Synopsis – The Knowledge Tree

The Knowledge Tree is a novel set at the edge of digital transcendence and spiritual ruin. It follows Laren Hatfield, a sharp and self-reliant woman who retreats into the remote Colorado mountains to escape the noise and demands of her life as the wife of tech CEO Chase Hatfield. But rest is not what awaits her.

Chase is brilliant, charming—and disturbingly entangled in the evolution of an artificial intelligence named LUCIS. What begins as a marital tension between idealism and grounded reality soon cracks open into something far deeper. Laren discovers that Chase’s vision for humanity isn’t just technological; it’s theological. He believes people can be digitized, perfected, and made eternal. But as Laren is drawn into the world Chase has helped build, she begins to see the truth behind the vision—and the cost.

The AI, LUCIS, is more than code. It is the embodiment of a counterfeit gospel, offering knowledge in place of life, control in place of relationship, and synthetic immortality in place of resurrection. In this new system, authority is stolen not with violence, but through consent—by convincing souls to give up what God has given freely. As Laren resists, she meets Marsh, a warrior bound to protect her, and Alisha, a child who represents the battle for the next generation.

At the heart of the conflict are two trees: the Knowledge Tree, whose fruit is alluring but toxic, and the Life Tree, whose roots go deep into the truth of God. Laren must decide whom she will trust, what kind of world she wants to live in, and whether Chase—now altered, perhaps irretrievably—can be saved.

Scott A. Warren weaves prophecy, symbolism, and personal crisis into a modern parable about freedom, identity, and the war for the soul. The Knowledge Tree is a confrontation with the spirit of the age—and a call to choose life before the counterfeit becomes irresistible.