The Rat Race is a science fiction novel by American writer Jay Franklin.

The novel originally appeared in the magazine Collier's Weekly in 1947.

The novel concerns Lieutenant Commander Frank Jacklin who is blown up in a thorium bomb explosion while on the battleship Alaska.

He awakens in the body of Winnie Tompkins who had perpetrated the explosion.

As Tompkins, he learns of a plot by German agents to poison Franklin D. Roosevelt and he tries to warn the authorities.