For novel upon novel, Slippery Jim DiGriz—the Stainless Steel Rat—has outfoxed the forces of conventionality, cutting a stylish swathe through dozens of star systems.

Now, Slippery Jim and his beautiful wife, Angelina, find themselves becalmed on a painfully boring backwater planet, with nothing to do but practice their skills at computer crime.

Then they meet a billionaire who claims to be 40,000 years old… who offers them millions of credits to investigate a string of unsolved interstellar bank robberies. Robberies which, it turns out, always happen when the circus is nearby…

In a sense, the Stainless Steel Rat has always been a high-wire performer. Now, as he infiltrates the world of the galactic big top, he’s taking the role to extremes… and drawing the attention of more dangerous ringmasters and strongmen than he ever expected.

Will this be his final show? Has Slippery Jim finally leapt for his last trapeze? Naah.