PARASITE

About a third of the way into this novel, I became aware of the dreaded words on page 502, “To be continued…” Mira Grant, are you kidding me? I don’t like reading trilogies unless all three books are available to read now. By the time the next novel comes out, I will have forgotten this one. I know that I can go to Wikipedia for a recap, but most of the time I’ve already lost interest. Oh well, I should have been aware of her tendencies with the previously published, The Newsflesh Trilogy . Okay, enough said. The first novel is a success, but  it makes the reader wonder if these ‘tapewormed- sleepwalkers’ are going to morph into ordinary zombies. Mira, don’t do it, because what you have here is a fresh idea that should only get better in book two and three. I, for one, am tired of zombie novels. Keep your thoughts on what you started and develop it further. Your last chapter was dynamite waiting to ignite. I thought that was where the story was heading, but I wasn’t sure. The future readers will know what I’m talking about after they get to the end of this intoxicating work.

It seems that SymboGen Corporation has developed a tapeworm that once implanted into a human body shields the person from sickness and actually dispenses drugs to fight any disease. Dr. Banks, Dr. Jablonsky and Dr. Shanti Cale are the three architects of this ‘Intestinal Bodyguard’ that has been ingested by most of the population. The year is 2027. The protagonist is Sally Mitchell, who had a horrible car accident, which left her in a near plug-pulling state, until her tapeworm somehow pulled her out of her coma. She was twenty at the time of the crash, and now six years have passed. She has no memory of her first twenty years and had to be re-taught everything as if she were a baby. Dr. Banks of SymboGen has taken an interest in her case and monitors her health and life at no expense to Sal (she changed her name since she has no memory of her first twenty years). Sal has a Dr. Bank’s arranged job at a animal shelter and has a boyfriend, Dr. Nathan Kim, who is a parasitologist at a San Francisco hospital. Sal has ‘night terror dreams’ of being in a hot and warm dark place with the distant sound of drums. Nonetheless, all’s well until she and Nathan run into a strange man and his dog in a park. He seems to be suddenly aggressive while sleepwalking. Sal and Nathan leave with the dog, who becomes their lovable pet named Beverly. Dr. Kim finds out that there are many similar cases nationwide. He discovers that a wand with a purple light run over your skin can detect whether you have an parasite infection, or not.

Meanwhile Dr. Shanti Cole has disappeared. Dr. Jablonsky has committed suicide. What’s going on? Sal and Nathan meet the mysterious Adam and Tansy. Who are they and why does Adam call Nathan... brother? Are implants taking over their human host? Sal’s father, Colonel Alfred Mitchell, director of research at a U.S. Army research institute for infectious diseases gets involved in a big way. So in book one, Mira Grant has introduced the eight to ten main characters (good job). We know that the originally beneficial tapeworms seem to be revolting and taking over the brains of some human host. We suspect that there is a chief tapeworm, but I will not guess who that is at this time, although I think I know who it is. This is a well written piece of horror/urban fantasy from Seanan McGuire (writing as Mira Grant). She managed to keep me wide awake and feeling empathy for the characters while reading this thriller. A writer can’t do any better than that. I highly recommend this novel, but with the caveat that two more books are coming before we meet the denouement.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: According to Barnes&Noble, this isn’t the first parasite themed novel. Parasite Eve  by Hideaki Sena (translated by Tyran Grillo) was a massive hit. “When Dr. Nagashima loses his wife in a mysterious car crash, he is overwhelmed with grief but also an eerie sense of purpose; he becomes obsessed with reincarnating his dead wife. Her donated kidney is transplanted into a young girl with a debilitating disorder, but the doctor also feels compelled to keep a small sample of her liver in his laboratory. When these cells start mutating rapidly, a consciousness bent on determining its own fate awakens, bent on becoming the new dominant species on earth."

"Parasite Eve was the basis of the hugely popular videogame of the same name in the U.S. and has been cinematized in Japan. Hideaki Sena Ph.D. Pharmacology, was still a graduate student when his first novel, Parasite Eve, turned him into a pop cultural heavyweight. He became the first recipient of the Japan Horror Award and is credited--alongside Koji Suzuki, whose Spiral appeared the same summer--with initiating a smart, new style of horror writing in Japan. Subsequent novels include the Japan Sci-Fi Award winner Brain Valley and Tomorrow's Robots. Dr. Sena, who lectures on microbiology and genre fiction, lives in Sendai, Japan."



What’s the best zombie novel? What about, The Last Bastion of the Living  by Rhiannon Frater. Goodreads.com says : “The Bastion was humanity's last hope against the fearsome undead creatures known as the Inferi Scourge. A fortified city with a high wall, surrounded by lush land rich with all the resources needed to survive, protected by high mountain summits, and a massive gate to secure the only pass into the valley, the Bastion became the last stronghold of the living on earth. But one fateful day, the gate failed and the Inferi Scourge destroyed the human settlements outside the walls and trapped the survivors inside the city. Now decades later, the last remaining humans are struggling to survive in a dying city as resources and hope dwindle."

"Vanguard Maria Martinez has lived her whole life within the towering walls of steel. She yearns for a life away from the overcrowded streets, rolling blackouts, and food shortages, but there is no hope for anyone as long as the Inferi Scourge howl outside the high walls. Her only refuge from the daily grind is in the arms of her lover, Dwayne Reichardt, an officer in the Bastion Constabulary. Both are highly-decorated veterans of the last disastrous push against the Inferi Scourge. Their secret affair is her only happiness."

"Then one day Maria is summoned to meet with a mysterious representative from the Science Warfare Division and is offered the opportunity to finally destroy the Inferi Scourge in the valley and close the gate. The rewards of success are great, but she will have to sacrifice everything, possibly even her life, to accomplish the ultimate goal of securing the future of humanity and saving it from extinction.”