A taste for blood taints Hinton’s new venture

The fact that the cover blurb was written by R.L. Stine should have been my first clue that we were moving into the horror/fantasy realm, but I was so excited to read S.E. Hinton’s first novel for adults that I passed by it with nary a glance. Hinton is the author of the quintessential volume of young adult literature, “The Outsiders,” a book I could probably recite from memory. First published in 1967 and written when the author was 17, “The Outsiders” not only went on to sell more than 10 million copies but also created a form of teen literature that takes on tough issues. Hinton penned three other successful young adult novels -- “That Was Then, This Is Now” (1971), “Rumble Fish” (1975) and “Tex” (1979) -- that garnered huge followings and inspired popular film versions, though “The Outsiders” remained her most well-loved tale.

“Hawkes Harbor” marks Hinton’s first foray into adult fiction and her first published book in 25 years. When the tale opens, Jamie Sommers -- a dashing young man who was orphaned as a child and raised in a cruel, institutional setting -- is 25 and has been admitted to the Terrace View Asylum in Delaware, having lost his mind in prison, where he’d been held on kidnapping charges.

Because of a jailhouse beating, he can’t remember anything about the crime he’s accused of, nor any other details of his most recent past. But he can tell his attending psychiatrist about his earlier adult years. He had sailed the high seas, traveled Sri Lanka and Borneo, smuggled jewels, fought off sharks and generally gotten into trouble with his mentor-in-crime, Kellen Quinn. Though the criminal charges against Jamie have been dropped for lack of evidence, he remains institutionalized due to his fragile mental state. The costly bill for his stay at this private asylum is being footed by Jamie’s employer, Grenville Hawkes of Hawkes Harbor, who never visits Jamie nor asks about his recovery, a fact that disturbs Jamie.

He is also greatly distressed by the onset of twilight and must be sedated to make it through that difficult time of day. “Oh God, it’s getting dark ... don’t let it be dark,” he says, cowering. What happened to the young man who’d fearlessly battled sharks, smuggled jewels, sailed the seas and even committed murder that he’s turned into this frightened, trembling mess? Is there any chance he’ll regain his earlier, vibrant self? As Jamie tells the psychiatrist about his younger years, the stories he recounts move closer to the present, and readers begin to uncover answers.

Up to nearly the midpoint of the novel, details are extremely realistic, as in Hinton’s earlier works. She is a master at capturing the sense of adventure and anxiety plaguing her likable protagonists. But she provides no preparation for the horror/fantasy plot twist. We learn that the cause of Jamie’s woes can be traced to Hawkes, who -- it pains me to write this -- is a vampire, a live-in-a-coffin, turn-into-a-bat-at-night and suck-your-blood cliched kind of vampire. Hawkes basically sucked out Jamie’s spirit, leaving a zombie of man in his place, but he’s trying to recover his humanity. How exactly one becomes a reformed vampire is never made quite clear.

Forewarned may be forearmed. Perhaps if I’d paid closer attention to Stine’s blurb, the vampire angle would not have seemed a desperate and unfortunate plot choice in what otherwise is a striking narrative. Still, if readers prepare themselves, they may be able to encounter the novel on its own terms and embrace once again the voice of a fabulous writer. Hinton is an author whose work -- vampires aside -- I’ll forever revere.