I was shelving in the Fantasy section the other day, and I stumbled across Peeps, by Scott Westerfeld. I’d checked out some of his books before, but they were from the Teen collection, and just didn’t really hold my interest. Peeps is a whole other story, though. In short, it’s about parasites. In this case, the term “peeps” refers to parasite positives, i.e. people who have been infected with a particular disease. Main character Cal, a biology major, has a vast knowledge of various nasty parasites, but he’s primarily concerned with one that’s plagued humans for eons: vampirism. Cal himself is infected, but slightly immune; he’s not a full-blown vampire, but he is a carrier for the disease. As such, he’s been enlisted as a hunter for a secret organization known as the Night Watch; his mission is to track down the women he inadvertently infected before he was aware of his condition. All goes well until he is sent after Morgan, his progenitor. His search leads him to the apartment of a beautiful girl named Lace, who’s immediately suspicious of Cal. As he searches her building for clues to Morgan’s whereabouts, he begins stumbling upon very disturbing things: rats, cats, and a very evil presence. And unfortunately for Lace, she’s right in the middle of it.

A compelling read, with an interesting spin on vampires. I also learned way more about parasites than I ever wanted to know.