The Unknowns

A sharp, sparkling debut about the sentimental education of a nerd.

Eric Muller has been trying to hack the girlfriend problem since puberty, and all his attempts have backfired. As a high school freshman, Eric takes detailed notes on the girls in his class, hoping to find the one who will deign to go out with him. But when his notebook of "research" falls into into the hands of his peers, social disaster ensues.

Flash forward to 2002. Eric is a Silicon Valley millionaire. He's figured out how to coax girls into bed with a protocol of ironic remarks and carefully timed intimacies, but he's never been in love. So when he falls for Maya, a disarmingly clever young journalist who sees through his moves, he's in virgin territory. When Eric discovers that her past may hold a dark secret, he must decide: Do the facts--the data--of her life matter? Or does it only matter that he loves her?

A funny, deceptively powerful novel, THE UNKNOWNS will delight fans of Jonathan Tropper and Joshua Ferris.