Love in the Ruins: The Adventures of a Bad Catholic at a Time Near the End of the World

Set in a near-future America on the brink of collapse, this novel follows Dr. Thomas More, an alcoholic, womanizing, lapsed-Catholic psychiatrist who has invented the lapsometer—a machine designed to diagnose and cure spiritual afflictions driving society toward ruin. Signs of breakdown are everywhere: abandoned cars no one knows how to repair, twenty-four-hour golf courses, and political and religious factions so polarized they become indistinguishable. Most people remain oblivious to the failure of the American Dream, but Dr. More sees the crisis clearly. If used properly, the lapsometer could eliminate anxiety, depression, alienation, and racism. In the wrong hands, however, it could accelerate the nation's descent into chaos. The novel combines satirical speculation about American society with the story of one man's attempt to save mankind from itself.