Hooked: A Dark, Contemporary Romance

As a dark romance novel, Hooked displays many aspects of eroticism that readers may consider to be “deviant” or “kinky,” and in this context, violent behavior is often portrayed in a sensationalized—and often idealized—light. While the proponents of the genre find these elements to be an integral part of the plot structure, it is also important to note that the glorification of violence and physical abuse in an intimate setting—whether consensual or not—can often be a triggering or disturbing concept for some readers to digest. Ultimately, darker depictions of both sexuality and physical intimacy play multiple roles in developing James and Wendy as nuanced characters within the narrative, for McIntire uses the couple’s respective traumas and internal psychological obstacles as methods with which to add a marked level of titillation to both their sexual encounters and their more normalized day-to-day interactions. At first, James sees his sexual relationship with Wendy as a tool, intended to hurt both Wendy and Peter. Likewise, Wendy starts off as an inexperienced sexual partner and finds herself excited by the hints of violence in James’s approach to sex. Ultimately, while sex between the two characters first displays a deep level of inequality and problematic (if consensual) violence, their sexual encounters eventually transform into more legitimate expressions of love and intimacy despite the persistence of psychological and emotional dysfunction within their relationship.

For James, the main positive transition occurs after Wendy engages in vaginal intercourse, thus “losing her virginity” in the traditional sense. The next day, James is no longer aroused by the thought of Wendy in pain, and this indicates a significant shift from abuse to romance on his part, even though his subsequent suspicions of Wendy’s betrayal will cause him to temporarily revert to his violent default behavior before finally “reforming” for good. From the beginning of the novel, James highlights how his attraction to Wendy is unlike other attractions he has felt in the past, and, by the end of the novel, after “possessing” Wendy’s body in a way no other man has, James is able to admit that he loves Wendy—an emotion that he thought was entirely foreign to him—and allows her more freedom of movement. James’s phrasing before the conclusion of the novel—“the woman who’s become the center of [his] universe” (257)—signals a change in James’s motivations, as well. Previously, revenge was the center of James’s universe, but Wendy has usurped that role through their relationship. This phrasing also plays into the involuntary terminology used throughout the novel, as James and Wendy both consistently refer to their arousal as being almost against their will, even in situations that run counter to such arousal.

For Wendy, inherently violent sexual encounters play an even more intense role in the development of her character. Her specific fetish for being choked by her partner places her in a unique position, for each time she consents to being choked, the novel portrays this form of sexual connection and arousal in a paradoxically positive light despite the overt imagery of male violence, dominance, and threat that such a scene embodies. As James becomes increasingly violent in his more practical interactions with Wendy as the primary revenge plot develops, the memory of being choked by him serves a dual purpose of increasing Wendy’s fear and heightening the reader’s doubt about James’s true motivations. Ultimately, the novel’s transition from mock violence for sexual benefit to true violence in the form of kidnapping, imprisonment, and psychological abuse is jarring, and Wendy rightly wonders whether she has made the right choice to be with James. However, the conventions of the dark-romance novel ultimately triumph over logical considerations that would prevail in a real-life setting, and thus, as the submissive female protagonist, Wendy eventually decides to trust the quasi-villainous antihero of the piece, throwing her lot in with James and building a somewhat improbable “happily ever after” existence with him. In the world of the novel, just as James comes to see Wendy as the center of his universe, Wendy, too, comes to see James as a trustworthy and loving partner.

The women in Hooked share a common reliance on the men of the novel, and they repeatedly undercut each other for the benefit of men, but Wendy transcends that dependence by the end. Moira is dependent on James, and, though she ultimately betrays him, she does so as an act not of independence but of dependence on a different man, Smee. Likewise, Maria is dedicated to James, lashing out at Wendy. Maria’s irritation with Wendy does not fade until Maria has attached herself to a new man, Curly. Tina, the most directly violent of the women in the novel, hates Wendy for interfering in her relationship with Peter, and she ultimately dies fighting to get closer to Peter. Wendy, though initially dependent on Peter, fights for her independence on multiple fronts, such as getting a job at the Vanilla Bean, choosing to initiate encounters with James, and finally disobeying both James and Peter by shooting Tina and Peter to save James. Wendy’s story is one that reflects a development in maturity, though extreme in terms of violence and sexuality, that mirrors the necessary steps toward independence from the traditional, patriarchal cycle of women being transferred from fathers to husbands. Under traditional patriarchy, Wendy initially seems to be following the path from being her father’s possession, his “little shadow,” to becoming her husband’s property, James’s “darling.” However, Wendy breaks out of this cycle, establishing herself as an equitable partner in her relationship while shedding the oppression of her father.

In the beginning of the novel, Wendy has moved to Massachusetts to be closer to her father, and she laments that he is not as close with her as he once was. Though this is ultimately due to Peter’s business affairs and resentment for Jon, Wendy is experiencing a period in which she needs to be herself, independent of her parent’s will. A sudden shift occurs at the gala, as Wendy clearly chooses James over Peter. Peter suspects that Wendy is just “acting out for attention” (200), but Wendy is actively choosing James as a partner. However, “attention” is a root cause of her choice, as James has been doting on Wendy up until the kidnapping. The real moment of subversion, when Wendy subsequently rejects James’s attempts to control her, comes in the conclusion of the novel, when James, like Peter, tries to get Wendy to put down her gun. At first, Wendy does “as he says, lowering the weapon,” an act linked with another pet name, “darling” (290). However, When Peter moves to shoot James, who is “ready and willing to accept his fate” (290), Wendy shoots Peter instead, forging her own future with James, rather than allowing the men to decide the future for her.

Wendy is therefore the only female character in the novel who takes charge of her own destiny, though her bid for independence remains essentially incomplete, given that it is inherently linked to her male counterpart. It is only once Wendy finds her independence—and once her competitors for James’s attention are dead or have admitted defeat and moved on—that Wendy can forge meaningful relationships with her friends Angie and Maria again. In this way, the novel reinforces the stereotypes of female infighting in place of fighting the patriarchy, though Wendy’s place as an equal to James at the end of the novel lends hope to a future where men and women share equal roles, even in the midst of a criminal underworld otherwise dominated by the most toxic of male stereotypes.