Hooked

The thrilling new novel of friendship and dangerous obsession from Asako Yuzuki, the award-winning author of the global sensation Butter.

Eriko really wouldn't mind being savaged, if it was her best friend doing the savaging …

Eriko's life appears perfect – devoted parents, pristine apartment and a high-flying job in the seafood division of one of Japan's largest trading companies. Her latest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile perch fish into the Japanese market, is characteristically ambitious. But beneath her flawless surface she is wracked by loneliness.

Eriko becomes fascinated with a popular blog written by a housewife, Shoko. Shoko’s posts about convenience-store food and her messy home are the opposite of the typical manicured housewife. When Eriko tracks Shoko down at her favourite restaurant, Shoko is at first charmed by her new companion. But soon Eriko's obsession with Shoko begins to spiral out of control. How far will she go to hold on to the best friend she’s ever had?

Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is a delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan.

A most anticipated book in Vogue, Guardian, New York Times, The Times, Sunday Times Style, Elle, Stylist, Grazia and more.

Review

‘I'd recommend adding it to your reading lists immediately’ Daily Express

‘The kind of book you press into your friends’ hands, desperate to dissect it’ Erin Kelly, author of The House of Mirrors

‘Had me in a headlock. No one writes about the hidden depths and lurking monstrosities of womanhood quite like Asako Yuzuki’ Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller

‘A brilliant, shocking, unforgettable page turner … I couldn't stop reading’ Costanza Casati, author of Babylonia

‘A razor-edged story about women, appetite, and what we’ll do to feel chosen … Safe to say, we’re already hooked’ Oprah Daily

‘A thrilling and deliciously sharp examination of the extremes of female friendship. Achingly tender and wickedly funny’ Edel Coffey, author of In Glass Houses

‘Dark, tender and unforgettable’ Jane Casey, author of The Secret Room

‘The most stressful fun I’ve ever had reading a book’ Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me at the Surface

‘I loved this intense and claustrophobic story of loneliness, identity and obsession’ Lucy Diamond, author of The Island Getaway

‘This haunting tale of loneliness and longing in the modern age will leave you gasping’ Tobi Coventry, author of He’s the Devil

About the Author

Asako Yuzuki was born in Tokyo in 1981. She won the All Yomimono Award for New Writers for her story, ‘Forget Me, Not Blue’, which appeared in her debut, Shuuten No Anoko, published in 2010. She has been nominated multiple times for the Naoko Prize, and her novels have been adapted for television, radio and film. Butter, her first novel translated into English, won Waterstones Book of the Year 2024, the Books Are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award and Fiction Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, among other accolades.