Adam is highly intelligent, with a strong aptitude for science, especially marine biology, a field in which Adam's uncle and namesake made a name for himself a generation earlier. Although he describes himself as "not a churchgoer", he sang in a church choir as a child, and retains a strong moral sense along with a questioning, philosophical nature. Initially somewhat naive, Adam unwisely trusts a beautiful young woman in The Arm of the Starfish, which results in the death of a friend. Because of this, Adam tries unsuccessfully to maintain an emotional distance from Vicky Austin when he meets her the following summer. He appreciates Vicky for her kind, forthright and poetic nature, and the two become close to each other anyway. By the end of his third and final appearance, Adam and Vicky a