Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

When Cal meets Morgan, a hottie who wants to take him home, he hardly imagines that he is losing his virginity to a monster. The more correct term is "peep" short for parasite-positive (sounds nicer than vampire, doesn't it?). He's been infected with a parasite that is all consuming. It increases his appetite for meat to the point that he consumes steaks like they are going off the market. He can suddenly see is complete darkness, and has a super active sense of smell. Without working out, his strength seems superhuman...what is going on? Oh, and one more major side effect? He is seriously horny - all the time.

That's the parasite's objective: reproduction. It wants Cal to pass it on. After his encounter with Morgan, and a few other poor unsuspecting girls, Cal meets the Night Watch. Their job is to educate new carriers of the disease about their new contagion status, and their responsibility out in the world. It turns out that most peeps go totally wacko bonkers. They become the monster; the parasite is in control. Cal is one of the lucky ones: he has the benefits without the drawbacks AKA he's a "carrier." Think Typhoid Mary, he's walking around capable of passing the disease to others, but he himself has none of the bad side effects. His new job as a hunter is to find the ones who go wrong.

Like his ex Sarah, for instance. She suffers from the anathema: hating everything she once loved. This is where some of the vampire legends come in, namely everyone used to love the symbol of the cross. When they were turned, that became a nearly universal anathema for those infected. Sunlight is another one of those, but peep eyes are also more sensitive to sunlight in general. Sarah's big one is Elvis.

After finding all his other partners, he's back to Morgan, the one who turned him. Getting a clue, he checks out the bar he met her in, and her apartment building. With a little creativity, he manages to get one of the tenants to let him into her flat. That's when he learns that Morgan's entire floor was vacated, and rented out at a considerably cheaper rate, right around the time he was infected. Checking out the basement, he finds a massive brood of carrier rats...and a peep cat?! There's no such thing as peep cats!

There is something funny going on, no doubt about it. Records doesn't tell him that they found Morgan's house. Lace, the girl he befriends after investigating her apartment, is a journalism student. She's the one who tells him where Morgan is, and he is beyond surprised to find that she must be a carrier too. Morgan is having a dinner party when he spies on her from above. Something seriously weird is going on! Can Cal and Lace get to the bottom of this conspiracy before our world is turned upside down?

Told masterfully with alternating chapters on real parasites, Westerfeld orchestrates a truly original kind of vampire story, if such a thing is possible. It will keep you interested, and push you into reading the sequel. Recommended for fans of horror, but not for the easily squeamish.

“Haven't you ever known someone rejected by a lover, who, consumed by rage and jealousy, never lets go? They look on from a distance, unseen but boiling inside. The emotion never seems to tire, this hatred mixed with intense obsession, even with a kind of twisted love,” (Westerfeld pg. 33, 2005).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld (Peeps, Book 2)
Wither by  Lauren DeStephano (Chemical Garden, Book 1)
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (Monstrumologist, Book 1)

Westerfeld, Scott. (2005). Peeps: A novel. New York: Razorbill.