The redbugs are coming, and they bring death to those they touch. But first you may suffer from intense sweating, hives all over your body, violent seizures, skin necrosis. It's possible the redbug won't kill you. It may burrow inside your neck, turning you into what the CDC calls a "nest person." Drifting in and out of consciousness, you could have the cognitive abilities of someone who's gone through extensive electroshock therapy.

David Massengill's debut novel follows the struggles of a handful of survivors in the infested Pacific Northwest. A Homeland Security exterminator seeks...