Hooked Review

Hooked by A.C. Wise

"Once invited, always welcome. Once invited, never free."

A.C. Wise’s Hooked takes the familiar world of Peter Pan and turns it into something darker, more tragic, and deeply introspective. This isn’t the Neverland of childhood nostalgia—it’s a haunting, liminal space that refuses to let go of those who once belonged to it. The book explores what happens when the story doesn’t end, when villains escape but are never truly free, and when the past remains an anchor rather than a memory.

We meet Captain Hook as an aging, opium-smoking relic of his former self, plagued by nightmares of his endless deaths at Peter Pan’s hands. Though he escaped Neverland decades ago with his loyal first mate, Smee, the horrors of that world found a way to seep into reality. An eldritch monster—blind but able to track the scent of Neverland—has been loosed upon London, and it’s coming for him. Forced into an uneasy alliance with a grown-up Wendy Darling and her daughter Jane, Hook must return to the world he barely survived to undo the damage his escape set in motion.

Wise leans into gothic horror and psychological torment, crafting a tale of obsession, trauma, and revenge. Hook isn’t just an aging villain—he’s a man whose identity was forged and manipulated by Peter Pan himself. 

“It’s impossible to hate a thing without being shaped by it.” 

This theme of being trapped by one's own history permeates the novel, making Hook more than just a cutthroat pirate—he’s a tragic figure fighting for scraps of agency in a story that was never truly his.

The book builds toward a climactic confrontation in Neverland, where Hook and Jane face their past and their nightmares. Hook, in a last desperate stand, reclaims the power that once made him infamous. His fate, however, is sealed—not by Peter, but by time itself. In the end, Jane buries him and Smee in Neverland, closing the chapter on their story and freeing herself from its grasp.

Not all elements of the book landed for me. Some character relationships felt a bit forced, existing more for thematic resonance than organic storytelling. And the intimate moment between Hook and Smee—while attempting to add depth to their bond—felt jarring, at odds with my long-held perceptions of these characters.

Despite these minor misgivings, Hooked is a mesmerizing, eerie reimagining of a familiar tale, one that lingers long after the final page. It forces you to consider the weight of stories, how they shape us, and whether true escape is ever possible. For fans of dark fantasy and gothic reimaginings, Wise offers a compelling, if unsettling, return to Neverland.