Hello everyone! I hope you are finding enjoyment in all the ways that matter to you. This is your reminder to step away from the internet (for at least a little bit). Before I begin, I have to say that I weirdly stumbled across this book. I had never heard of Darcy Coates until I saw her books occupying most of the same space as Stephen King’s books. Obviously, I had to give her a shot for the spooky season. This was the only book I found of hers that wasn’t set in a haunted house. Please let me know if you have read other books by her and enjoyed them. In the meanwhile, let’s talk about Parasite. (Minor trigger warnings at the bottom)

A small crew on a remote station on a desolate planet stumbles across a parasitic alien creature that wears its victim’s skin and can mimic them perfectly. Humanity is blindsided by this invasion, leaving little hope of getting rid of this deadly species. It is up to a small group of unique individuals to fight against the ever-growing threat or face total extinction.

This book was very much Ridley Scott’s Alien meets John Carpenter’s The Thing. Overall, I enjoyed the plot of the book as I love space/sci-fi horror, but can’t seem to find a lot of novels in this genre. Coates certainly delivers a fast-paced and suspenseful narrative that made me want to keep reading. It was very plot-driven, though, so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to get attached to any one character. In fact, this novel was more like three stories mashed together and I kind of wished the novel just focused on one particular part. There also isn’t a ton of scientific explanation or an attempt at it, if you like that in your sci-fi novels. At the end of the day, I did enjoy this novel for what it gives and would recommend it if you want something more unique to read in the horror genre.

Trigger Warning: Violence, Gore