Hollow

by Owen Egerton

2018

A religious studies professor wracked by profound grief seeks answers at the center of the world. Oliver Bonds is reduced to living in a shed behind a beauty parlor in Austin, Texas. He reveals the circumstances of his toddler son Miles' sudden death three years earlier. We learn that Miles died while Oliver was having a moment of temptation with a student, Ashley Briggers, now his counselor at the local homeless shelter. Oliver's trouble is multiplied when he's charged with his son's murder. His wife, Carrie, pregnant with a second son, sticks with him until his indiscretion is revealed during the trial. Now Oliver watches his son Archer at day care, a child who doesn't even know he exists. Lyle Burnside is a vagabond con artist and member of the local Hollow Earth Society, an organization planning an expedition to the North Pole to find the fabled entrance to the Earth's core. Oliver also visits Martin, a terminally ill patient he was helping with hospice care prior to his son's death. Martin is living with a violent pimp named Sam and a prostitute named Laika, who may not be what she seems.