Hooked: A Dark, Contemporary Romance

Hooked is a novel by author and songwriter Emily McIntire, and it is the first in her Never After book series. While McIntire’s novels center on dark romances that challenge the “normal” boundaries of romantic relationships, her work takes a unique approach to this subgenre by using the elements of familiar stories and fairy tales to structure the narratives that comprise her celebrated Never After series. These novels (Hooked, Scarred, Wretched, Twisted, and Crossed) take inspiration from classic tales and turn them into realistic erotic narratives. The series is an international bestseller.

Hooked, which was first published in 2021, takes the Peter Pan story and turns the traditional understanding of J. M. Barrie’s original characters on its head, reinventing memorable figures like Wendy, Peter, Jon, and Hook, as well as incorporating elements like the Lost Boys and the Jolly Roger. However, the similarities between McIntire’s version and the original are largely aesthetic in nature, for rather than preserving the essence of Barrie’s characters, McIntire often subverts their purpose entirely. For example, she makes her Peter the villain of the piece, while the protagonist and antihero, James Barrie, is intended to be a conglomeration of Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie and the original antagonist, Captain James Hook. Ultimately, despite taking inspiration from the original play, the novel stands on its own as a unique work of erotic fiction. Throughout the novel, McIntire weaves in themes of revenge, family, femininity, and sexuality that develop the characters in unique ways and usher in an unexpected climax.

The version of Hooked used in this guide is the 2022 Kindle edition published by Bloom Books.

Content Warning: This novel contains instances of sexual activity that may not be consensual, as well as explicit violence and implied child abuse.

Plot Summary

Wendy, the story’s heroine, moves to Bloomsburg, Massachusetts, to be closer to her brother, Jon, and her father, Peter. Peter runs NevAirLand Airlines, and his work has led him to become estranged from his children. Wendy, looking to make friends in a new town, encounters James Barrie, also known as Hook. Despite jealousy from James’s admirers and warnings about James’s dangerous lifestyle, Wendy falls for him, and the two begin an intense romance. However, James is only using Wendy to get revenge on Peter, who killed James’s parents in a plane crash years ago.

The narrative relates that after the crash that killed his parents, the young James was sent to Massachusetts to live with his uncle, Senator Barrie, who was known in the crime world as Croc and abused James for most of his childhood. Ru, or Roofus, James’s friend and employer, saved James from the abuse and took him into his criminal enterprise. Years later, Ru is now close to retirement, and James has become the principal enforcer of their business. The town fears James, and his dominating demeanor is part of why Wendy finds him so attractive. When Peter comes to town, though, James and Ru struggle to maintain their business operations in the face of Peter’s wealth and criminal networking.

Despite his original plan to use Wendy, James quickly realizes that he is falling in love with her, and this development threatens to hinder his plans to get revenge on Peter. James and Wendy have an instant and intense sexual chemistry that distracts each of them from the dangers of their relationship. The two grow closer as James also befriends Jon, Wendy’s brother, supporting him in ways that Wendy wishes Peter would. Peter, for his part, is largely absent, and James quickly becomes the most important man in Wendy’s life.

When Ru and Peter attempt to strike a deal, Ru goes missing, and James finds his body at the location of Ru and Peter’s meeting. Assuming that Wendy was sent by Peter to distract him, James kidnaps Wendy, accusing her of betraying him. However, when James takes Wendy to confront Peter, he finds that Wendy was not involved after all, and Peter confirms that he values his own life and business over his children’s welfare. Wendy and James reconcile, teaming up to uncover Peter’s plan in Bloomsburg.

Peter’s assistant, Tina, then kidnaps Wendy and hands her over to Smee, James’s assistant and yacht worker. Using Wendy to lure James in, Peter and Smee reveal that Smee is actually James’s cousin and the son of James’s uncle, Croc. Smee has plotted to get revenge on James for years for his murder of Croc. Peter also reveals that James has a brother, for Jon is actually the son of James’s father, Andrew, and Wendy’s mother. Jon is therefore the half brother of both James and Wendy. Peter had both his wife and James’s parents killed upon discovering the affair, and he has been estranged from Wendy and Jon ever since. With the tangled web of revenge plots finally unraveled, Wendy shoots and kills both Tina and Peter. James and Wendy then go on to build a family together and live happily ever after.