-
Parasite
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $30.41
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
John W. Campbell Award winner, 2010
Short-listed, The Hugo Best Novel, 2012
NPR's Top 100 Killer Thrillers, 2010
Nominated, Romantic Times' Best SF Novel of the Year, 2010
From New York Times best-selling author Mira Grant comes a vision of a decade in the future, where humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.
We owe our good health to a humble parasite—a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system—even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.
But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives...and will do anything to get them.
More from Mira Grant:
Parasitology
- Parasite
- Symbiont
- Chimera
Newsflesh
- Feed
- Deadline
- Blackout
- Feedback
- Rise
Critic reviews
"A riveting near-future medical thriller that reads like the genetically-engineered love child of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton."—John Joseph Adams
"Readers with strong stomachs will welcome this unusual take on the future."—Kirkus Reviews
"Fans of [the Newsflesh] series will definitely want to check this new book out. But fans of Michael Crichton-style technothrillers will be equally enthralled: as wild as Grant's premise is, the novel is firmly anchored in real-world science and technology."—Booklist
Featured Article: Authors Like Stephen King
Best-selling author Stephen King has published a staggering amount of work, from gripping crime thrillers to epic fantasy series, winning prestigious awards. Yet King’s varied writing is united by common themes, styles, characters, and settings. King fans will recognize a book by him for elements ranging from child characters to atmospheric settings, from eerie psychological horror to New England locations. Undeniably, King’s influence is evident in many of the horror genre’s leading and emerging authors. If you're a fan of Stephen King, these horror authors should be on your radar.
More from the same
Narrator
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Mira Grant
- Length: 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story from the New York Times best-selling author that brought you Feed, Mira Grant. Every week five friends get together to play a game - a game they call the Apocalypse Game. It's a fun time with chips and beer and plotting the end of the world. Except this time, one of them is missing and the stakes are higher than ever before.
-
-
Fun Short Story
- By Bob on 10-22-11
By: Mira Grant
-
Square³
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Rachel F. Hirsch
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We think we understand the laws of physics. We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong. When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. Of all the things physicists had predicted, "the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through" had not made the list. But somehow, that was precisely what happened.
-
-
Excellent story as usual
- By Ahzuri on 10-11-23
By: Mira Grant
-
Rise
- A Newsflesh Collection
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: John Glouchevitch, Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 24 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Collected here for the first time is every piece of short fiction from New York Times best seller Mira Grant's acclaimed Newsflesh series, with two new never-before published novellas and all eight short works available for the first time. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, a man-made virus taking over bodies and minds, filling them with one, unstoppable command...feed.
-
-
So Glad to get a chance to hear these read
- By Amazon Customer on 06-21-16
By: Mira Grant
-
Rolling in the Deep
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.
-
-
A good companion piece
- By L. Jones on 08-29-19
By: Mira Grant
-
Kingdom of Needle and Bone
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Cris Dukehart
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern medicine has conquered or contained many of the diseases that used to carry children away before their time, reducing mortality and improving health. Vaccination and treatment are widely available. There are still monsters left to fight, but the old ones, the simple ones, trouble us no more. Or so we thought. For with the reduction in danger comes the erosion of memory, as pandemics fade from memory into story into fairy tale. Those old diseases can't have been so bad, people say, or we wouldn't be here to talk about them. They're never coming back.... It begins with a fever.
-
-
Holy Sh*t
- By Corinne on 08-24-19
By: Mira Grant
-
Final Girls
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they've been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But . . . can real change come so easily?
-
-
No spoilers
- By lnghrngrl on 04-16-23
By: Mira Grant
-
Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Mira Grant
- Length: 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story from the New York Times best-selling author that brought you Feed, Mira Grant. Every week five friends get together to play a game - a game they call the Apocalypse Game. It's a fun time with chips and beer and plotting the end of the world. Except this time, one of them is missing and the stakes are higher than ever before.
-
-
Fun Short Story
- By Bob on 10-22-11
By: Mira Grant
-
Square³
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Rachel F. Hirsch
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We think we understand the laws of physics. We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong. When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. Of all the things physicists had predicted, "the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through" had not made the list. But somehow, that was precisely what happened.
-
-
Excellent story as usual
- By Ahzuri on 10-11-23
By: Mira Grant
-
Rise
- A Newsflesh Collection
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: John Glouchevitch, Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 24 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Collected here for the first time is every piece of short fiction from New York Times best seller Mira Grant's acclaimed Newsflesh series, with two new never-before published novellas and all eight short works available for the first time. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, a man-made virus taking over bodies and minds, filling them with one, unstoppable command...feed.
-
-
So Glad to get a chance to hear these read
- By Amazon Customer on 06-21-16
By: Mira Grant
-
Rolling in the Deep
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.
-
-
A good companion piece
- By L. Jones on 08-29-19
By: Mira Grant
-
Kingdom of Needle and Bone
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Cris Dukehart
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern medicine has conquered or contained many of the diseases that used to carry children away before their time, reducing mortality and improving health. Vaccination and treatment are widely available. There are still monsters left to fight, but the old ones, the simple ones, trouble us no more. Or so we thought. For with the reduction in danger comes the erosion of memory, as pandemics fade from memory into story into fairy tale. Those old diseases can't have been so bad, people say, or we wouldn't be here to talk about them. They're never coming back.... It begins with a fever.
-
-
Holy Sh*t
- By Corinne on 08-24-19
By: Mira Grant
-
Final Girls
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they've been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But . . . can real change come so easily?
-
-
No spoilers
- By lnghrngrl on 04-16-23
By: Mira Grant
-
Parasite Rex
- Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and the darkest shadows of science. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer takes listeners on a fantastic voyage into the secret universe of these extraordinary life forms that are not only among the most highly evolved on Earth, but make up the majority of life's diversity. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the parasite-riddled war zone of southern Sudan, Zimmer introduces an array of amazing creatures that invade their hosts, prey on them from within, and control their behavior.
-
-
Fascinating and Horrible
- By David A on 10-09-18
By: Carl Zimmer
-
Middlegame
- By: Seanan McGuire
- Narrated by: Amber Benson
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realize it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet. Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan.
-
-
Couldn't Finish
- By Amy Ferrantino on 05-22-19
By: Seanan McGuire
-
Parasites
- The Inside Story
- By: Scott L. Gardner, Judy Diamond, Gabor Racz
- Narrated by: Suzie Althens
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book looks at the weird and wonderful world of parasites, the most abundant form of life on Earth. Parasites come in all forms and sizes and inhabit every free-living organism. Parasitism is now, and always has been, a way to survive under changing environmental conditions. From arctic oceans to tropical forests, Scott Gardner, Judy Diamond, and Gabor Racz investigate how parasites survive and evolve, and how they influence and provide stability to ecosystems.
By: Scott L. Gardner, and others
-
Dead Space
- By: Kali Wallace
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She's surprised to hear from an old friend and fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life—and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history.
-
-
No, it’s not the video game
- By Marcus on 04-08-21
By: Kali Wallace
-
The Light Brigade
- By: Kameron Hurley
- Narrated by: Cara Gee, Jackie Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Light Brigade: it’s what soldiers fighting the war against Mars call the ones who come back...different. Grunts in the corporate corps get busted down into light to travel to and from interplanetary battlefronts. Everyone is changed by what the corps must do in order to break them down into light. Those who survive learn to stick to the mission brief - no matter what actually happens during combat. Dietz, a fresh recruit in the infantry, begins to experience combat drops that don’t sync up with the platoon’s.
-
-
Pseudoscience and a very low faith in the ability of people to know what is good
- By Mitch on 02-18-20
By: Kameron Hurley
-
Leech
- By: Hiron Ennes
- Narrated by: Abigail Thorn
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The doctor’s replacement has a mystery to solve: discovering how the Institute lost track of one of its many bodies. For hundreds of years the Interprovincial Medical Institute has grown by taking root in young minds and shaping them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the apocalyptic horrors their ancestors unleashed.
-
-
Pretentious and Rambling
- By Kara on 11-15-22
By: Hiron Ennes
-
From Below
- By: Darcy Coates
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, a graveyard waits. Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course: a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean's surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life.
-
-
Loved it! Must read!
- By Medic0911 on 05-20-24
By: Darcy Coates
-
Broken Monsters
- By: Lauren Beukes
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Terra Deva, Sunil Mohatra, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit's standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams? If you're Detective Versado's geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you're desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story.
-
-
Wonderful
- By S. Yates on 08-10-17
By: Lauren Beukes
-
In the Shadow of Spindrift House
- By: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. Welcome to Spindrift House. The stories and legends surrounding the decrepit property are countless and contradictory, but one thing is clear: there are people willing to pay a great deal to determine the legal ownership of the house.
-
-
Jinkies! Zoinks Scooby, that wasn't scary at all!
- By Wesley J. Critchfield on 08-17-19
By: Mira Grant
-
Space Opera
- By: Catherynne M. Valente
- Narrated by: Heath Miller
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented - something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding. Once every cycle, the civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix - part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past.
-
-
Not a lot of story (non-specific SPOILER ALERT)
- By Erik B. on 05-22-18
-
The Winter People
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer McMahon
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Kathe Mazur
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter, Gertie. Now, in present day, 19-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara's farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister, Fawn. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that suddenly proves perilous when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished without a trace. Searching for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary....
-
-
Get past the narration of the first chapter
- By Brook on 04-19-14
By: Jennifer McMahon
-
Light from Uncommon Stars
- By: Ryka Aoki
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: To escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate. But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four.
-
-
Awesome with a few hitches.
- By Levi Fay on 10-01-21
By: Ryka Aoki
What listeners say about Parasite
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Don
- 07-15-14
Excellent book, hope to see a continuation soon
What made the experience of listening to Parasite the most enjoyable?
The story itself is exceptional keeping you wanting for more.
Christine Lakin brings the characters to life quite well and makes it quite entertaining.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Tansy. She is so delightfully creepy and random. Funny and scary at the same time.
What about Christine Lakin’s performance did you like?
Christine Lakin brought each of the characters to life, reflecting their own distinct personalities.
Any additional comments?
Hope to see a continuation soon
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Wade Lancaster
- 11-01-19
Unique Futuristic Fright
Takes place in a futuristic world with unique life saving techniques. Not for the squeamish. I really liked the concept, but the execution seemed poor. This author is still growing and getting better. I will continue trying out her new books, but so far all of her books are misses. Her zombie books are a lot better, but she wrote too much and it became a mess in the end. I hope she hasn’t done that with this trilogy. I’ll keep you posted.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CDL
- 07-06-21
Amazing read!
This book kept my attention from the beginning to the end. The science explanations were very detailed yet comprehensible. The narrator is quite remarkable. I look forward to more from both this author and narrator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TimV in Texas
- 09-14-22
A bit too predictable
somewhere about the middle of the book I was coo involved I knew the ending, just to have it end exactly that way. Some scenes were just too convenient and overall it lacked the buildup of tension and suspense.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jennifer Blake (fmr Adams)
- 05-24-23
Enjoyable if not predictable
Enjoyable if not predictable. The story has potential and there are plenty of fun parts.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Yates
- 03-07-18
Solid first entry, some predictability
3.5 stars. Mira Grant certainly has a knack for exciting stories, deep conspiracies, and gross outs. Sal Mitchell (formerly Sally) has a second lease on life. Six years earlier she was in a car accident that, by all accounts, should have proved fatal. But as the daughter of an army colonel who also happens to be the head of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), she has been among the first people to get an intestinal bodyguard (the euphemism for the tape worm in her body, engineered to act as an implant for medical purposes). When she should have died she finds herself waking up, with no memory, and a long road to recovery.
In present day, Sal has spent six years relearning everything from language to coordination to social niceties. She has carved out a new life, though still under the guardianship of her parents (despite her calendar age of 27). She has a satisfying job at an animal shelter, a loving boyfriend who is a parisitologist, a chance to have better relationships with her family than her predecessor enjoyed, oh -- and standing appointments at SymboGen.
SymboGen is the massive and profitable company that has the patent on the intestinal bodyguard, and though they have done all the work to get the PR of being a benevolent do-gooder, Sal is suspicious of them and their intentions to her. In the aftermath of her accident, she has had a host of health issues and has needed extensive therapy (both psychological and behavioral). SymboGen covers the costs and keeps her close, seeming to observe nearly every aspect of her life.
The book moves well and has perfectly serviceable characters. It isn't particularly surprising as it becomes increasingly clear that the intestinal bodyguards aren't as harmless as they are billed, or when SymboGen's intentions are revealed to be firmly focused on the bottom line and not necessarily the public good. A massive company with impure motives? Not particularly groundbreaking. The idea that the majority of earth's inhabitants have swallowed (pun intended) what SymboGen was selling strains credulity a bit (humans have a fairly pronounced ick factor and willingly becoming the symbiote of a parasitic tape worm would have definitely triggered it). But there is an interesting blend of science into this fiction, and as major players are revealed in the book we meet far more interesting characters (though one definitely qualifies as a partial stereotype), and some nicely conflicting aims. The war is coming, and it seems everyone will have to pick sides. First in a trilogy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James
- 07-02-16
It's a bit creepy
The narrator got the voices mixed up a couple of times. There is some foul language & other unnecessary things that detract from the book. The story is excellent & believable enough to give you the chills. Man likes to play with things he shouldn't.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- polonerw
- 09-24-16
Interesting concept, although scary if you consider the possibilities
I work in medicine, so the when I read the summary I found the health promoting parasite concept intriguing and knew I had to read it.
I enjoyed the reader and the plot kept me listening and interested to the very end. Overall a good read, but you have to pay attention, as it goes back and forth at times. I would definitely recommend it, and am looking forward to the sequel.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jones525
- 11-22-22
Tanzie!
What a great character! She loves to sled, Shoot her gun and drink Hawaiian Punch (The Red Kind). What's not to like!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fan o' the Vamps
- 02-06-17
Series Endings
POSSIBLE SPOILERS I give this three stars only because the ending is drawn out a bit beyond my patience, even as it embraces the internal struggle and denial of the narrator. The big reveal is not a reveal, but something we've known for quite a while. Still, the characters are well drawn, the dialogue is excellent, and the performance was great. I'll read more when the next book is available.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful