The Steel Rat is Harry Harrison’s fourth novel by the internal chronology of the series and his first by year of publication.
“I’m the slippery Jim DiGriz, the Steel Rat. I can change my appearance in the blink of an eye, rob any bank in any of the solar systems, leave a space wolf without a ship, start a war—or stop it (that depends on who pays more). So when the cops finally caught up with me, they had no choice but to make me a cop.”