The Dismantling (Plume Books)
In The Dismantling, troubled med-school dropout Simon Worth is faced with the grim reality of failure and massive student loans. Haunted by the accidental death of his sister, he accepts a lucrative job at Health Solutions as a black market organ broker, arranging the sales of kidneys and livers from donors who need the money to recipients whose time on the transplant list is running out.
Eight months into the job, Simon is tasked with finding a match for Lenny Pellegrini, a severely depressed ex-NFL player with a serious drinking problem and a failing liver. When Simon is contacted by Maria Campos, he believes he’s found the perfect donor. The surgery goes according to plan, but soon afterward Lenny makes a cruel and destructive decision, while startling secrets from Maria’s past further complicate the situation. Under tremendous pressure to keep the media and authorities from exposing Health Solutions, both Simon and Maria find themselves the targets of Peter DaSilva, Simon’s boss, who is desparate to protect himself and his organization at all costs. Backed into a corner, Simon is forced to decide that, against his better moral judgment, the only way to survive is to put his trust in Maria.
Embracing themes that are widespread in the media today, such as depression among ex-NFL players, black market organ transplants, adolescent trauma, and the terms of revenge and atonement, Brian DeLeeuw deftly treads the line between literary fiction and suspense with his propulsive storytelling and exquisite writing. A troubling, riveting and enthralling look at the serious stakes of the transplantation black market,The Dismantling is a high-octane novel perfect for summer reading.
Praise for The Dismantling
“Intense, spare, and unflinching, DeLeeuw’s The Dismantling treads risky, ethically nuanced territory, exploring the nature of absolution and revenge, the lies we tell our families, and the honesty we can find with strangers. A psychologically insightful, gripping novel.”—Michaela Carter, author of Further Out Than You Thought
"While this is a fast-paced, engaging thriller, it is also much, much more. It is, at its heart, a fully and tenderly rendered exploration of loss and shame and the deep yearning for some manner of redemption." —Thomas O'Malley, author of This Magnificent Desolation
"With its high tension plot and atmosphere of unease, The Dismantling is a morally ambiguous thriller in the grand tradition of Graham Greene and Patricia Highsmith. It has smart things to say about memory, redemption, and what it's like to live in a world where everything is for sale, but it says them by telling a gripping story." —Christopher Beha, author of Arts & Entertainments
Brian DeLeeuw is a novelist and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Princeton University and received his MFA in fiction from The New School. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Brian was an editor for Tin House magazine. His first novel, In This Way I Was Saved, was published in 2009 and long-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize, with editions published in the UK, Germany, and France.
Photo by Genevieve Dellinger