I think these books appeal to teens for a variety of reasons. I mean, who doesn't want to think about all the cool things you'd see if you could live forever? Or think about how awesome it'd be to have a cool power? Teens already have a sense of invincibility, so paranormal books in which many of the coolest characters are immortal can be a huge draw.
This was a vampire novel with a twist: vampirism is spread through intimate contact and, wait for it....cat breath by a parasite. So unique!
Cal is a peep, he was given the parasite during a one night stand while he was drunk. He is different, though, because he doesn't show symptoms. There are several others like him, although he is not especially common, and the peeps who don't exhibit symptoms become peep hunters for the Night Watch. They go out and hunt the peeps that are considered dangerous. Cal is in the midst of hunting down all the girls that he gave the parasite before he was aware that he had it. He's also hunting for the elusive Morgan, the girl who infected him, who has essentially disappeared.
Due to his inebriation, Cal can only remember bits and pieces of his night with Morgan. Things begin coming back, slowly, and one night he ends up at her apartment building. There he meets Lacy, who clues him in that the entire floor where she lives became vacant all at once and the rents are way below value. As he explores more and more into this fact, he stumbles upon hordes of red eyed rats in the basement and, unexpectedly, finds Lacey has followed him down. He likes Lacey and doesn't want anything bad to happen to her (the Night Watch tend to make people who know too much disappear), so she ends up staying at his apartment for several nights.
He eventually realizes that the peeps he's stumbling upon are showing more and more sanity, even in the depths of their psychosis. In fact, the last batch almost hold a conversation AND they seem to serve a cat. Something is obviously going on, but the Night Watch doesn't seem willing to fill him in.
Another unique thing about this book is that, between every chapter, there are some facts about different parasites and how they affect their environments.
This is a cool twist on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. When the March sisters, Scarlett and Rosie, were young, a fenris (a twist on werewolves) comes to their home, transforms and kills their Oma March and leaving Scarlett terribly disfigured in the process. The fenris seek out young girls to feast on and are particularly drawn to the color red.
Now on their own, with their mother having officially abandoned them once they were in their mid-teens, they are trying to eek out a survival while Scarlett hunts the fenris in their small Georgia town and is training Rosie to do the same. Scarlett is a girl possessed; every waking minute is devoted to hunting or preparing to hunt. Rosie realizes that she owes Scarlett her life and, as such, does as Scarlett wants. If Scarlett wants to train Rosie and have Rosie dedicate her life to hunting, then that's what she's going to do. Even if it isn't what she wants.
Few people know about the fenris but there is another family near the March sisters that does. Silas is nearest to the age of the March sisters and has known both girls since childhood. He's been gone for about a year, visiting family in California, but when he's home he hunts with Scarlett.
Every seven years, there are a group of potential fenris that come of age. This just happens to be a part of that cycle, so the fenris are much more active. The trio decide that they should probably head to Atlanta since the population is much more dense (which means more fenris and more chance to find the potential), so off they go. And, indeed, the fenris population is essentially crawling around and through Atlanta. There is no problem killing several wolves a day. But they also need information, namely about who the potential is and how they know he's a potential.
There is build up and a big battle/finish with a twist. I saw the twist coming, but I don't want to spoil it! This book was easy to lose yourself in but still had a lot of good plot points and action that barely ever stopped.
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