Soul Catcher

Fifteen-year-old Kate Steiner is not sure why she is suddenly boarding at a Long Island school for troubled kids (``We were delinquents, addicts, mental cases, orphans and kids from broken homes''), though there is evidence that her lawyer parents in Westchester are having marital problems. Gradually initiated into the stratified school society, Kate, a child of the '70s, grapples with moral ambiguities on many levels. One such struggle is in her relationship with fellow student Patrick, a slip-sliding drug addict who eventually dies from his abuse. When Kate's parents separate and find other partners, Kate experiences additional emotional pulls that are heavy for one so young. This first novel, with its appealing theme of innocence lost in the loosening of family ties, is played out by underdeveloped characters. Among them are an inscrutable headmaster, uncommunicative parents and Patrick, the youth of fatal attraction. They make shadowy passage through Kate's questioning adolescence. (Oct.)