The Stainless Steel Rat · Chapter
XII explained
Jim diGriz, having faked his death and undergone plastic surgery, remains on Freibur to track down Angelina.
What happens
Jim diGriz, having faked his death and undergone plastic surgery, remains on Freibur to track down Angelina. He investigates local crime through a sensationalist newspaper, recruits disgraced doctor Vulff for an illegal operation, and struggles to predict Angelina's next move. After weeks of fruitless searching, he realizes he must think like her—embracing her madness—to find her.
Themes in this chapter
The Hunt and the Hunted
Jim actively hunts Angelina across Freibur, using investigation, bribery, and psychological analysis.
Transformation and Reinvention
Jim fakes his death and adopts a new identity to continue his pursuit, while Angelina is assumed to have changed her cover.
Characters to notice
- Slippery Jim diGriz
Narrates the chapter; fakes his death, stays on Freibur, recruits Dr. Vulff, and struggles to track Angelina.
- Angelina
The target of Jim's search; believed to be on Freibur, her unpredictable and power-driven nature frustrates Jim.
- Dr. Vulff
A disgraced former surgeon turned alcoholic; Jim hires him for an illegal operation and later sends him away.
- Zina
Vulff's live-in girlfriend; mentioned as being out during Jim's visit.
- King Villelm
King of Freibur; Jim investigates him as a potential pressure point but finds no connection to Angelina.
Key passages
“I would have to follow her down the path of insanity if I wanted to find her.”
To locate Angelina, Jim realizes he must adopt her irrational mindset.
Jim's drunken epiphany that he needs to think like Angelina to predict her actions.
“I am here to offer you a strictly legitimate business deal with value given for money received. The mere fact that it happens to be illegal should bother neither of us.”
Jim proposes a mutually beneficial but illegal arrangement to Dr. Vulff.
Jim recruits Vulff by appealing to his greed and amorality.