Hampton Road is a psychological thriller told from the perspective of three characters. Their overlapping narratives unravel a mystery that begins one fateful summer night and ends months later in a mental institution when a young man is forced to confront the source of his personal anguish.
The novel is also a social commentary, in the manner of Catcher in the Rye, although the driving force of the novel is the mystery surrounding the protagonist's incarceration and his psychopathology.
The novel opens with the teenage protagonist suddenly awakening to find himself in a state mental institution, one that looks more like a prison than a hospital. When he demands to know why he is being held against his will, none of the hospital personnel give him a straight answer. To make matters worse, he realizes he has a serious case of amnesia, especially when he is asked to recount any details about a tragic incident that occurred on Hampton Road.