Interesting prelude to a vampire apocalypse. I did enjoy the more biological explanations and the tumorous horror aspects. I didn't like the slowness of the first half of the novel so much, but things sped up quite nicely, logically, and satisfyingly. 
 Although, honestly, I probably would have liked to see a different kind of trope develop rather than descending into the vampire's lair, but oh well. 
 It was a fun read. The horror was real. There was nothing tongue in cheek about anything. I appreciated how realistic it remained. A few scenes were quite powerful and disturbing, even to my jaded self.