The Tenant: A Novel of Medical Science Fiction

Despite competent writing and characterization, West's first novel strains the reader's suspension of disbelief with a plot dependent on preposterous concepts and unjustified coincidences. Not only is the brain of an experimental neurologist transplanted into the body of a thuglike serial killer, but the operation is kept secret from everyone on duty at the time, including the hospital administration and police guards. The operating doctor is accidentally killed almost immediately, and the nurse flees, leaving the neurologist without recourse to his old life--until he meets the nurse by chance while on the run. West invests his story with drama and conflict; his prose is taut, and his characters are real enough to care about. But--especially unfortunate in a book of ""medical science fiction""--the major events are never made credible enough for any but the most uncritical readers. (July)