Hooked is a novel by A.C. Wise that was released on July 12th, 2022 by Titan Books. It is the sequel to her previous novel Wendy, Darling and, like it, acts as a dark reimagining and sequel to Peter Pan.
Captain James Hook, the immortal pirate of Neverland, has died a thousand times. Drowned, stabbed by Peter Pan’s sword, eaten by the beast swimming below the depths, yet James was resurrected every time by one boy’s dark imagination. Until he found a door in the sky, an escape. And he took the chance no matter the cost.
Now in London twenty-two years later, Peter Pan’s monster has found Captain Hook again, intent on revenge. But a chance encounter leads James to another survivor of Neverland. Wendy Darling, now a grown woman, is the only one who knows how dark a shadow Neverland casts, no matter how far you run. To vanquish Pan’s monster once and for all, Hook must play the villain one last time…
Not to be confused with Hooked, another book inspired by the Peter Pan mythos.
This book has the following examples:
- Adaptational Abomination:
- The Crocodile goes from a wild animal with a particular enmity with Hook to Peter's "hunting beast", an extension of the boy's will that simply takes the appearance of a crocodile. Years later, after James's escape, it returns as a spectral entity under the command of his dead crew's fractured spirits. Its bite can wipe something from existence and it can drain people of life, leaving them husks that exude nothingness.
- Just like in Wendy, Darling, Peter's supernatural nature is played up as being inhuman in nature. When James first encountered him before being turned into Captain Hook, he briefly saw him as an unsettling satyr-like being before being forced to see him only his desired form.
- Adaptational Sexuality: James fell in love with and became a lover to Samuel, another man.
- Anti-Hero: Even after escaping Neverland, James could never quite move on from his darker nature as Hook, which compelled him to kill and steal from Londoners instead of getting a job like Samuel did to support them both. Even in the "present", he largely only cared to protect his own hide more than others'.
- Babies Ever After: Jane is shown to have had a little boy in the Epilogue.
- Call-Back: As to be expected in a sequel, there are some to Wendy, Darling, such as Jane likening herself to the boar that Peter's Lost Boys slaughtered upon being pinned down and threatened by the same Lost "Boys", now (some of the time) older and more feral due to Wendy leaving them without Peter anymore.
- Demonic Possession: What happens to Michael Darling after the hunting beast enters his body is more or less this.
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: The "present day" plot is set shortly before and then on Christmas, but the only really major impact this has is the Darling family meeting up at Wendy's home.
- Fantastic Drug: The thick, sweet leaf sap that Hook collected from Neverland's plant life for his cigars had psychedelic, mind numbing effects. The best equivalent Samuel could find for him in London was opium, which James says barely holds a candle to it at all. It is retroactively revealed that this same substance is what Peter fed to Jane in Wendy, Darling to fog her mind and make her more compliant.
- Killed Offscreen: It's very casually mentioned in one of the flashbacks to Hook's time in Neverland that he killed "Peter's favorite fairy" - who was without a doubt Tinker Bell - along with all the other fairies of Neverland. This helps explain her absence in the previous book, where the fairies were nowhere to be found.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: Since they're all dead by the time of Wendy, Darling, this book's early flashback segments gives us a brief look at Wise's take on the mermaids of Neverland. As to be expected, they're unnatural nature is emphasized and they're all but confirmed to have a Hive Mind. Despite taking pleasure in mocking Hook whenever he revives in the caverns beneath the island, they can still be killed by him. The black blade is also guarded by an even more monstrous mermaid that shifts appearances and even plains of existence.
- Promotion to Parent: One of the few memories James has of his life before he became Captain Hook was that he was cared for by his elder sister instead of their parents.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Jane gripes about having to push against this widespread mindset while she pursues her medical studies and was a source of bonding for her and her friend/roommate Peg. About the only men in that corner of her life who aren't said to be dismissive of her are Peg's boyfriend and a friend of his who they went out drinking with who showed her a trick he learned for putting a dislodged shoulder back in place.
- Swapped Roles: Invoked in-universe when James/Hook is tied up to the mast on the wreckage of his ship by the spirits of his pirates and the hunting beast while they're possessing Michael's body.
- Tragic Keepsake: James holds onto Samuel's skull, which he has had patterns engrained into.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Michael Darling gains these when possessed by the hunting beast...but his eyes actually shift colors to match who's in control, like Killdeer and the pirates.
- War Is Hell: One of the things Michael wants most is for Jane to never enlist as a nurse in the war. Having been a World War I soldier saddled with a bad leg and lingering trauma, he doesn't want his niece that he loves witness the carnage of the World War II.
Once invited, always welcome. Once invited, never free.
