Jack Viertel

Jack Viertel is a longtime producer, writer and creative force in the New York theater, whose most recent credit is as creative consultant on the Tony-winning musical The Outsiders. He was as the originator of the the Broadway show and Netflix film The Prom and has also been deeply engaged in the work of writers from Tony Kushner to August Wilson. He was one of the creative forces behind the musical Hairspray. He’s been part of many Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning productions and is the author of the New York Times best-seller The Secret Life of the American Musical and the novel Broadway Melody. He’s maintained a residence on the Maine coast for many years. 

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The Glass Eel

Caterpillar Island is off the central coast of Maine, on the way to the beloved vacationland of lobster bakes and quaint fried clam shacks, kayaking and country houses. At night, though, by the light of a headlamp, the island is alive with cash, guns, international trade wars, and baby eels. Across the surrounding coastline, oxy addicts, trailer park residents, Wabanaki Natives, and out-of-work construction workers dip their nets in the creeks to catch elvers--two-inch-long baby eels that fetch $3000 from unscrupulous smugglers.
Into this dark and often dangerous world falls Jeanette King, a middle-aged divorcée who has, up to this moment, been earning her living holding down three jobs, most importantly as a shucker and packager of local crab meat. As Jeanette gets drawn, at first unwillingly, into a fast-moving story of risk and sometimes violent consequences which seem to revolve around her ex-husband, she enlists the aid of close confederates--a local policeman and an Indigenous activist. An ensuing procession of colorful townies, unexpected plot twists, and dangerous outsiders creates an entertaining, enlightening tale of what happens in the underbelly of a business that is both uncontrolled and environmentally dangerous.

(Mysterious Press, September 2025)