Criminal Enterprise

And so we come to the latest and so far, the last of the "Alien" novel published by Dark Horse, and this time, the novel, "Criminal Enterprise", is written by the established media and action writer S. D. Perry, and who is the first author in the revived series that has written in the Alien universe before. As she has had a higher ratio of hits than misses, it was a good bet that she would probably do a decent job this time around with the Aliens. "Criminal Enterprise" is without a doubt my favorite in this series. Now, regardless of what some fans may think, the Aliens are like zombies, being mindless as a whole, they are rather thin material to hang a long story onto. So, for them to work, they have to be part of a larger and more involved story, and Perry this time around manages to meld the science fiction action plot with the crime story, two of my favorite genres. As "Criminal Enterprise" opens, Tommy Chase is on his way to the planet Fantasia to save his loser brother Pete again from another jam that Pete has gotten himself into. This time though, there is a problem. Fantasia is a planet that is operating for the sole reason to be a headquarters for a crime cartel to cook up illegal drugs. Besides being populated a large number of people to cook up these illegal and highly addictive drugs, the cartel management has employed a large populace to fly shuttles, entertain the employees, and to be "security". In the end though, Fantasia is actually only one stronghold where everything is situated, and while management guards Fantasia's outer space parameter, a large populace of Aliens "guard" the planet itself. The trouble is that Fantasia's Aliens are typical Aliens in that any animal is prey, and these Aliens are only barely held in check by Fantasia's staff and technology. Also, anybody who breaks the rules of Fantasia gets to take a short walk to a nasty death outside with the cartel's head representative pets. This man, Trace Berdella, also likes to make a spectacle out of feeding the Aliens, as every couple of weeks he has a crew trot outside to hand feed cows to the bugs, always with the good chance that the crew won't get back to port. When Tommy, along with a bunch of other newbies, arrive at Fantasia they are met by Berdella, his mistress Didi , and two of his main sycophants. Berdella's mistress and sex slave Didi is an artist, and held in thrall to Berdella and Fantasia by her drug habit. Berdella is in love with Didi, but he is also perversely in love with forcing her to pick out lovers and having them perform sex with him watching, and that is why Berdella and Didi are there, to pick out a new living sex toy to play with. Tommy meanwhile has a low opinion of those on Fantasia, Pete doesn't, and then things get tricky as both get friendly with Didi. While Trace likes his fun and games, he is also a jealous and possessive man, and when Trace finds out Tommy and Pete's involvement with Didi, he decides to have

not a bad book about the seedy underworld of drug smuggling on a world called fantasia. drugs? aliens? why don't they make a movie with this book? would be way better than the new homogenized crap they turned both the aliens and predator series into.

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

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