring. Mildly entertaining, but filled with cringeworthy sentences starting with phrases like "All I want to know now about computer hardware now is..." Finally, the Rat was mostly on a leash.

That to me is the crime here. Reading how the Stainless Steel Rat pulls off an incredible caper or saves the galaxy is what I sought. Instead, diGriz is framed by a bumbling banker, and forced to commit crimes to prevent the death of his wife. Inexplicable, bizarre, and somewhat boring. At the end, he retires - perhaps to avoid more nonsense like this.

So was it better than the previous book, a 1 star stinker? Slightly. In the previous book, Harrison wrote himself into a technological corner. The swindled Rat doesn't have access to those resources, so this story stands up better. But in the previous book, Jim was more creative. Here, despite pulling off two crimes-of-the-century, he seems much more two dimensional - and that is saying something. The story was, at least, a quick read.

After a 10 year hiatus, Harrison expanded a short story into his final book, and the true final book fo the series. I look forward to reading that soon.