Scott Sigler - Infected

Across America a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.

Working under the government's shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips crisscrosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind these deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common -- they have been contaminated by a bioengineered parasite, shaped by a complexity far beyond the limits of known science.

Meanwhile Perry Dawsey -- a hulking former football star now resigned to life as a cubicle-bound desk jockey -- awakens one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices ... he is infected.

The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war Perry must wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder.

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Who doesn't remember Sinatra's song I've got you under my skin (I've got you deep in the heart of me.So deep in my heart, that you're really a part of me).
Something similar feels Perry Dawson when he develops first a rash and later triangle shaped growths with eyes. It gets worse when he hears voices in his head and these voices begin to communicate with him, demanding and wanting to be fed. Struggling with the voices that become a part of him he tries his best to withstand their demands but he gets weaker with each passing hour.

Dew Philipps has sworn revenge to the person responsible for the death of his much younger partner. The person who killed his partner is dead but was infected with something the CIA and the leading epidemiologist Margaret Montoya don't know much about. They know the infected humans have turned into paranoid killing machines but their dead bodies always decompose faster as the remains can be gathered or processed for further examination. They need a live example to learn the secret about this disease if it is one and feel their wishes fulfilled when Perry sends an email to a website set up by the CIA to find more infected humans.

No one knows yet that the seeds fell from heaven, and invaded human bodies across America. That these humans have become hosts to something so finely engineered that the seeds slowly overwrite the human DNA and create something foreign to make the bodies their own incubator.

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It took me a bit to get into the story and the writers style but I got largely excited how the story around Perry Dawson unfolded and how precise Scott Sigler described what happened to Perry and how he tried to get rid of the triangles on his body.
The reality of what happens in this novel is scary, the used science even more scarier.
I was able to put myself into Perry's character so easily, first for feeling sympathy when he began scratching himself (who hasn't had a rash in his life ?) and later acted to the voices demands in his head.

Sigler is a new author for me and I can't wait to read the continuation of Infected, named Contagious. Worthwhile when you enjoy science fiction and aren't afraid of developing a rash.

Also it needs to be mentioned that the title of certain chapters were just hilarious. :-)

Sigler offers his books as podcasts free on his website or you can also visit randomhouse and listen to the whole book online.

Rating:
Visit Scott Sigler.

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Crown (April 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307406105
ISBN-13: 978-0307406101