The dismantling : a novel
(Book)

"A Plume Book"--Title page.

Twenty-five-year-old med school dropout Simon Worth is an organ broker, buying kidneys and livers from cash-strapped donors and selling them to recipients whose time on the waitlist is running out. When a seemingly straightforward liver transplant has an unexpectedly dangerous outcome, Simon finds himself on the run. In order to survive, he must put aside his better moral judgment and place his trust in a stranger who has a shocking secret"-- "At twenty-five, Simon Worth is a med school dropout, facing the grim reality of failure and massive student loans. Left with few options, he becomes an organ broker for a black-market organization, matching cash-strapped donors with recipients whose time on the transplant list is running out. Tasked with finding a donor for Lenny Pellegrini, a severely depressed ex-NFL player who's been drinking himself to death, Simon's luck appears to change when he's contacted by Maria Campos, a young woman desperate for cash whose liver happens to be the perfect match. The transplant goes according to plan . . . until soon afterward, when Maria disappears and Lenny makes a cruel and destructive decision. As Simon's world becomes increasingly dangerous, he learns of an unspeakable secret from Maria's past and must decide, against his better moral judgment, that the only way he'll survive is to trust her.