The Hollow Men

The Hollow Men is Rob McCarthy's 2016 debut novel. The novel is classified as a medical thriller for its intense and detailed descriptions of violently traumatized bodies, and its medical setting. A medical student during the writing of the book, McCarthy drew on personal experience for medical technicality, as well as his characterizations of the medical field generally. The title The Hollow Men is a reference to the T.S. Eliot poem of the same name, one of the most discussed and alluded to Modernist poems. Eliot's poem, which is often taken to be a reflection on the post-WWI generation, is about men who are broken and dispirited, neither fully dead nor alive, and unable to take meaningful action. One of the “hollow men” of McCarthy's title, the protagonist constantly feels unfulfilled despite his (often clumsy) attempts to do the right thing.

Dr. Harry Kent, a former army medic emotionally traumatized by the experience, continues to work in the medical field. He is both a medical student and a medical examiner for the London Metropolitan Police. The Hollow Men takes the form of his diary. Harry had worked for the army for five years, and it subsequently paid for his degree. While in the army, he was injured in combat; now, he deals with survivor's guilt and post-traumatic stress. He is on poor terms with James Lahiri, his former best friend, and the man who saved his life during deployment. After Harry seduced James's wife, their friendship fell apart.

The story is based in South London. Much of the action takes place at a fictional hospital called Burgess Hospital. There resides one of Harry's long-term clients, an unidentified girl Harry calls Zara. Harry has strong protective feelings for Zara, who has been in a coma for years; when she first arrived at the hospital, after the 2011 London riots, she had bright pink hair. Harry has regularly re-dyed her hair for her since then. Burgess Hospital is also the hub of one of the book’s central plot points: the SAVIOUR program. SAVIOUR stands for Southwark Against Violence and UnRest. The program focuses on outreach to gang members, aiming to rehabilitate them by directing them to general practices that provide counseling and other services meant to help them leave their criminal lifestyle. Harry's former best friend, James works for this program.



Harry keeps busy to prevent himself from ruminating over his difficult past – he also indulges another form of escapism. Clandestinely, he is an amphetamine addict (he mentions, rather by way of justification, that drug addiction is rampant among medical professionals). His work for the London Metropolitan Police has traditionally been low-stakes: he usually handles minor injuries or makes physical and mental health assessments – as, for instance, to judge whether or not someone is fit to be interrogated.

However, things change for Harry one night when Solomon Idris, a young man – a teenager – holds up a takeaway shop Chicken Hut. He holds eight people hostage, demanding to speak to the BBC. He also asks for a lawyer, and openly mourns his deceased girlfriend, Keisha Best. Solomon claims that “they” killed Keisha, but cannot explain who they are. When the police arrive on the scene, it deteriorates, and Solomon is shot and nearly killed. He ends up in a coma. At the hospital, a number of strange events lead Harry to believe someone on the staff is trying to kill Solomon. He suspects there is some sort of conspiracy behind the scenes.

As it turns out, there is a conspiracy behind the scenes; the SAVIOUR project is not nearly as benign as it purports to be – it is, in fact, more of an extermination service than an outreach service for those under its “care.” The closer Harry gets to uncovering what it truly does with gang members – and which of his old comrades is pulling the strings – the more dangerous things become for him and DI Frankie Noble, one of the novel's few “good cops,” who is helping him search out the truth. Harry persists in his investigation while continuing to grapple with his personal demons – mostly by shoving them aside so he can concentrate on getting to the bottom of the mystery surrounding Solomon. As the novel draws to a close, Harry increasingly conflates solving Solomon's case with his own personal redemption.



The Hollow Men has been criticized for its heavy reliance on medical terminology that, while correctly used, rather confounds most lay readers rather than immerse them in the story. It has also been criticized for its roundly negative portrayals of London's police force and medical professionals. McCarthy has said that he plans to write two more novels about character Harry Kent.