The Adventurist

At a software company in a Southern city, one lovesick, whip-smart software engineer has a crisis of confidence, in the tradition of Richard Ford and Walker Percy.
In the anonymous office park of a modern software company, Henry Hurt is a man in the middle: of life, of career, of self-assessment. Mired in his corporate responsibilities, Henry's deathless office existence is torpedoed by the loss of his mother.

Haunted by her death, and by a strange angst he describes as "the pall," Henry seeks escape in a quest for love and heroic purpose occasioned by a crisis in his company's fortunes. Dodging an Iago-like rival, he finds love with a colleague in his department, endangers his bond with his family, and finally confronts the urgent question of his life.

The Adventurist is a story about relationships: Henry has complicated ones with his sister, his lover and a tantalizing potential girlfriend. But his relationship to his corporate and familial responsibilities ballast him, too.