There be spoilers here.
In and of itself, S. E. Hinton's HAWKES HARBOR is not a bad book; as an entry in the DARK SHADOWS novel series, it would have been a flop.
I enjoyed Hinton's prose, and she developed a convincing background for Jamie (Willie Loomis) Sommers. It's easy to envision Karlen in the role and Dennis Patrick playing Kellen (Jason McGuire) Quinn in flashback fashion, particularly in their travels around the world. Her delving deeply into Jamie's psyche, the devastation he feels being a victim of a vampire, is masterful, and that rich character development is what keeps the novel going.
The other characters, however, are a complete bust. I have no idea how much she altered them to make HAWKES HARBOR a stand-alone novel, but the character of Grenville (Barnabas) Hawkes is so far removed from anything Jonathan Frid would have portrayed that one -has- to forget the novel's origin as an entry in the DS series -- not so easy when you consider that Jamie Sommers and Willie Loomis are virtually interchangeable. Mind you, in some scenes, I can see Ben Cross delivering Grenville's lines, but even that becomes a stretch after a while. I honestly don't know if Hinton purposefully worked the dialogue so that there'd be no real resemblance to Barnabas or if it was due to a lack of understanding of the character; given her sharp portrayal of Jamie/Willie, the latter seems doubtful.
Louisa (Julia Hoffman) Kahne bears some slight resemblance to her television counterpart, though she tends to be more sharp-tongued and self-centered than the "real" Julia. While most of the other characters are recognizable as Collins family members and Collinsport townspeople, none of them are developed to any great extent. While both Grenville and Jamie are quite smitten with Katie (Maggie Evans) Roddendem, apart from an "unusual" moment of sex with Jamie, she's almost a non-entity, generally in the background, occasionally intruding on the main characters' thoughts.
(There is a blooper already discussed around here, in which Roger Collins and the Collins Shipping Co. are mentioned by name.)
Structurally, the book tends to be a little disjointed, due to scenes occuring in non-linear fashion, an aspect that works when there's a point to it, but if there is one in this case, it's fairly muddled. Action and suspense there is none (with the possible exception of a few scattered moments during Jamie and Kellen's sea voyages). I think even fans who care less about DARK SHADOWS' occasionally over-the-top action than its rich characters would be disappointed by HAWKES HARBOR's -very- sedate pace and lack of adrenalin-inducing moments.
I give it a marginal recommendation as a novel of dark fiction, with a nod to Hinton's stylistic prowess.
--M
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey
