Sally Mitchell is a medical miracle. After a devastating car crash left her in a coma, doctors didn’t expect her to recover and pronounced her brain dead. So when she suddenly opens her eyes and sits up in her hospital bed, confused and disoriented, she becomes a marvel, a wonder of modern science. Her impossible return to life is credited to the genetically engineered tapeworm that lives within her, created by Symbogen, a purpose-grown parasite that helps keep millions of people around the world healthy. The only kicker is that Sally has no memory of who she is.
As she begins to piece her life back together, it quickly becomes apparent that she’s not the girl she used to be. Kind and sensitive where she used to be rough and abrasive, the shadow of her past self looms over her like a dark cloud. Symbogen are constantly running tests on her, her parents won’t let her move out on her own and her accident has left her with a crippling fear of cars. Despite everything, Sal builds herself a fragile peace within the animal shelter she works for and the company of her boyfriend, a doctor who understands her many conditions but doesn’t judge her for her shortcomings. Nothing lasts forever and her delicate shell is broken as a new, terrifying disease sweeps the country; everywhere, people are losing the ability to function, shutting down and turning into mindless sleepwalkers. Baffled, medical institutes struggle to find the cause but it’s not until the sleepwalkers begin to turn violent that wild theories emerge left, right and centre. Theories that sweep Sal into the middle of the chaos and, if some of the theories are correct, immense danger.
Parasite is a spine-tingling journey that throws you from one disaster to the next with skillful plot twists and insane action sequences. There’s much more to be discovered in this novel than is apparent on the surface and once you dig down to the roots, you’ll find chilling tales that will keep you up all night wanting to know more.
