Predator: Flesh and Blood

Predator Novels

by Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger

In 1987, the first Predator movie was released, garnering an Oscar, huge audiences and an instantly loyal fan base. Five years later came the first of the best-selling Predator novels. What accounted for the success of the series? It combined seemingly disparate genres - science fiction, action and horror - with unforgettable characters for a fresh experience. In this novel by New York Times bestsellers, Michael Friedman and frequent writing partner Robert Greenberger, humans have all but destroyed the earth, creating an opportunity for unscrupulous moneymakers to take advantage of the destruction. One family, the Ciejek clan, have made their fortune exploiting Earth's misfortunes. But with power comes corruption. The members of the Ciejek clan are at each other's throats, enlisting the help of the fearsome Predators to settle the score. When the Predators arrive, however, the brutality they unleash is far beyond what the Ciejek family could have imagined.

Genres: Science Fiction, Novels, Aliens, Horror, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2007

About the author

Michael Jan Friedman is an author of more than seventy books of fiction and nonfiction, half of which are in the Star Trek universe. Eleven of his titles have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list. Friedman has also written for network and cable television and radio, and scripted nearly 200 comic books, including his original DC superhero series, the Darkstars.

Reviews

[the tony. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, entertaining easy read. At first I was confused by plethora of characters, trying to figure out who was who and what side they were on, turns out it didn’t matter because they were just part of the body count with no character development.

I was at first concerned the perspective of the Predator(s) would humanize them too much and not leaving anything to the imagination, however I felt the author did a good job of still making them vicious predators while still giving a little perspective on their thought process. It was just enough info on the logic behind their hunts but yet not enough to ruin it.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that most Aliens and Predator novels all seem a little similar. Probably because every one of them has a lot of humans getting killed by the creatures, with just a few humans (if not a single human) surviving in most cases.

That being said, they are still entertaining and this was no different. We have two cousins that are both heirs to the family fortune. One's good, one's evil. The evil cousin comes up with the idea of using the Predators to get rid of the good cousin. As you can imagine, things don't go as planned.

[Will Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what it was I enjoyed this book but an issue with this one that plagues a lot of these is most of the characters just felt like bodies more than actual developed characters. I found myself constantly getting members of the larger group of humans in the story confused with one another. On a positive note though I did enjoy how the tensions with the crime family was juxtaposed to the tensions that the two Hunter clans were having when they were trying to join together as one unit.

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so this is a very mixed review. Most of the book is a slaughter-fest. Most of the characters are cannon-fodder.
BUT, there is redeeming and interesting parts. For one, the author took the time to elevate the predators. We got to see through the predator eyes not just during the hunt, but the hierarchy of the clan itself. That this was two clans trying to form into one, the predator internal conflicts and beliefs were fascinating to read, and I liked that.

[BookMarc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Friedman and Greenberger...those two would fit in great at McDonalds with names like that.
Remember the movie, 'Predator'? You know, the one with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, that happens to be one of my all-time favorite movies. I loved the way the alien killing machine hunted down and slaughtered each of Arnie's team but was outwitted at the end. That movie was followed up with 'Predator 2' and due to one of them being killed in hand-to-hand combat with Danny Glover the aura was shattered and I never felt the same about the franchise again. Then the predators became really week after we found out their Achilles Heel...young girls. Aye, nothing can make a predator realize defeat like these words do, "I'm Chris Hansen for Dateline NBC. What are you doing here?" Oh, hold on, wrong kind of predator. My bad.
So there I was perusing Ebay when I seen a lot of four Predator books and thinking back to my love of the original movie I decided to bid on the books, with seven seconds to go of course, in the hope that the novels were better than the motion picture offerings we have endured since the success of the original movie. And you know, the first of these books that I recently completed, 'Predator: Flesh and Blood' wasn't too bad. From the back of the book...


"Humans have all but destroyed the earth. Relentless in their pursuit of exploitable natural resources, they now move through the outer planets, leaving a path of destruction behind them. One family - the Ciejek clan - has seized control and grown rich from their unconscionable plunders. But with power comes corruption, and one son flees to ravaged earth in an effort to rebuild not only the planet, but his own tainted life. His respite is cut short, however, when the family patriarch dies and the prodigal son is drawn back into the snake pit for the reading of the will, intent on preserving what little dignity is left of his father's memory. The surviving members of the Ciejek clan are at each other's throats, father against son, cousin against cousin. One side enlists the help of the fearsome Predators to settle the score...but the savagery the warriors unleash is far beyond what even the Ciejek family could have possibly imagined."


The first major impression I got from reading the first few chapters of this book was how many characters there were and keeping up with who was who became a little bit difficult. It didn't help that no-one seemed to have a conventional name (Andar, Sildar, Abelkis, Laban etc) and these weren't even the Predators! However, even though it took quite a while I finally got comfortable with who was who.
Another issue I had with the characters was that I never really found myself caring about them and who would eventually triumph. Andar is the main character but he's very bland and I felt no connection to him which led to me cheering on his evil cousin who was trying to kill him when the author wanted me to build up sympathy for Andar. Then I found myself cheering on the Predators trying to kill the evil cousin. Then I found myself wanting the Predators to just slaughter everyone. Ever notice how the Predator looks like Lil Wayne?!?
The Predators. There are two clans. These clans mirror the two warring families that the story revolves around and so we have "good" Predators who have some morals and some "bad" Predators who just want to kill. As with the humans I found myself having no connection for the moralistic Predators (if you're familiar with Star Trek:The Next Generation then the moralistic bunch are akin to Worf whereas the out and out killers are like Klingons in general...no surprise then that both these authors have written several ST:TNG novels) because I see them as killing machines and having a Predator start justifying and reasoning his actions just didn't make sense to me.
Although the book had its problems, I'm not looking for a lesson on keeping our planet green in a Predator novel, the story wasn't too bad and the action scenes were fun and well written. In fact there was certainly enough in this book that led to a decent read but its flaws are many and they detracted from the overall enjoyment all the way through to the predictable ending. In regards to the ending, with about a third of the book remaining I was thinking, "Please, don't go there. Don't end that way." And then it went there and ended like that. :(

[Benji's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. I recently read both Predator: South China Sea and Predator: Turnabout and for a while, I was holding off on this one. When reading everyone's favorite Predator books, this one wasn't often on those lists, so before reading, I imagined it was because it's not a very good book, but I glad t discover was wrong.

I actually liked this one. Maybe more than South China Sea, but I'm still on the fence about Turnabout. This seemed to have brought back Predator to his horror roots, with paranoia at the helm, never knowing where, what or when a Predator will attack.

I love how much this novel focused on the perspective of the Predators. Possibly, this had the most seen from their side, with the exception of anthologies, "If it Bleeds" and "Eyes of the Demon", I believe.

So what's it about?

A family's father/grandfather dies and cousin Derek becomes greedy and contacts Predators to kill off some of his family, so that when the Will is read, he will get all of the moolah (money). However, the Predators are more brutal than he expected and even start killing off some of his men. I think this book was probably the most graphic of all the Predator novels I've read, in terms of violence, but other than that, I'd recommend for a good scifi thriller.

[peachrings · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I saw some complaints about this book “humanizing” the predators too much, which only made me want to read it, since I knew that meant it had insights into their culture (or at least this author's take) and scenes from their perspective, and I'm one of the Predator fans who loves that stuff. I was very satisfied in that regard! I also liked that the humans weren’t the usual two-dimensional “soldiers or cops” characters. I get tired of the standard predator story that goes something like "battle-hardened group of colonial marines encounters a mysterious killer alien, readers must pretend we don't know exactly what it is and how this is going to end." Those are stale by now, and this was a nice change of pace.

[Edwinm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decetion, betrayal, and Predators meet in this bloody and exciment filled sci-fi book. In this book earth is is in horroribly condition and the members of Ciejek family are coping with it and them reuniting after such a long time. However each member has a few skeletons in their closets and eventually it turns into a game of survival of the fittest with one side enlisting the help of the race of aliens known as Predators. Anyone who enjoys Predators, family battles, and deception at every turn will love this book as much as I do.

[Mical · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Didn't particularly care for it. We have a guy trying to dodge his mafia ties only to be set up by a cliche' cousin who wants to use the Predator race to kill him and everyone else on the planet. Fairly predictable, and I didn't care for the depictions of the Predator's society and motivations. Just not to my liking. No offense to the author.

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75. gets a lot better in second half. characters didn't intrigue me as much as some others, but the plot and action and obstacles are fun. I still enjoy Predator tales set on contemporary Earth more. but well worth a read for fans.