can not remember title/author

[rosenclan]

I'd like to track down a book I read in the early seventies (it may have been published in the fifties or sixties though).

In it the main character somehow picks up a parasite (actually a symbiote) that protects him and begins communicating with him. It turns out that the parasite is some sort of galactic FBI agent tracking down a criminal parasite who is being hosted by some other human. The story relates the hunt and eventual showdown between the two alian parasites and their hosts.

Does anyone know anything about this story? I remember it as very cool, but it may turn out to suck after reading it with 30 years of hard living since then.

Thanks

[ArthurFrayn]

Almost sounds like the plot for the movie The Hidden...

[B5B7]

I'd say this would be Hal Clement's 'Needle' - also has a sequel 'Through the Eye of a Needle'.

[rosenclan]

Thank you! That is the title and author I was seeking. Now the challenge is to locate an affordable copy.

Rosenclan




I'd say this would be Hal Clement's 'Needle' - also has a sequel 'Through the Eye of a Needle'.