: While appearing to be a normal middle-class family, they kidnap and keep victims in their basement to satisfy a primal, biological bloodlust.
: The patriarch is a visionary but impoverished inventor and blacksmith. He serves as the novel's moral compass and intellectual center. The Hamiltons
: Their story represents the resilience and struggle of early settlers in the Salinas Valley, contrasting with the more tragic, central Trask family. Other Notable "Hamiltons" : While appearing to be a normal middle-class