Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

I've been reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, but the book is so long that I decided to take a break from it and read a shorter, easier book.

Peeps is about Cal Thompson, a vampire hunter of sorts. He hunts down "peeps", people who are infected with a parasite that causes vampire-like tendencies (dislike of sunlight, craving blood, superhuman senses, etc.). The reason Cal does this is because he also has the parasite, but he is a carrier, not a full-blown "peep". He doesn't have all of the yucky side effects. During an investigation, Cal meets a girl named Lace who makes it difficult for Cal to stick to his forced life of celibacy. One kiss could turn Lace into a "peep". Cal and Lace investigate a series of disappearances and strange things start to happen.

I've been reading a lot of Scott Westerfeld books lately and haven't been too impressed with the last few, but I liked Peeps a lot more. It was an interesting take on a vampire story; a lot different than the usual. Every other chapter has information about real-life parasites. It's sort of gross, but he writes it in a way that makes it funny so it dulls the gross factor. I really enjoyed this book. The story was good and kept my attention and it was funny. Now I guess I'll get back to the monstrosity known as The Pillars of the Earth. It's over 900 pages!

4 out of 5 stars