I must admit up front that I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by Mira Grant's FEED when I first received it, several years ago, for the purposes of providing a complete and honest review. Undoubtedly one of the best books I've ever had the opportunity to review, FEED quickly escalated Grant's Newsflesh trilogy as one of my top five favorite series EVER -- which undoubtedly left me head-over-heels EXCITED for the release of PARASITE, the first in Grant's PARASITOLOGY series. 
 Right at the start of this novel, the reader is introduced to Sally Mitchell, a vibrant young woman who now goes by Sal after the mind blowing even that forever changed the course of Sal's life -- and of the history of humanity itself. The first person to ever have her life saved from the insertion of a parasitic tapeworm into her body, Sally miraculously recovered from a horrific traffic accident that most certainly should have claimed her life -- although, she forever lost all memories of everything occurring before her emergency medical intervention. 
 And now, it is routine practice for humans to be host to parasites, who have been medically manipulated to provide complete pharmacological care to their hosts without the aid of former prescriptions or procedures that dominated the medical field in the past. Sally knows that her ties to SymboGen -- the company that introduced her life saving tapeworm -- will lead to her eternal role as a medical guinea pig, and she will spend the rest of her life being observed and tested in order to support and expand the ever changing industry of parasitology in the realm of the medical world. 
 Except, things seem to be going startlingly amiss lately, with healthy parasite hosts tragically succumbing to what the media has branded a dangerous new sleeping sickness -- one that leaves the human host in a zombie-like trance that soon turns violent, before ultimately destroying the brain and breath of the unsuspecting host. Unsure of the origin or spread of this dangerous new disease, parasite hosts everywhere grow terrified of this mysterious looming threat. What has happened to the life-saving tapeworms that has caused them to malicious turn against their own human hosts? 
 Of course, SymboGen has the most to lose with the eruption of recent events, as citizens everywhere become desperate for information. And, Sal's own boyfriend, a parasitologist named Nathan, may be closer to these horrifying answers than Sal would have ever expected. 
 Is it really possible for parasites to join forces and assert their own demands, at the expense of the very bodies that provide them life? How far will SymboGen *really* go in order to protect its profitable medical miracle, not to mention its corporate image? 
 And, can Sal get to the bottom of the cryptical sleeping sickness before it's too late? 
 Undoubtedly, Grant has raised the bar SO high from her magnificent Newsflesh Series that anything -- even her own future works -- could likely never really be a fair match. With my hopes and expectations being so astronomical going into this novel, I was actually pretty worried that I would feel disappointed, which almost made me reluctant to even accept PARASITE for review purposes. 
 But, my fears turned out to be completely wrong, and I definitely loved book one of the PARASITOLOGY series -- which makes me INCREDIBLY impatient for book two! 
 The same charm of magnificent character development and fantastic plot twists was certainly present in PARASITE, although I admit that I felt a tiny bit burdened by some of the slowness of the story at parts, as well as the constant reference of the odd quotes from the obscure children's book that Nathan's mother liked to quote every time she was present. While I was pretty certain by the halfway point of the novel that I knew how PARASITE would end, I can't deny that I was still a little excited and fulfilled by the inevitable revelation that Sal makes right before the close of the story. 
 I *HATE* this part -- of waiting months and months for the second installment to be released in this series -- but isn't that always a sign of a really good first novel? If you're reading this review and have NOT read The Newsflesh Series -- I *DEMAND* you go NOW and indulge yourself in a creepy new escape. And, for anyone who has already adored Grant's first series -- as well as those who love creepy medical dramas with horrific sci-fi-ish twists and turns, I definitely recommend PARASITE as well. 
 Thank you, times a million, to the publisher for allowing me the chance to preview a copy of this novel for the purposes of giving a truthful review. I do plan to purchase my own copy shortly, most definitely!