Hawkes Harbor
(Book)

In a self-reinvention comparable to Madonna's foray into picture books, the doyenne of gritty teen realism has written her first novel for grown-ups after a 20-year publishing hiatus. This one roves far from the street toughs, bikers, and cowboys of The Outsiders (1967) and Tex (1979). Mental patient Jamie Sommers is a former gem smuggler who goes catatonic when an escapade brings him face-to-face--or, more precisely, face-to-neck--with a vampire. Sprung from his locked coffin by the hapless Jamie, Granville Hawkes first snacks on his liberator's blood, then binds him into lifelong servitude. The story line veers from gothic melodrama to Munstersish family comedy when the cursed bloodsucker regains his mortality and settles into a perversely fatherly relationship with the now-addled Jamie. As startling as this story line may sound, Hinton manages to work in quite a few cliches (stakes through the heart, keening virgins, etc.), and sentimentality frequently wells up alongside the elements of parody. This is as peculiar as it is unsuccessful--but it will nonetheless attract a considerable readership, owing as much to Tor's promotion of it as the publishing event of the year as to its appeal to vampire-lit groupies and curiosity seekers alike. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2004 Booklist

Erasing age and genre barriers, prize-winning, bestselling YA author Hinton turns out a dark, funny, scary, suspenseful tale that will entertain mainstream and adventure/horror readers alike. Jamie Sommers is orphaned at the age of eight in 1950 and sent to live with some nasty nuns until graduating as a troubled young man to a life at sea. After surviving a number of life-threatening adventures in exotic ports, he ends up in the small town of Hawkes Harbor on the Delaware coast, where he stumbles into a situation so dire his entire life is changed in a manner of minutes. His new employer, the mysterious Grenville Hawke, lord of Hawkes Hall, known to Jamie as It, the Thing and the Vampire, almost kills Jamie, then goes on to enslave him for years to come. Moving back and forth through time, Hinton twists and shapes her bleak material until the story and the reader's expectations have been turned upside down. This is an adult novel, meaning that Hinton gets to write sex scenes and use the word fuck when she wants to, but the basic elements that made her 30-year-old book The Outsiders a long-time bestseller are present in this rousing read. This is a contemporary Treasure Island with a genre-bending twist. Agent, Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown. (Sept.) Forecast: Booksellers should have success hand-selling to grown-up Hinton fans; older YA readers will enjoy the novel, too. With sufficient promo and word of mouth, this could hit national lists. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Bestselling YA author Hinton's first adult foray, a lurid tale of a boy who goes wrong but is rescued by a man with an even more wicked past. In a plot with more bells and whistles than a new PC, Hinton mixes crime, horror, and redemption with a heavy hand in the story of young Jamie Summers. Reared by uncaring nuns in an orphanage after his single mother died, Jamie hasn't had an easy life: the nuns were tough, the Navy taught him useful skills but wasn't a picnic either, and, after that, sailing the Seven Seas with Kell, a charismatic criminal, was often perilous. Hospitalized now for depression, Jamie recalls in therapy how he fought with pirates, was attacked by sharks, ran guns for the IRA, got jailed for alleged rape, and killed a man. His hospitalization is being paid for by the wealthy Grenville Hawkes, who lives in the old Hawkes family mansion in Delaware. Jamie is grateful for all Grenville has done--helping him reform, giving him a job and a home. But Grenville wasn't always the benign entrepreneur who restored the family fortunes, and he has his own reasons for helping Jamie, who is haunted by memories of their meeting and its consequences. (In the therapy sessions, Jamie becomes agitated if it gets dark or there's thunder.) Before he met Grenville, Jamie learned of pirate treasure rumored to be buried in a cave near the abandoned Hawkes mansion. One night, Jamie paid a visit but found more than pirate treasure: a man suddenly arose from a coffin, asked what year it was, then fell upon Jamie's neck and began sucking his blood. Jamie is released to Grenville before his therapy ends and endures further challenges. Despite the sex and violence, more YA than adult. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In a self-reinvention comparable to Madonna's foray into picture books, the doyenne of gritty teen realism has written her first novel for grown-ups after a 20-year publishing hiatus. This one roves far from the street toughs, bikers, and cowboys of The Outsiders (1967) and Tex (1979). Mental patient Jamie Sommers is a former gem smuggler who goes catatonic when an escapade brings him face-to-face--or, more precisely, face-to-neck--with a vampire. Sprung from his locked coffin by the hapless Jamie, Granville Hawkes first snacks on his liberator's blood, then binds him into lifelong servitude. The story line veers from gothic melodrama to Munstersish family comedy when the cursed bloodsucker regains his mortality and settles into a perversely fatherly relationship with the now-addled Jamie. As startling as this story line may sound, Hinton manages to work in quite a few cliches (stakes through the heart, keening virgins, etc.), and sentimentality frequently wells up alongside the elements of parody. This is as peculiar as it is unsuccessful--but it will nonetheless attract a considerable readership, owing as much to Tor's promotion of it as "the publishing event of the year" as to its appeal to vampire-lit groupies and curiosity seekers alike. ((Reviewed August 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.

Erasing age and genre barriers, prize-winning, bestselling YA author Hinton turns out a dark, funny, scary, suspenseful tale that will entertain mainstream and adventure/horror readers alike. Jamie Sommers is orphaned at the age of eight in 1950 and sent to live with some nasty nuns until graduating as a troubled young man to a life at sea. After surviving a number of life-threatening adventures in exotic ports, he ends up in the small town of Hawkes Harbor on the Delaware coast, where he stumbles into a situation so dire his entire life is changed in a manner of minutes. His new employer, the mysterious Grenville Hawke, lord of Hawkes Hall, known to Jamie as It, the Thing and the Vampire, almost kills Jamie, then goes on to enslave him for years to come. Moving back and forth through time, Hinton twists and shapes her bleak material until the story and the reader's expectations have been turned upside down. This is an adult novel, meaning that Hinton gets to write sex scenes and use the word fuck when she wants to, but the basic elements that made her 30-year-old book The Outsiders a long-time bestseller are present in this rousing read. This is a contemporary Treasure Island with a genre-bending twist. Agent, Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown. (Sept.) Forecast: Booksellers should have success hand-selling to grown-up Hinton fans; older YA readers will enjoy the novel, too. With sufficient promo and word of mouth, this could hit national lists. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.