Parasite
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4.0 • 18 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling author Mira Grant comes a vision of a decade in the future, where humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.
We owe our good health to a humble parasite — a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system — even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.
But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.
"A riveting near-future medical thriller that reads like the genetically-engineered love child of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton." —John Joseph Adams
More from Mira Grant:
Parasitology
Parasite
Symbiont
Chimera
Newsflesh
Feed
Deadline
Blackout
Feedback
Rise
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the year 2021, a car crash leaves 20-year-old Sally Mitchell amnesiac. She owes her life to the apparently benign implant of a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by SymboGen. Six years after the crash, as Sally seeks to recover her identity, outbreaks of sinister "sleepwalking" incidents ignored by the media fuel Grant's mordant satire of the corporate public relations world. SymboGen's widely accepted patented Intestinal Bodyguard tapeworm suppresses illnesses, but Sally's boyfriend, parasitologist Nathan Kim, wonders what the cost is. A running series of comments by Symbogen cofounder Dr. Steven Banks and his renegade former colleague Dr. Shanti Cale provide a parallel to Sally's desperate quest for information, as SymboGen's good intentions become increasingly suspect. Grant extends the zombie theme of her Newsflesh trilogy to incorporate thoughtful reflections on biomedical issues that are both ominously challenging and eerily plausible. Sally is a complex, compassionate character, well suited to this exploration of trust, uncertainty, and the price of progress.
Customer Reviews
Wish I had read a few of the bad reviews first
I liked the idea of this book, and there are a lot of glowing reviews floating around. That made the book even more disappointing. I've always hated the plot device of withheld information, and this book uses massive amounts of that plot device. By Chapter 16, I hated every character in the book, and wished they would all get eaten. If you like hate-reading, this is the book for you. If you want a well crafted story with at least one likeable character, look elsewhere.