The Predator (novel)


The Predator, published in 1996 and written by K. A. Applegate, is the fifth book in the Animorphs series. It is narrated by Marco.

Plot summary

Two years before the events of the novel, Marco's mother vanished in a boating accident; her body was never found. Marco's father has fallen into deep depression and Marco is having second thoughts about fighting the Yeerks, as he doesn't want his father to lose him too.
Ax wishes to return to the Andalite home world, and to do so, he needs a ship. He intends to build a communicator to broadcast a Yeerk distress signal and lure in a Yeerk ship which he can then hijack. He, Jake, and Marco go to the mall to buy the equipment to build a communicator. He finds the food court and runs wild sampling food left over on tables. He is chased by security guards and, frightened, demorphs in the middle of the mall in front of many people. He, Jake, and Marco run out of the mall and into a nearby grocery store where they are chased by Controllers. They morph into lobsters and hide in a tank. They later narrowly escape being boiled alive.
Ax builds his device, but needs a zero-space transponder. Vice principal Hedrick Chapman regularly communicates with Visser Three from his basement, so the Animorphs morph into ants and retrieve the Z-space transponder that he uses. As they are returning from Chapman's house, they are almost killed when attacked by ants from another colony. They are able to demorph in time.
Ax completes his device, and broadcasts the signal, but the Yeerks have changed their distress frequencies, and, sensing a trap, they set one of their own. The Animorphs are captured and taken aboard the Yeerk mother ship, where Visser One is visiting. Visser One confronts them and her host body is revealed to be Marco's mother, who is alive after all. The Animorphs are put in a cell, but they are freed by one of Visser One's Hork-Bajir; Visser One and Visser Three are rivals, and Visser One wanted to disgrace Visser Three. The Animorphs reach an escape pod and return to Earth.

Marco's father returns to work. Marco asks Jake, the only one who had previously met Marco's mom, not to tell any of the others about Visser One. Marco resolves to continue fighting the Yeerks, as he now has a personal motivation to free his mother.

Contributions to the series' story arc

MorpherMorphs acquiredMorphs used
JakeAmerican lobster, black garden antAmerican lobster, black garden ant, peregrine falcon, Siberian tiger
RachelBlack garden antBlack garden ant, bald eagle, African elephant
CassieBlack garden antBlack garden ant, osprey, wolf
MarcoAmerican lobster, black garden antSilverback gorilla, American lobster, black garden ant, osprey
AxAmerican lobster, black garden ant, northern harrierHuman, American lobster, black garden ant, northern harrier

TV adaptation

The Predator was adapted as part of the Animorphs TV series, which aired on Nickelodeon and YTV between the fall of 1998 and the spring of 2000. The fifth book was covered by the fourteenth and fifteenth episodes, "The Leader", along with plot lines from The Stranger. The TV episodes did not follow the books faithfully, altering many aspects of the characters' roles within the Animorphs, the events in the war against the Yeerks, and added plot lines that were not present in the books.
Scholastic re-released The Predator with a new lenticular cover in December 2011.