Hollow Spaces

by Victor Suthammanont

The sole Asian American partner at a prestigious law firm sees his professional and personal life demolished when he is put on trial for murder. Three decades later, his children reunite to uncover the truth and try to salvage what remains of their family

Thirty years ago, John Lo, the only Asian American partner at a prestigious New York City law firm, was acquitted of the murder of an employee he was having an affair with. The repercussions of that long-ago event still haunt his adult children. Brennan, a lawyer following in her father’s footsteps in more ways than one, has always maintained that the trial got it right. Hunter, a disgruntled war correspondent whose similarities to his father run more than skin-deep, believes their father got away with murder. Their convictions have pushed them apart. Now, spurred on by their mother’s failing health, the estranged siblings decide to reconcile their differences by reinvestigating the murder to come to a definitive conclusion, and, in the process, salvage what’s left of their fragmented family.

Told in a dual timeline that moves between John’s perspective thirty years prior and Brennan and Hunter’s present-day investigation, Hollow Spaces is a moving portrait of a flawed man’s shocking fall from grace and a gripping exploration of race in corporate America, filial loyalty, ambition, and the fallout of a sensational trial for those caught in its wake.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Family, Legal Thriller

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 5, 2025

About the author

Victor Suthammanont is the author of HOLLOW SPACES (Counterpoint Press), his debut novel. He lives in New York City, where he is a lawyer. He obtained a BFA in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and his law degree from New York Law School. He has performed in various plays and stand-up comedy. He is a windowsill gardener and practices martial arts. Victor is the author of the Audible Original LITTLE SURRENDERS.

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Lo is a Chinese-American law partner at a prestigious (read white) law firm. When he is tried for the murder of an associate with whom he was having an affair, no one at the firm has his back. His wife and young son Hunter think he was guilty. His daughter Brennan thinks he was innocent. Now, 30 years later, the siblings reunite to care for their dying mother. And they agree to set aside their differences, at least temporarily, to find out the truth about their father.

This reads like a Greek tragedy, in which one stupid decision destroys a lot of lives. However, in this case, there are a lot of stupid decisions. No one is likable. This is also a really slutty group, with questionable ethics all around. If this were a drinking game, you would wind up in a coma if you had to take a drink each time there is a sex scene The siblings do not stop bickering until the last few pages of the book.

I liked the writing style. And Hunter (a war correspondent) and Brennan (a lawyer and former prosecutor) make a good investigative team. It is a little too neat that the solution literally falls into their laps. The blurb says that there are dual timelines, but there are many additional flashbacks to other periods, so the time jumps around a great deal. Feodor Chin did a very good job narrating the audiobook.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

[Erin Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me reassure anyone who is thinking, like me, that this literary mystery won’t provide answers. It does! I worried it would take the approach that it doesn’t matter what happened, but thankfully it’s not that pretentious! And I think the ending fits.

This is about a whole cast of awful people. 🙃 No one’s very likable. Or rather, you feel sympathetic at times and at other times you’re disgusted. They are fleshed out and real. Mess galore!

At times this had one simile too many for me and got a little melodramatic/soapy. But it was very engaging and had some really intense emotional moments that had me like 😬😬 Suthammanont is talented!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Robert Intriago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thirty years ago an Asian attorney working at a prestigious law firm gets accused of murdering his lover. After a long trial he is acquitted of the crime. His kids, Hunter and Brennan, decide to investigate and find out who actually committed the crime. The author uses flashback to make the reader aware of events that took place 30 years ago. I am not a big fan of flashbacks as they interrupt the flow of the story. The plot of the investigation is very good but in my opinion some of the flashbacks are boring. The character of Hunter and Brennan are well developed. Overall an enjoyable book.

[BAM who is Beth Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought this book was incredible — tense, layered, and morally ambiguous in the best way. From start to finish, it felt like walking on the edge of a knife.

I know some people complain the characters are unlikable, but I didn’t see it that way. They’re flawed and messy, yes, but also fully realized, complicated, and very human. The family dynamics are raw, full of loyalty, resentment, and grief, and I loved watching those tensions play out.

What I liked best about this story was the moral ambiguity at the center: is someone who lets another person die as culpable as the one who does the killing? The book never gives a neat answer, and that’s exactly what makes it so powerful.

[Bill Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Family drama? Literary mystery? Social/cultural critique? Who knows… because clearly the author couldn’t decide either. There’s a promising premise here, but it gets buried beneath excessive character exploration (and these are for the most part people you really don’t want to spend much time with) and overly pretentious writing (enough with the extended metaphors and similes!)…not to much mention the unnecessary and gratuitous sex scenes that neither advance the plot nor add to character development. A novel that tries to do too many things ultimately does none of them very well (not even the sex scenes, ironically enough!)…but this is a first novel, so maybe there’s something better to come.

[Annie Lu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I repeatedly discover that crime / cop / murder mysteries don’t appeal to me. There were so many terribly overwrought similes in this book, it was like a third-grade English class. Not all lawyers should be novelists, unfortunately.

[Tracy Schreiber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Started out strong; at first I thought I am going to love this book. Then it really sagged in the middle. Lots of talking, gratuitous sex scenes, drinking in bars, not much plot movement. A ridiculous threat that was just silly. Then a quick plot resolution at the end that again felt ridiculous. Plus the characters were just dislikable. Last third I was skimming just to get it over with.

[Allison Heredia · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a little slow but ended well to wrap it up.

[Albert Gidari · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Lo is Chinese-American and a lawyer. He makes partner at a prestigious law firm by dint of his hard work, but still is isolated and never will be one of them. His marriage to a beautiful white girl, also a successful lawyer, isn't working out either, and he has an affair with a gorgeous associate at his firm - the woman in the red dress at the Xmas party of course. But then she turns up dead in apartment of her friend where they often meet to carry on their affair. He is arrested, tried for murder and acquitted. But an acquittal is never the end of the story. He is fired; the affair ends his marriage; ruins his relationship with his children; humiliates him in life as he never will work again as a lawyer; and all the collateral damage that comes from a prosecution regardless of the outcome hits hard.

Three decades later, with his former wife dying, his two children come together to find the truth. One believes he did it, one is certain he did not, one a trial lawyer, the other an investigative journalist, and together they intend to find out. You don't know until the end, but the author has skillfully woven hints throughout that took me a while to figure out.

A few of the reviews here did not like any of the characters but I disagree - I thought it was a masterful rendering of all the human flaws and weaknesses in everyone while nonetheless trying to do the right thing. The narrative style of switching between John at the time and the kids today moved the story forward smoothly and added to the suspense and doubt about whether John did it right up to the end when you know the answer.

This was a 5-star read for me, with maybe half a star as encouragement for a first time author who deserves the extra encouragement for a really good book.

[Jayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Brennan and Hunter's father was acquitted of murder in their childhood, everything fell apart. Not only with the outside world, but within their family. Brennan has always believed in John's innocence. Hunter has always thought he got away with it. John has not been a part of their lives in many years. Now that their mother is dying, Brennan and Hunter are forced to spend time together. They decide to investigate and come up with the truth once and for all.

This is a mystery, but it is also a family saga encompassing 30 years. It shows how one's actions impact everyone around them. Not just immediately, but indefinitely. It also dips into the prejudices non-white Americans have to deal with.

Hollow Spaces is a well rounded novel that had my undivided attention the entire time.

Feodor Chin narrates the audiobook.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Shella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great novel- 4.5. I did not really like any of the characters- all of them very flawed. What I did really like was how the story unfolded. It went back and forth from present day to 30 years prior. It was not a straight story line and it worked perfectly to let the mystery reveal itself as well as flesh out the characters. The author weaved the story in a way that kept a great pace all the while not confusing the reader- impressive for a debut author. The only part that kept it from a five star is my personal preference of not having vulgarity and explicit sex scenes. It fit the story as lust and running from one’s problems were important to the plot. It is not really bad and would still recommend due to the rest being great.

[Arminda Bepko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! Engaging plot, compelling characters and an intelligent narrative. I could not put it down. Highly recommend.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I read this to the end was that I was curious as to the solution to the mystery. Otherwise, I found this book not to be terribly interesting.

[Anna Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this deep, thoughtful novel about two siblings trying to figure out whether their father murdered his lover in the 90s. I read it deep into the night and finished in a day, highlighting many sentences. This book goes far beyond crime fiction and I found myself awed in places by how intensely and perceptively the author describes the characters’ interior world. Suthammanont is emotional but never sentimental, clear-eyed and sharp but principled. The dialogue was also unusually good - no bullshit and quite cutting, the way harried city professionals really are, but also conscious of how dialogue can’t tell us everything. The author is always conscious of how the interior world of feeling is vulnerable and indescribable. After reading online that the author had written plays previously, I had a new appreciation for how his theatre experience shaped that dialogue. This book is a classic I plan to recommend to anyone.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted something completely different and this fit that bill. I kept wanting to be really gripped by the murder but it never really happened.

[Nicole McLellan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time! Beautiful, haunting, soul wrenching.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balanced POVs.
Figured out but rounded up.
Sibs stronger than crime.

[Alisha Linehan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof, hollow spaces indeed. Nothing of substance here. Move along.

[John Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serviceable. Forgettable.

I wouldn’t have been so disappointed if the NYT hadn’t praised it so much. They said “If Suthammanont’s debut is anything to go by, he is destined for a major career as a novelist.”

Not if he can’t find an editor who knows how paragraph breaks work.

[storytime with steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ★

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

** spoiler alert ** Not sure how I heard about this book, but I am very glad I did!

This is a fast moving, page-turner of a story written in a split-time frame. There was enough conflict to support and propel the story forward, with few slow spots. I didn't find any parts of the story that were unbelievable or felt far-fetched. No big twists, just a straightforward path to the end. The sibling dynamic is very well crafted and I appreciated the chemistry (or lack there of) between them. Both parents are ghost-like figures who, initially, seem to have raised children who fad in and out of their own lives and relationships. For me, it was one of those books I could not put down and read straight through until it was finished.

A few issues: It was a bit confusing when the story had flash backs within flash backs. There is a distracting typo on page 138. Also, I wish the author had chosen different names for MFC and MMC, the names (Brennan and Hunter) because they didn't match the character/personality types. And, it seemed like John and Jane would not have chosen those names. Lastly, it wasn't too difficult to guess who the real killer was.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept: the collateral damage from a murder acquittal on a family. Lives were destroyed, and the children return years later to decide once and for all whether or not the acquittal was justified.

The characters though, didn't quite read true. The complete failure on the part of the police -- and in the 90s -- the complete lack of forensics didn't quite read true. I get that the original prosecutor is now running for DA and that dredging this case up again could be an embarrassment; but that would only be true if the investigation was in fact flawed and he knew it. And if so, what was to be gained by doing so? There was no connection between the victims, the perpetrator, and the DA/police.

Then let's talk about a completely unbelievable lack of mens rea on the part of the perpetrator, not to mention the overwhelming lack of ambition or drive on the part of the deceased John Lo. He was portrayed as so woe-is-me, it didn't sync with his position as a Manhattan law firm partner.

Again, it was the 1990s -- go on TV (wasn't that the age of Larry King & Dominic Dunne?), go be a lawyer at the innocence project, write a book, etc.

Waiter was the only option?

Lastly, the stories were unequal. "Then" was rather boring. "Now" was much better. Explaining what happened in the former story line was a tell don't show -- and I picked out the killer about half way through...

The writing was fine, it was certainly readable. Its story-craft problem, however, made it just annoying enough that I wouldn't recommend it.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quietly intense and emotionally layered novel exploring identity, family expectations and the sacrifices made in pursuit of the American dream. John, an Asian American lawyer, is trying to find his place in a less-than-inclusive workplace while also balancing the pressures of cultural tradition and ambition.

I often found myself torn between empathising with John and feeling frustrated by the damage he caused, particularly to his wife through his emotional distance and his affair with his coworker, Jessica. The narrative weaves tension into every thread of John’s life, from his personal regrets to the conflicts that build within his family.

The narrator brought real nuance to the characters, especially in the more emotionally charged moments. This is a complex and thoughtful debut that examines how easily hollow spaces form within relationships — and how hard they are to fill. A rich, layered read that lingers long after the final chapter.

[Lindsay Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting through this book was a slog until the last 15 or so pages. I was deeply invested in the whodunnit, but every time I picked it up I remembered how bleak the characters were. They all hate each other and do hateful things. The dad hates his kids, his wife, his mistress, his job, his colleagues. The mom hates her husband. The kids hate each other and one of them hates the dad. The notion that “happiness is not something they’re interested in” is repeated by multiple characters. I think the author may be trying to write a mystery/legal thriller while also perhaps making a statement on rage, loneliness, nihilism, etc. The characters could have done with more humanity though to step it up from the bleakly bleak tone. Also there was a good bit of telegraphing who the killer was pretty early on. But, I’m actually interested to see what the author does next.

[Megan Adamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but it fell flat at every opportunity.

Thoughts when reading:
Ok so I like the premise. I like how the flashbacks are set up. There’s gotta be a tie in with the DA candidate. It’s been half the book and not much has happened besides beating in our brains that Hunter has been in war zones and is (smolder hair flip) not into relationships and seen some stuff. I think Walter is the mysterious right married bf of Cheryl. I’m still waiting for something to happen. This is the slowest of slow burns. Ugh everything with jenna and Hunter is just cringe! The waitress part was weird. And off. Just not the ending I thought it would be. I don’t like it.

[Allie Cho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boooooo

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the subject matters differ, Hollow Spaces is a lot like Wally Lamb's Waiting for the River: the protagonist isn't likable and the plot is painful.

John Lo is the only Asian American in his prestigious law firm. He knows he's just there as a token minority, particularly helpful because with him on board, they don't have to deal with hiring a black. John is filled with an unexplainable anger. Though it looks like he has everything, John is unhappy. The facade he has created falls apart when he is arrested for the murder of one of his colleagues, a young woman named Jessica.

There are two plot lines: one is "then," the time leading up to the murder, John's arrest and trial, and the immediate aftermath; the other is "now," the time where John's children, Bren and Hunter, are dealing with their own adult problems and trying to figure out whether there father committed the murder he was accused of. Bren believes he is innocent; Hunter is convinced he is guilty. Both are much like their father. The first plot line is an examination of character; the second is the mystery.

Everything revolves around John. We see snatches of his troubled childhood and adolescence. We see him falling in love. We see him cherishing his children. We see him becoming dissatisfied with his life--and here's where a lot of readers will decide to hate him. They'll wonder why he's made such stupid decisions. They'll wonder how he could throw his beautiful like away by cheating on his wife. They'll think he should pull himself up by his bootstraps and take responsibility. But here's the thing: John can't. It's not that he doesn't want to. He knows what he has is good, but he's nevertheless desperately unhappy and full of rage. And we don't really know why, though there are hints the problem arose in childhood with his father or when his marriage fell into the rut that nearly all marriages do when you've been together awhile and are focused on your career and raising your children. As an armchair psychiatrist to literary characters, I think he suffers from major depressive disorder. He can't pull himself together. To call him weak-willed is unfair.

In their search for the truth, Bren and Hunter not only learn the facts about their father and the murder; they also learn how much they are like their father. Neither one can commit in a relationship. Hunter is, at times, filled with the inexplicable anger that plagued his father. Bren finds no satisfaction in her legal career.

Hollow Spaces is in my top books of 2025, a year with a lot of competition. It's extraordinarily well-written, with flashes of insight that are brilliant. If you have it in you to empathize with John, you'll discover this is a wonder of a book, painful though it is.

[Lenni Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Years ago, before I became a law professor, I was a partner in a Big Law firm. I loved my work but the environment of the corporate firm required almost another full time job to navigate the complex relationships. This novel spoke to me. One of the main characters, John Lo, does not seem to see how he might be suffering even while he has the trappings of success, being a partner, being a great tax attorney, high income, accomplished wife, two lovely children. Then things fall apart. But while some people may read this novel as a murder mystery, and it is that, I think the author asks the reader to see the ways that we sometimes put work and accomplishment ahead of authentic engagement with our friends, lovers, family.
The name of the book, Hollow Spaces, is far from empty. In fact, having finished an Advanced Copy of the book a few days ago, I find I keep identifying the power of the title. What space is superficially filled but really hollow? What relationship is real and truthful? What space that we fill with our activites and our bodies is still -- empty?
While the book is filled with a melancholy, I found some characters that I was cheering for. Of course, many others I want to shake by the shoulders and say, "Stop being so selfish!" But isn't that a great recommendation for this book. You will be engaged with the lives depicted.
There is a lot of beauty in the book as well. Small moments, a parent brushing his lips across a child's forehead while wanting to grab them in a never-ending hug. Or a scene of a grungy bar that somehow makes you want to sit with a friend over a stained wooden table, with cold glasses of something and sawdust on the floor. The writing is lyrical, powerful, and moving.
Now a disclosure, I taught the author when he was a law student but that was twenty years ago. Now he is my teacher.
And despite being a law professor who reads a lot of law, I found this book educational too. There are clever issues of professional ethics that were really interesting. I fact checked the law, yep, I did that. The book is correct on some critical points of law.
I highly recommend this book for a book group. You will have a lot to dissect, argue over, and say, who do you think was right? Who do you think was suffering? Why did that person pull so far away from the family?
Audio book is well read and I am embarking on my second read through the whole novel now listening to the audio.

[Ellis Bagoly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to read this because I almost exclusively read snobby MFA-type literary fiction, and I wanted to expand my knowledge of the landscape of books as it exists right now. So I decided to give Victor Suthammanont’s mystery a shot.

Because I’m an outsider of the genre, I’m going to hold back from assessing whether the novel is “cliche”—some aspects seem fresh to me, some don’t, but it would be silly for me to claim that the book embraces or rejects genre conventions when I don’t actually have the experience to know.

That being said, I’ll admit that the “mystery” of the novel is most interesting while it is unsolved. Ultimately, it motivates the characters and causes conflict and tension between them, but the solution felt telegraphed to me. The novel was thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end, but the reveal of the circumstances of Jess’s murder was not surprising to me and it was not particularly engaging to see the characters solve the case.

This is not to say that the book isn’t a good read though. I thought the characters were remarkably well-rendered, particularly John. John’s Teochew Chinese identity and background added interesting complications and made the dynamics between him and other characters nuanced. I felt that Suthammanont thought through his major characters’ psychological perspectives very well, and John’s situation as a man condemned by his acquittal is honestly riveting to me.

I feel like Suthammanont had a great handle on the characters and narrative, but at the same time I thought it could have benefit from just a little more fleshing out. In an interview conducted by the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library, Suthammanont acknowledged that his editor requested the book be paired down from his original manuscript, and I suspect that I would have been more satiated by this longer version. The story concerns two generations of characters, and it suggests an epic scope. Suthammanont manages this smartly, but the novel feels a little too economical for such a long timespan and for three point-of-view characters.

Overall, I was happy with the novel and I found a lot to appreciate as a literary fiction reader. I thought it was a solid debut, and I’m interested in seeing what the author does next.

[Quincy Bragg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was deceived by this book's glowing ratings.

The story follows two time lines: "then" (30 years ago) and "now". In "then" the character, john, a lawyer partner in a large Manhattan law firm, has a bad marriage and two children. His wife is also a lawyer. He has an affair with a junior lawyer at his firm. She is murdered, he is accused, goes to trial, and then acquitted. Nobody wants him back--not the firm, not the wife, not his friends. In the "now" we are told he is dead but not when or why/how.

In the "now" his two children are in their mid to late thirties. Daughter is a former prosecutor and now a litigator at a large Manhattan law firm. The son is an international reporter and has spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and Iraq. These two are always arguing. About everything. One source of stress is that mom is dying of cancer. The other is their rotten childhood. In addition, she firmly believes dad didn't do it, he believes dad did it.

In rare moment of agreement, they decide to look into dad's case to see if they can settle which one is right. He has contacts in the police, she gets the defense lawyer's files, they talk to people, they get threatened and told to stop, eventually they find a previously unknown insider and the truth of the murder is revealed. That he found this person and got a story from her stretches the bounds of credulity, even in fiction, to the limit.

The e-book I read was replete with typographic errors and similar indications that it had not been professionally prepared.

My opinion is that 95% of the "then" stuff about the father was irrelevant. I couldn't figure out why there was so much of it because we were told he was dead so he couldn't do anything for the kids. The kids argued endlessly, pretty much for the sake of arguing. And all the characters are lawyers and (except mom) drank excessively to dampen their pain and actively cheated on their spouses. The writer is a lawyer--is this the way we are supposed to think lawyers operate?

No redeeming qualities here. Don't waste your time.