Liz Jean knows how to preserve damaged things.

As an archivist, she spends her days sorting records, naming what is missing, and keeping other people's histories from disappearing. As a mother, she is less certain. Her life is held together by caffeine, guilt, unpaid bills, unfinished coursework, and the constant fear that she is failing her fifteen-year-old son, Sawyer.

Then a file appears where no file should exist.

THE HOLLOW METHOD

What would you like removed?

At first, Liz thinks it is a mistake. Then the Method begins to help. The pressure quiets. The guilt thins. Tasks become easier. Life starts to feel survivable.

But relief has a shape. And something is wrong with the parts of Liz that stop hurting.

As old patient records surface, photographs change, and impossible forms follow her home, Liz realizes the Method does not simply heal. It decides what gets in the way.

Grief. Fear. Guilt. Need. Love.

And Sawyer is beginning to notice what his mother is losing.

To save what remains, Liz must face a terrifying question:

If pain can be removed, what else disappears with it?