Parasite Eve

It was this novel, along with Koji Suzuki's Ring series that began the J-Horror boom. A page-turner about the rebellion of mitochondria, it became the Japan Horror Novel Award's first winner and the inspiration for a videogame that became a hit. At the centre of the novel is Eve, initially just a microscopic entity who later questions the meaning of life, harking the philosophical musings of Ghosts in the Shell. Once Eve tastes the fruit of free will and love, science proves powerless to her infection.