If you’re looking for a phrase that distinguishes THE XENO SOLUTION from other medical thrillers currently on the market, look no further: pig hearts!

Nelson Erlick’s follow-up to the gene-therapy GERMLINE concerns xenotransplanting, or the use of animal organs in humans, specifically those of pigs. At the Institute for the Research of Animal Compatible Transplantations (IRACT), the pig parts have been engineered to be free of viruses so that the humans receiving them can expect a life free of contamination.

Or so they say. The book’s hero, healthcare consultant Dr. Scott Merritt, uncovers a conspiracy to cover up the trail of dead bodies as a result of infection. As with all thrillers of this type, it leads to virtual one-man crusade of assassins, double-crosses and the occasional exploded house.

XENO throws a lot of characters at you up front; since most of them are doctors at one research facility or another, it’s difficult to keep them apart. Throw in a lot of technospeak laden with acronyms and you’ve got a narrative that’s not quite a mess, but seriously jumbled. Erlick throws in charts and graphs a la Michael Crichton, but whereas he may try to ape Crichton’s style, he cannot match his pedal-to-the-metal pacing.

I suspect hardcore fans of medical thrillers will find comfort in the formula, as XENO does deliver the story it promises. But I think there are better, more interesting examples out there for your bacon, even if they lack the pork.