The Dismantling: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Chilling and fast-paced,The Dismantlingquestions the meaning of atonement and asks how you can reconcile the person you once were - and the person you want to be - with the person you are today. How much of yourself are you willing to sell 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. Chilling and fast-paced,The Dismantlingquestions the meaning of atonement and asks how you can reconcile the person you once were-and the person you want to be-with the person you are today.

Reviews

A smart novelmoves at a brisk pace, and DeLeeuw provides back stories for his characters that make them complex and convincing.Kirkus Reviews

"Powerful." Publishers Weekly

"With its high tension plot and atmosphere of unease,The Dismantlingis 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 ofArts & Entertainments

Intense, spare, and unflinching, DeLeeuws 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. It is about the difficult choices put before usand that might very well damn uswhen possible redemption is close at hand." Thomas OMalley, author ofThis Magnificent Desolation

"A whip-smart modern noir. Brian DeLeeuw's writing is as keenly intelligent as it is eerily propulsive." Jennifer duBois, author of Cartwheel

Praise for Brian DeLeeuwsIn this Way I Was Saved:

Elegant, unsettling and wildly original,In This Way I Was Savedreads like a coming-of-age-story with the heart of a nasty thriller." Gillian Flynn, #1New York Timesbestselling author ofGone Girl

Terrifying and terrifyingly good. Vanity Fair

Haunting and persuasive. Los Angeles Times

Spellbinding. Publishers Weekly

Original, subversive, funny, twisted, and totally engrossing,In This Way I Was Savedis a mind-bending tour de force. I read the last page, flipped back to the beginning, and immediately started again. Chelsea Cain,New York Timesbestselling author ofHeartsickandSweetheart

In This Way I Was Savedgave me chills, not only for its dead-on depiction of the searing loneliness of a hermetically sealed mind, but because it is so thrillingly well-executed. A superb first novel Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner award-winning author ofThe Great ManandBlue Plate Special

[W]ill keep you guessing right until the book reaches its inevitable conclusion. I haven't been this entertained by a debut novel in years. Dale Peck, author ofDrift House

In this Way I Was Savedis a frightening, gripping tale about a sadistic secret sharer, a shadow self who is ready to devour its host. This is one of the most fascinating and controlled first novels Ive ever reada sustained performance that hypnotizes and terrifies the reader. Edmund White, author ofA Boys Own Story

In this original, inventive debut, Brian DeLeeuw delivers a suspenseful and surprisingly tender psychological thriller that gives shape to the torment of isolation. Helen Schulman, author ofThis Beautiful Life

A story of friendship and betrayal, violence, madness, lust, and power that will keep you guessing until the very last pageand leave you gasping for air. BookPage

Riveting ... suspenseful and terrifying. Library Journal

Mysterious, psychologically, craggy, and highly readable. Time Out New York

Creepily compelling. Daily Mail(UK)

DeLeeuw's precise, vivid prose has that visceral power of both a successful psychological thriller and a gripping ghost story. The Daily Telegraph(UK)

Author Bio

Brian DeLeeuw is a novelist and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He is the author of the novelsThe DismantlingandIn This Way I Was Saved, which was long-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize, as well as the independent horror filmSome Kind of Hate. He is a graduate of Princeton University and received his MFA in Fiction from The New School.