The Love Machine tells the story of ruthless, haunted Robin Stone and his life and career in the cut-throat world of 1960s network television.

Aubrey, known as the "smiling cobra,"[3] apparently heard "what Susann was up to" and told her to "make me mean, a real son of a bitch.

Susann dedicated the book to her friend Carol Bjorkman, a columnist for Women's Wear Daily, who died of leukemia in 1967.

Although Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times wrote that the novel "is popcorn... the kernel of an idea, the seed of an inspiration, exploded into bite-sized nothingness,"[6] Nora Ephron, in the same newspaper, said "'The Love Machine' is a far better book than 'Valley'--better written, better plotted, better structured.

[10][note 1] Released in August 1971, the film was executive-produced by Susann's husband, Irving Mansfield and directed by Jack Haley Jr., with actors Dyan Cannon, Robert Ryan, and John Phillip Law as Robin.