Book Salon
A Working Theory of Love

Newly single, Neill Bassett, is back on the market just a few months after his honeymoon. He is working in Silicon Valley on an artificial intelligence project, despite having a useless degree in business marketing and no knowledge of computer science.

Neill comes across his father’s journals--written over ten years ago, before his father committed suicide. Neill soon turns these journals into a personality for an inanimate object—his computer. Surprising to all, the computer starts to take on his father’s personality and starts asking Neill difficult questions about his childhood.

Neill soon meets Rachel, and quickly experiences deeper feelings for her than originally intended. With a tender heart, Neill pursues a relationship with Rachel, but his ex-wife has a talent for reappearing at inopportune times.

Neill soon discovers a missing year in his father’s journals that perhaps could hold some answer to his father’s suicide. This leads him to question everything he knows, and finds that making forward progress is difficult.

Hutchins is a master of showing triumph through struggle, and conveys a masterful story of grief, love, and of course, artificial intelligence in his debut novel.