Aliens: Criminal Enterprise [Paperback]

My lifestyle determines my death style... This line from Metallica's `Frantic' song comes to mind now that I've finished reading Aliens: Criminal Enterprise by S.D. Perry.

Criminal Enterprise is the fifth Aliens based novel that has come out in the past couple of years, and it is one of the best offerings to date in my humble opinion.

This novel, even though it is set in the Aliens universe, is a story about base human desires and those who happen to cater to them.

People need escape from every day stress. Many of us get it from spending time with our loved ones, family, games, movies and television, and other means. And then there are those who use mind altering substances in order to escape what life throws at them.

Like anything, there is a danger of getting addicted. Even simple things like video games can be addictive, but let's face it; nothing is more dangerous than drugs.

Drugs, especially the illegal, mind -altering kind, can take a perfectly good man or woman and destroy their lives, turning them into petty criminals in order to get enough money for their next fix.

Of course, when you're talking drugs, there are those who create and distribute the drugs. The very dregs of society who are no better than insects themselves, parasites that live off the suffering of others.

The worst part about it is how often innocent people are hurt because of the dealings of both the users and the pushers.

Now, without giving away too much about the novel, it deals, as I stated above, with criminals. The novel is set on a tiny, barren, cold world called Fantasia. It is nothing more than a hideaway for a Earth bound drug lord, who uses its remoteness and seclusion in order to produce several different types of recreational drugs to be sold and distributed back on Earth, and I'm assuming other colony worlds.

Where the aliens come in is that they are nothing more than vicious guard dogs, ensuring that no one can attack the laboratory as no one could hope to get close enough before they were brought down, or captured to be used as hosts for the young.

Those who man the laboratory are either criminal themselves on the run from the law, or people who really don't care at all who they work for as long as the pay is good.

Of course, the fact that you're dealing with drug dealers, you have many of the other illicit activities that go hand in hand with it, such as gambling and prostitution.

All in all, it is nothing more than a - and pardon my usage of this term - wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Into this nest of vipers is thrust Tommy and Pete, brothers from Earth. Tommy is doing his best to live the life of a honest, law abiding citizen, and he's a commercial pilot. His younger brother Pete, however, is a criminal wannabe. Not a true criminal, just a hanger on who is forced to get his brother Tommy to help him do a run to Fantasia in order to save his life.

This novel doesn't pull its punches. It's a glimpse into the lives of criminals and all the darkness and deviations that one would expect from those who ply their trade breaking the law, and from those running from the law.

It's dark and it's not pretty. In fact, most of these people are only a few steps up the evolutionary ladder from pure animals.

Thus exactly why it was so good in my opinion.

Sure, the Aliens were nothing more than glorified watch dogs, but they played the role one would expect. You can't have these dangerous creatures without death, and it does come eventually.

Just remember that line from `Frantic'.

The only major spoiler I will give out here is that there are no forays into the hive, or hives, there are no face huggers or queens involved. But it doesn't really matter. The novel is a human story, one about the baser, darker sides of human nature, but at the same time it deals with family, and what you will do for your family.

In closing, drug dealers and criminal organizations are really no different than the aliens when it comes right down to it. Both are horrible parasites that need hosts, or victims, in order to survive and neither gives anything of use in return, except eventual death.

4 out of 5.

To begin let me confess that I'm unexplainably drawn to these ALIENS novels despite the fact that truly solid entries are few and far between. I came into Criminal Enterprise directly after finishing Diane Carey's DNA War and found this novel to be flawed but for very different reasons than the former.

I will begin by saying that SD Perry (daughter of longtime franchise contributor Steve Perry) definitely knows how to juggle a large cast. We meet literally dozens of human characters pretty early on and although a greater measure of separation would undoubtedly help the reader to identify the various groups involved in the plot, SD apparently had little trouble keeping track of the multiple crews she created.

The core of this tale follows an anti-heroic group of drug producing intergalactic scumbags working on a backwater planet called Fantasia. Yes there are Xenos present on the planet (called XTs here) but their role in this book serves as little more than glorified pit bulls. As others have accurately pointed out in their reviews, expect nothing in the way of the ALIEN lifestyle revealed here but rather a tale of human struggles in which the Xenomorph just so happen to pop up every now and then and carry a few individuals off.

This wouldn't be such a crime on its own had SD crafted a plot in which the reader actually cared about the fate of the humans involved. As it stands, however, she goes to great measure to paint a picture of humans who quite frankly get whatever they deserve. It is nearly impossible to feel an ounce of sympathy for any of the characters involved and since their trials and tribulations represent a solid 99% of the story content, that means a lot of wasted time.

About the greatest strength displayed by SD is her ability to integrate adult themes and rough language into her prose. While some may view this as a negative in its own right, at least her efforts result in painting a picture of a pretty scandalous group of individuals. Younger readers beware: the language here rivals even the roughest moments in any of the R-rated films and the sexual content far surpasses that.

All in all, SD Perry succeeds where Diane Carey fails (and vise versa) but neither of their recent entries can be considered literary classics by any stretch of the concept. In fact the ALIENS franchise itself, which has set a pretty low bar in the first place as far as books are concerned, benefits little by this effort.

I have read all of the Aliens books and I must say that this one is the best of the new series and well on par with the Earth Hive trilogy, my absolute favourite among the Aliens novells!

Many people have complained that this book lacks the classic aspects of facehuggers and queens and they are of course right. But instead you get far better, more fleshed out characters and a better laid out plot. And the story about using the Aliens as guard dogs is actually brilliant! I really appreciated the take on base security considering a possible Xeno-infestion. Perry has clearly been thinking long and hard about how you would go about designing a base to cope with Xenos.

To sum it up, I would say that this book is for those that are ready for a book that takes place IN the Aliens universe rather than solely focusing ON the aliens themselves.

If you are disturbed by sex and filth you should stay clear of this book, Perry is quite detailed about the more "intimate" aspects of some of the characters sex-life.

EDIT
A Wikipedia check-up of S.D. Perry shows that she is actually the daughter of Steve Perry, the author of "Aliens: Earthive". No wonder I liked this book so much =D

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 14 reviews  3.1 out of 5 stars