The Starboard Sea

An anemic coming-of-age story about a sexually confused teenager learning to negotiate a Reagan-era world of material excess and unchecked freedoms sums up Dermont’s debut novel. Reeling from the suicide of Cal, his sailing partner and first love, Jason Prosper is sent to Bellingham, a laissez-faire East Coast boarding school that caters to entitled delinquents. There, he befriends Aidan, an ethereal social misfit and daughter of a Hollywood ingénue, who helps him come to terms with Cal’s death. However, Jason also takes up with a fraternity of pranksters, whose menacing antics are ignored by the school’s money-grubbing administration. After Aidan dies mysteriously during a hurricane, Jason must face the truth about his new friends and school. Though Dermont is a competent storyteller, the novel often feels like little more than a series of anecdotes about privilege and impunity, with Jason’s search for justice relegated to an extracurricular event taking place between regattas and drug-fueled blowouts. Insights are limited by Dermont’s unconditional sympathy for even the cruelest characters, amounting to a reprieve for the poor little rich kids, whose spiritual loneliness redeems their offenses, no matter how grave. Agent: Inkwell Management. (Mar.)