Hunting Adeline

Written by dark romance author H. D. Carlton, Hunting Adeline (2022) is the second novel in the Cat & Mouse Duet, which begins with Haunting Adeline (2021) and also includes a prequel titled Satan’s Affair (2021) and an additional work called Where’s Molly (2024); the latter two titles expand on characters featured in Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline. 

Hunting Adeline begins directly after the events of Haunting Adeline and is split into two parts. Part 1 focuses on Adeline’s experiences as a captive of human traffickers while her stalker-turned-lover, Zade, tries to find her. (Zade runs an underground organization called Z, which is dedicated to fighting elements of human trafficking perpetuated by “the Society,” a ritualistic shadow government whose members include senators and other powerful political figures.) Part 2 shows Zade and Adeline reunited and ready to fight back against the Society, but they must first resolve the traumas that they faced in Part 1. 

H. D. Carlton is a USA Today and Amazon best-selling author who is known internationally for writing dark romance novels that push the boundaries of what is acceptable within an already contentious genre. The novel explores The Effects of Trauma on Current Relationships, Hierarchies of Power and Agency, and The Unique Struggles Facing Women. Carlton uses Zade and Adeline’s journey to investigate how real-life issues of trafficking and abuse affect survivors.

This guide refers to the 2022 Kindle edition published by H. D. Carlton.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of gender and/or transgender discrimination, sexual violence and/or sexual harassment, rape, mental illness, child abuse, suicidal ideation, self-harm, substance use, graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, illness or death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse. In particular, the book includes discussion of human trafficking of adults and children. Additionally, the book’s premise parallels many elements of contemporary conspiracy theories, such as those of QAnon, which have been linked to racism, sexism, and antisemitism. The author denies any association with these groups.

Plot Summary

In the first novel in the series, Haunting Adeline, Zade stalks and seduces Adeline until she eventually falls in love with him and learns more about his dedication to fighting the shadow-organization known as the Society; Zade is determined to stop the Society’s perpetuation of human trafficking. At the end of Haunting Adeline, after attempting to infiltrate the Society’s upper echelons and disrupting an abusive ritual, Zade and his colleague, Jay, must reckon with the consequences of their actions. Meanwhile, Adeline is targeted by human traffickers, who run her car off the road and capture her. In Hunting Adeline, Zade and Adeline remain separated for the duration of Part 1. As Adeline suffers as a captive of human traffickers who work for the Society, Zade tries desperately to find her.

At the beginning of the novel, the injured Adeline wakes up in a van with Rick and Rio, the men who kidnapped her. They bring her to Dr. Garrison, who treats Adeline’s wounds from the car accident, but when he tries to kidnap her for his own purposes, Adeline stabs him, and Rio shoots him in the head. Rio and Rick bring Adeline to the house of a woman named Francesca, who holds and “trains” captive women for sale on the illegal market. Rio tends to Adeline’s wounds, keeping her sedated as much as possible. In the night, Adeline discovers a journal written by a captive woman named Molly; the woman’s defiant entries give her hope.

Meanwhile, Zade and Jay narrowly escape capture at a Society ritual they disrupted at the end of Haunting Adeline. Claire Williams, the former wife of the abusive senator Mark Williams (the illegitimate son of Adeline’s great-grandmother, Gigi), reveals herself to be the true leader of the Society, and she attempts to imprison Zade and Jay. Zade and Jay escape, spending days in the hospital recovering from the explosion that rocked the ritual. 

Furious at this turn of events, Zade is determined to find Adeline. First, Zade targets Max, the man who hired Rick and Rio to kidnap Adeline because he thought that Zade killed his father. Zade tortures Max and learns that Luke, Max’s henchman, kidnapped Daya, Adeline’s best friend. Zade rescues Daya, who kills Luke herself.

When Adeline recovers from her wounds, Francesca starts “training” her with the other women in the house: Sydney, Jillian, Gloria, Phoebe, and Bethany. When Rocco, Francesca’s brother, tries to hurt Bethany, Adeline speaks out, and Rocco sexually assaults her in front of everyone. Francesca tries to interfere, and Adeline punches Rocco. Sydney sees Francesca’s interest in keeping Adeline safe and starts tormenting Adeline. Sydney destroys Francesca’s shoes and blames Adeline, which leads Francesca to sexually assault Adeline with the heel of a shoe. The women are preparing for the “Culling,” an event at which prospective buyers will hunt the women down in a forest setting. As the women practice for the event, Adeline learns to hide and avoid arrows, and she finds an abandoned train that could serve as a hiding place.

Zade finds Dr. Garrison’s building and realizes that Garrison tried to kidnap Adeline before being killed by Rio. Zade has Jay collect all the video footage from the building. He then sets the building on fire as a message to the Society. Jay finds a video of a man named Ryker, who is part of the Basilisk Brotherhood, an organization that traffics human organs. Zade knows that the Basilisk Brotherhood is not as violent as other groups, so he arranges a meeting with them. In exchange for Zade’s help in the future, he wants the Brotherhood to help him locate Adeline.

Adeline participates in the Culling, drawing the attention of Xavier Delano, a wealthy man who decides to hunt her. Adeline survives the Culling at the expense of another woman, Phoebe, who is injured while helping Adeline and killing one of the men. After the Culling, Adeline is forced to kill Phoebe.

Two months pass. Xavier visits Adeline every week, and he enjoys cutting her while he sexually assaults her. Rio tries to comfort Adeline. Adeline meets Claire Williams, the leader of the Society, who explains that Adeline is only a pawn she is abusing to draw out Zade. In the night, Sydney discovers that Adeline has been drafting escape plans in Molly’s journal, so she attacks Adeline. Adeline kills Sydney, and Rio helps her escape. On her way out, she also has to kill a man named Jerry. Adeline reaches a train car and falls asleep. Later, she hears Francesca’s men hunting her, but Zade kills them and rescues Adeline.

The narrative reveals that over the past two months, Zade used the Brotherhood’s help to track down auctions and was able to find two captured women, Jillian and Gloria. Thanks to the Brotherhood’s skills and Jillian’s description of Francesca’s house, Zade found Adeline’s location. He and his team located the train, killed Francesca’s men, and rescued Adeline, but Francesca, Rocco, Rick, and Rio escaped.

The narrative shifts into Part 2, which features Zade and Adeline’s recovery, Adeline’s trauma, and the pair’s combined efforts to get revenge on Claire and the Society.

As time passes, Adeline struggles to adjust to her regular life, fearing that she will wake up and find herself still trapped in Francesca’s house. Zade tries to comfort her while limiting his attempts to touch Adeline. Adeline gets treatment for a sexually transmitted disease, which makes her feel tarnished. Even though Adeline is still attracted to Zade, the thought of any sexual activity disturbs her deeply. Zade takes Adeline to a sanctuary run by his underground organization, Z, which houses survivors of abuse and trafficking. Adeline meets Rio’s sister, Katerina, as well as Jillian and Gloria, and she decides to join forces with Zade and actively pursue Claire, Xavier, Francesca, and Rocco. With this decision, she finds a sense of purpose in her desire for revenge.

Zade trains Adeline, giving her a new knife and cautioning her on the dangers of field operations. Zade finds and kills Rick. Rio is trying to hide, and Adeline tries to convince Zade to spare Rio for helping her escape. Jay tracks Francesca and Rocco to a motel, where Adeline confronts them, subduing them with tranquilizers. Zade and Adeline go to a sex club, where Xavier attacks Adeline, but she and Zade successfully capture him, too.

With Xavier, Francesca, and Rocco captured, Zade, Adeline, and their allies torture them for information. Adeline decides to hold a new Culling, in which she and Zade hunt Xavier, Francesca, and Rocco. After the Culling, Adeline relishes killing Xavier while taunting him with Zade’s sexual prowess; Francesca dies violently; and Zade simply kills Rocco. Zade and Adeline continue experimenting with their sexuality, gradually pushing Adeline’s boundaries and addressing her trauma. Zade cuts over Adeline’s scars, replacing the memory of Xavier with the image of their love, and Adeline asks Zade to cut a rose into her chest, as well.

As Zade and Adeline get closer to drawing out Claire, Claire attempts to kidnap Adeline’s parents. Adeline, Zade, and Sibby rescue Adeline’s parents, but Adeline’s mother, Serena, is injured in the process. William, Adeline’s father, blames Adeline for Serena’s injury, refusing to let Adeline see her. Adeline struggles with the violent acts she has committed, but Zade assures her that some violence is necessary. Zade finds two of Claire’s associates, and he and Adeline kidnap one of them, killing the other. They stage a scene that makes it look like Zade and Adeline are captured, which draws out Claire. Claire kills her associate and tries to sway Zade to join her, offering to end human trafficking in exchange for the technology needed for world domination. Zade refuses, and Adeline kills Claire.

After Claire’s death, Zade continues to interfere with human trafficking operations, sometimes with Adeline’s help. Zade and Adeline recover their original sexual dynamics, and Zade proposes to Adeline.