Hooked

by Asako Yuzuki, Polly Barton (Translator)

The unmissable new novel of friendship and dangerous obsession from Asako Yuzuki, the award-winning author of the global bestselling 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, spotless apartment and a 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 eating convenience store food and her untidy home are the opposite of the typical Japanese housewife’s manicured lifestyle. When Eriko tracks Shoko down at her favourite restaurant and befriends her, Shoko is at first charmed by her new companion. But as Eriko’s obsession with Shoko deepens, her increasingly possessive behaviour starts to raise suspicion. As Eriko’s carefully laid plans begin to unravel, how far will she go to hold on to the best friend that she’s ever had?

Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is a thrilling and unsettling story of the line between friendship and dangerous obsession. A delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan, Hooked brings together all the ingredients for which Asako Yuzuki is so adored.

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Thriller, Japanese Literature, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Asia

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 30, 2015

About the author

Asako Yuzuki (柚木 麻子, Yuzuki Asako) is a Japanese writer. She won the All Yomimono Prize for New Writers and the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize. Asako has been nominated multiple times for the Naoki Prize, and her novels have been adapted for television, radio, and film.

Reviews

[leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

less of a thriller and more of a character study of two lonely women living in tokyo.

the novel’s primary theme is female friendships and how hard these can be to form and cultivate, especially in adulthood. it touches on a lot of the themes we’ve come to expect from japanese fiction through its exploration of women in contemporary japan: rigid gender roles, marriage, parental expectations, loneliness, the struggle of human connection, work etc.

the characterisation was done well, eriko was truly an abhorrent character that i wanted to slap, and shoko was grating too. but by the end you do start to feel sorry for both women, which i think is testament to yuzuki’s ability to craft unlikeable but undeniably human and complex characters.

i wish the obsession theme had been expanded a little more, there is definitely an element of foreboding running throughout, but i was expecting it to lead up to something more explosive and unhinged. a few subplots and characters felt a bit random and didn’t add much to the overall storyline, and i think the book could’ve been trimmed down as it did become repetitive at certain points. i haven’t read butter by this author which i know is very popular, but maybe i’ll give it a try.

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shoko and Eriko could not be more different. Shoko is a stay at home housewife who loathes cooking, cleaning and, well, anything that requires effort. Eriko is a career woman with a responsible job but still living at home with her parents.

However Eriko is a big fan of Shoko's World's Worst Wife Blog, so much so that she begins haunting the places Shoko goes. Her hunch pays off one night and the two women meet - and get along. Eriko is delighted for here is the answer to all her prayers.

But Shoko is unaware that Eriko has a history of obsessive behaviour and the friendship may not be all she had hoped for. in fact Eriko may be the fan she has always feared.

The story of these two women begins innocuously enough but the tension begins to build quite early on as Eriko's obsession becomes all too obvious. The story isn't quite as cut and dried as all that though and Asako Yuzuki explores the relationships between friends, relatives and spouses in much more detail.

Although I didn't enjoy Hooked quite as much as Butter it is still a great story with a surprising end that I definitely recommend. I look forward to wherever Yuzuki goes next on her literary career.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the advance digital review copy.

[jaimie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars feels a bit harsh for this since I really enjoyed Butter, but I think the whole concept of this fell a bit flat. The whole jist of the story is that all of the women in it are unlikable and terrible at maintaining female friendships and even their own relationships, because women are inherently catty and gossipy therefore how could they ever form meaningful relationships? In every single conversation between two women in this book, they CONSTANTLY bring up how they don’t have female friends and how women are difficult to get along with. I just found the whole concept so boring and repetitive by the end of the book.

Now, the stalking and blackmail aspect to this book really sped up the plot which was very much needed. The only thing is I don’t think it was used to its full potential, it wasn’t developed on enough as it could have been. I would have loved to see at least one of the women in this story going full on unhinged instead of teetering on the edge for chapters on end.

I honestly felt quite sorry for Eriko by the end of the book. She doesn’t know why she can’t form relationships with anyone, she is just a very intense person and unfortunately people are easily put off by her. No, she doesn’t help herself by literally blackmailing someone she considers her ‘best friend’ who she barely knows to go on a spa break with her for a few days. But I find it so mean that her boss, her coworkers, even her PARENTS find her insufferable to be around and tell her this TO HER FACE! No wonder she was going crazy, wouldn’t you?!

I can appreciate what Yuzuki was trying to do with this book, and I love that it was once again female centred just like Butter; you could even argue that there are even less key male characters in this book and they are mostly plot devices. I just think that I wanted more from such an intense idea, and I am left frustrated at this.

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think from the summary, telling us that the book is about Eriko's obsession with Shoko, a blogger, and that she is determined to become her best friend, and from having read and enjoyed Butter last year, I expected the book to read very much like a thriller, and I found it was maybe more of a psychological study. Which maybe Butter was as well in a way.
With Hooked, the intrigue starts at a very good pace... what we knew would happen (Eriko going to extremes and being all stalkerish to keep her new friend) happens within the first 10-20% of the book. After that, things escalate a bit but then they kind of stall. There's a lot of chapters where not much happens and we just follow the characters thoughts. There are a few themes going on, friendship, success, parental attention... But the message didn't feel super clear to me, and I didn't feel as invested as when I started reading. It's a shame because the translation is great - Polly Barton... as always, never disappoints and bonus points for the fish puns and references, I have no idea what they could have been in Japanese but they were very smooth in the English text!
So a bit of a mixed bag but with great moments.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

[booksontherunway • Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

darkly funny, strange and relatable.

HOOKED follows two women in their 30s struggling with friendship, loneliness and social expectations in japan.

i was expecting more unhinged behaviour, but the tension was actually very satisfying.

love a fascinating character study.

The writing was so rich and delish

[Cooper]

DNFd at 50%

This was a let down since Butter is one of my favourite books, but this was aimless and heavy handed with the exposition dumping, it spent too much time explaining itself.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

[Resh (The Book Satchel)]

I really enjoyed it. The style is like Butter, and it goes into the unlikely friendship b/w a blogger and an ardent fan. I liked how the book explores women friendships, loneliness, isolation of the house wife, the boundary that an audience of an online personality might cross.

Online life vs audience : I really enjoyed the parts that talk about how the audience feel like they 'know' the online personality and are friends with them, but for the blogger/influencer, the most dedicated fan is also a stranger. Also, the book made me very nervous of how much we share online that anybody with a stalking gene can track us down. Scary! Another thing I loved was how the audience puts the blogger in a certain mould—brand in more relevant terms—and they expect them to stay within that brand.

Food : The food is great. During the beginning chapters i loved the food descriptions more than Butter but i think the soy sauce and butter rice of Butter stay more in my mind. Writing and translation is great.

What I didn't enjoy : The constant repetition of the fact that the characters do not have women friends. I don't think the repetition added anything and felt tiresome.
Pacing dips from 60% to 80% and picks up.

Overall a good read.
FAQ: If you are new to the author, pick up Butter first and read this later.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own
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[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un altro libro centrato sulle relazioni tra le donne, anzi, volendo anche piú profondo di Butter. Le relazioni tra Eriko e le donne che la circondano (volenti o nolenti) sono agghiaccianti ma a volte talmente realistiche da mettere ancora piú paura, una specie di banalità del male in salsa di soia. Mi é piaciuto molto, ma non credo che lo consiglierei.

[Mitsy_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to be honest. I am a little disappointed. It’s a thought-provoking novel that explores challenges in female friendships and human connections, and how societal expectations placed on women affect those relationships. But it didn’t grip me the way Butter did.

Just like Butter, the synopsis of Hooked might give the impression that it’s a thriller or mystery, but it really isn’t. Things get a little creepy very early in the book, and after that not much actually happens. Instead, the story focuses on exploring the central themes mentioned above through the two women’s POVs.

Since this book was published in Japan a few years before Butter, it’s not a case of the author trying to repeat the same idea and failing. Rather, it feels like the publisher looked for a book from the author’s catalogue that was similar to Butter. What made Butter more compelling, in my opinion, was the mysterious female criminal and the dynamic between her and the journalist protagonist. Hooked, unfortunately, lacks similarly intriguing or enigmatic characters. The dynamic between the two FMCs just wasn’t engaging or relatable to me. So I feel like the book was a bit disappointing in that sense.

That said, my disappointment comes mostly from comparing it to Butter. This is by no means a bad book. It’s actually a thoughtful and profound novel. If you’re interested in stories about female friendships or feminist themes, I would still recommend it.

3.5-4 🌟

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was a very introspective read, with a lot of time spent inside each of the main characters’ heads as they process events and emotions.

Having read Butter, I expected this wouldn’t be a traditional thriller despite how it was advertised, and I was right. There was plenty of tension created by unhinged and uncomfortable behaviour, but nothing I found massively suspenseful.

Around the halfway mark my interest did waver, and I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable. It did pick up towards the end, reaching a conclusion that felt natural and believable.

I would recommend this to fans of translated literature, as the translation was fantastic, but I wouldn’t go in expecting a thriller.

Thank you to 4th Estate William Collins, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Zara · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book. Didn’t quite impact me the same way as Butter but it’s a fantastic character study of two isolated and lonely women in Japan.

Will do a more detailed review closer to release date.

[Bloss ♡]

2.5/5 This was originally published two years before Butter (a book that I really enjoyed!) and it while it has glimmers of what made Butter a great read, it's not as polished, fleshed out, or taut.

While I loved the inclusion of the Nile Perch thread, I found this story undercooked overall. It's essentially a character study on two unhappy, lonely, and unlikeable women and their relationship with each other, family, and themselves. This could have been interesting if the characters were layered or complicated... but they weren't, so it wasn't. This was then compounded by any suspense being given away by the blurb, and very inconsistent pacing. Once the relationship between the women crashes and burns, the story kinda loses direction, petering out and overstaying its welcome.

Like Butter, I'm not sure this should be labelled a thriller. If you're looking for suspense or thrills, this might not be the read for you. If you're looking for a meandering character study of deeply unlikeable women and the toxic dynamic between them, you might have a better time.

The translation didn't quite land for me. While the language flowed in many areas, Barton's overuse of British colloquialisms, slang, and idioms in place of more standardized, accessible language diluted the sense of people and place for this reader.

I'd absolutely read a future work by Yuzuki, but I'm not sure I'd want to spend more time with her older works.

My request to review this was approved by Fourth Estate on NetGalley.

[kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and insightful novel about obsession, friendship, relationships and the hardships of being a woman in your thirties in Japan. Eriko, a flawless woman working a high paying job, becomes obsessed with lifestyle blogger Shoko, aka “Hallie B”, aka the World’s Worst Wife. After an encounter where they hit it off, Eriko becomes completely fixated on Shoko’s movements and activities to the point where she mass messages her only days after they’ve met and treats her as if they’ve been best friends forever.

As someone with BPD, I can understand some aspects of Eriko’s behaviour, especially in regard to her anxiety when people don’t reply back to her, her constant apologising and approval seeking. However, her stalker behaviour and thinking that everyone else is at fault for her actions is NOT it 😭 Yuzuki did such an excellent job at making Eriko’s character insufferable.

I was waiting for a climactic event where Eriko would go completely off the rails but it never really did reach that point. I loved when characters called her out on her behaviour. I liked the contrast between Eriko and Shoko’s life - we got some drama and stress-inducing chapters with Eriko and more laidback chapters with Shoko.

Thank you to netgalley and HarperCollins Publishing Australia for the ARC in exchange for an honest review ✨

[Danielle Victor Hastings (Elleliterates) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story follows two FMCs, Eriko and Shoko in what is essentially a tale of a one-sided friendship turned obsession.

Firstly, I should mention that this was my first translated (Japanese) fiction and so maybe this is entirely a “me” problem. I was initially drawn in by the premise which I thought was so promising and could have gone in so many different directions but ultimately, in my view, went nowhere at all. Marketed as a thriller, I kept waiting for SOMETHING of significance to happen, I then waited for a twist or a big reveal and again, nothing. For that reason, I would warn prospective readers that if you’re going into this book expecting a thriller you will be disappointed. However, if you enjoy heavily character-driven contemporary fiction, maybe, you will enjoy this.

That said, I REALLY enjoyed the writing which I found so full of wisdom, that I kept highlighting quotes in the first few chapters alone (this coming from someone who doesn’t usually highlight!)

Many thanks to 4th Estate and William Collins for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book via NetGalley.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hooked is a character driven story that explores friendship and societal expectations for women from the author of Butter. The story of two very different women. Eriko is a woman who seems to have it all with a successful career and Shoko, a childless homemaker who runs a blog World’s Worse Wife. Eriko becomes fascinated with Shoko’s blog and orchestrates a ‘chance’ meeting with Shoko. Eriko becomes obsessive as she tries to forge a friendship with Shoko. Both characters were complex, well developed and fleshed out. Whilst Eriko was hard to like at times the more you learn about her, the more you begin to feel for her. Shoko was a lot more likable but also has her own heartbreak. The author explores themes such as parental expectations, success, loneliness friendship and gender roles through these two women and their different lives. Again, like there were many rich descriptions of food and the side plot of importing fish from Tanzania was interesting. It did feel a little repetitive at times but overall it was another thought provoking story from Asako.

[Shaylee 🥀 · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC REVIEW - NetGalley


This novel unfolds in emotional waves—quiet stretches of loneliness punctuated by moments of intensity that crash and reshape the characters. Through Eriko and Shoko, two women from vastly different social worlds, it offers a sharp and unsettling examination of female friendship, insecurity, and the deep need to be seen and understood.

Both women are profoundly isolated, and their instant connection becomes intoxicating—especially for Eriko, whose desperation gradually turns destructive. What emerges is a story about the fragility and performative nature of female relationships, and how competition, alienation, and social expectation shape women’s sense of self.

The Nile perch metaphor is especially effective, highlighting how survival within a hostile environment can force women into quiet, mutual destruction. Dark, psychologically incisive, and deeply compelling, this novel feels both empathetic toward women and unafraid to interrogate them.

All in all, this is another wonderful novel from Asako Yuzuki!

I will film a longer review and share to my socials if anyone is interested. My username is Shayleemischele across all platforms.

[Kenleigh A G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this ARC. The story was psychological, uncomfortable, and a lot of fun to read! These two main characters are lonely and have trouble maintaining close friendships. Obsession ensues. A great dive into loneliness at its extremes.
My only real issue was that I think it could have been 100 pages shorter and still have gotten the main message across if it wanted to I think. Heavy on the whole “this could have been an email” phrase in the latter portion. BUT overall I still recommend if you’re into translated fiction, psychological and uneasy reads, and social commentary.

3.5/5

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Di questo libro ho apprezzato soprattutto l’ampio spazio riservato all’introspezione dei personaggi. Nel complesso, ritengo che valga la pena leggerlo per il modo acuto in cui l'autrice esplora il desiderio di connessione, che poi finisce per diventare un tentativo di possesso, tra donne profondamente sole e isolate.

Peccato per gli innumerevoli errori di battitura presenti nell'edizione italiana.

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to come

[Mai H.]

Japanuary TBR

Women in Translation TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco

[Mirella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partenza coinvolgente, poi ho avuto l'impressione che si perdesse un po', senza saper bene cosa fare con tutto quel materiale umano. Uno sviluppo un po' sprecato.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Butter will surely enjoy this newly-English Asako Yuzuki novel. I didn't love it as much, but still found it engaging and full of depth.
Hooked is a very nuanced novel about friendship, isolation, gendered expectations, and the desire for connection. It would have been easy for Yuzuki to write a book just about Shoko or Eriko, but writing from both of their perspectives added so much complexity to how the reader perceives each character. You can't write either of them off as a "good guy" or "bad guy," and I think that's what makes this novel so smart. They each have biased perspectives that put them in the "right."
Living inside of Eriko's and Shoko's heads is both cringe-worthy and relatable: they reveal so much about the interalized misogyny we learn from our culture and, especially, our parents/upbringing. This book is an empathetic portrayal of isolated women who have a difficult time holding onto their friendships with other women because of how we have learned to treat these kinds of relationships. Additionally, I loved how the book contrasts women's relationships with their fathers vs. their mothers. So many of these things are connected and Hooked does a great job at tying together all of these threads. The pacing drags in the last third, but nonetheless, it's a great book.
"A Novel of Obsession" as the tagline feels a bit reductive, but I understand the marketing choice, I guess. It is a novel of obsession! The original Japanese title translates to "The Nile Perch Women's Club," which is so funny to me. But I understand that in western publishing trends, the original title might signify a different marketing demographic altogether.
I think Hooked is a more cohesive novel overall, but I didn't hit me as hard as when I first read Butter. My rating may be higher in the future once I've had more time to think about this book, so take my 4 stars with a grain of salt since it's so easy to compare the two novels. This could easily be an Emily 4.5 down the line :p
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC via Netgalley. I will likely purchase my own physical copy after the pub date!

[Annette Thomson]

I read a lot of Japanese literature in translation, from the sweetness of Days At The Moriaki Bookshop to the weirdness of Earthlings, and have found much to enjoy from both ends of this fiction continuum. I was so excited when the eARC of Hooked came through my mailbox as I had loved Butter so much but honestly, I was a little disappointed.
Eriko is a beautiful and accomplished young career woman working at the same company her father worked at. She gets into work long before anyone else so she can keep up a façade of quiet perfection. Eriko still lives at home with her parents in the apartment her family have always lived. She does have one hobby outside of work: she is obsessed with the lifestyle blog of a young wife called Shoko.
Shoko lives with her husband not far from Eriko. She doesn’t work outside of the home. In fact, she doesn’t work inside the home either. Her approach to life is one of little effort. She eats out at family restaurants rather than cooks, never folds clean laundry, and is frequently proclaiming the wonders of convenience store fast food.
What these two women have in common is acute loneliness and an inability to make friends. Eriko, in her obsession with the version of Shoko she portrays online, engineers a ‘chance’ meeting and after a couple of hours in each other’s company at one of the family restaurants she mentions on her blog, Eriko knows she has found a Friend. Shoko is less convinced, but she has no idea of the level of stalking she will endure at Eriko’s hands.
The set up of the story so far would have you expect a thriller. But the plot just never seems to settle in and deliver. Eriko is obviously mentally ill - I saw another reviewer mention BPD – but no one seems to notice or care. And when one of the temps at the company discovers she slept with her fiancé, she tells Eriko she must sleep with every man in the sales team, including her boss. Eriko actually attempts this.
Shoko has a side story of a difficult relationship with her father and an absent mother. Her blog is picked up by an agent who wants to turn it into a book and Shoko meets some other successful lifestyle bloggers, one of which she becomes as obsessed with as Eriko is with Shoko.
The book is about female friendships, loneliness and obsession. But what strikes me most is the misogyny portrayed by everyone, even the female characters. Women can’t be trusted, they are too emotional, they shouldn’t be in the workplace. Every chapter of this book oozes a dislike of women and coming from a woman writer, I find this especially jarring.
I did enjoy how Yuzuki used Hooked as a metaphor and these were my favourite part of the book.
I didn’t find any of the main characters believable and I didn’t care what happened to them. Given how much I enjoyed Butter, I was very disappointed at how underwhelmed I found this book. This book was a whimper, not a bang.

[Mana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eriko’s life looks flawless; her career, her immaculate apartment, everything on the surface gleams. But inside, she’s empty. She can’t hold on to a single real friendship, no matter how hard she tries. So she turns her attention to Shoko, a lifestyle blogger whose messy home and easy happiness start to fascinate her. At first, Eriko tries to connect in a calculated, careful way. Then things slide into obsession, and suddenly it’s not about friendship at all. This isn’t a story about violence; it’s sharper than that. It’s about how loneliness makes us hungry for other people’s lives, how we try to fill our own emptiness by consuming someone else’s world.

Yuzuki's primary character is difficult to like, which is intentional. Eriko exemplifies the psychopathology of a modern overachiever; she has mastered everything but being human. Shoko, on the other hand, is all chaos and authenticity. She’s the mirror Eriko can’t look away from, the life Eriko envies and eventually threatens to disrupt. The story isn’t really about growing into better people. It’s about stripping away the masks we wear, even when it hurts. Shoko’s husband and the other supporting characters stand in the background, quiet but steady, highlighting just how frantic Eriko’s fixation becomes.

The book explores what friendship looks like in the modern era, when everything is staged for viewers. It emphasizes how much we crave attention, even if it means that no one truly knows us. We shape ourselves into products, then wonder why our relationships feel so thin and brittle. There’s real anxiety here about what happens when intimacy turns into a transaction. If you treat someone as a project, everyone loses. It made me think about how much of our own happiness is just built on silent, constant comparison with strangers online.

The writing and Polly Barton’s translation match Eriko’s cold precision. There’s no sugarcoating, no softness. The tone stays cool and watchful, never drifting into sentimentality. The story doesn’t rush. It tightens slowly, like a knot you can’t undo. There’s no jump-scare moment, just a creeping realization that things have gone too far. It fits right in with the works of Sayaka Murata or Mieko Kawakami, finding the weirdness in everyday life, that uncanny feeling under the mundane.

The novel doesn’t pretend that envy and loneliness are pretty or easily fixed. There’s no neat ending, no easy moral. You just watch as a life unravels, thread by thread, because it’s built on copying someone else. It’s a sharp warning: sometimes the most dangerous obsessions hide behind the search for friendship.

I finished it feeling unsettled, honestly; a little too aware of how thin that line is between interest and obsession, especially in the routines we barely notice.

[Braden Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

“She only knew that she was craving to be part of an intense connection, to ascertain her own contours through another.”

3.75 stars. I've always been intrigued by stories surrounding obsession and limerence. This idea that we're severely lacking something within ourselves that we attempt to seek it from someone else - whether that's love, praise, validation or attention. Asako Yuzuki's HOOKED deconstructs and questions the complex dynamics of female friendship and infatuation through this cautionary tale set in Tokyo. Eriko lives a seemingly pristine and privileged lifestyle, working at a trading firm and living with her well off parents. After becoming obsessed with a popular lifestyle blog, she's determined to track down and befriend the down to earth blogger, Shoko. While Shoko is married, she's a breath of fresh air in the lifestyle space due to her reserved and modest lifestyle. The two women's lives collide during a totally unplanned encounter, changing the trajectory of both of their lives.

There's something deeply unsettling and sad about this book. Eriko is truly a piece of work and I had such second hand embarrassment seeing her fumble and manipulate the friendships she attempted. I think I felt uncomfortable living in her psyche because I've been an Eriko in my past - needy, insecure and desperate for connection. Thankful to report that therapy helped, and I never took it to the toxic lengths she did with Shoko. (Blackmail? Really girl?!) Yuzuki shows the struggles of creating and sustaining friendships and watching the story unfold through these two women was fascinating because one person's reality can truly be perceived as delusion from another's POV. Many readers will relate to the deeply human conundrums that come up when approaching friendships and life's struggles.

I also certainly think that this is more of a character study than an exciting thriller about obsession. I still found a lot of Eriko's actions to be disturbing and unstable, but Yuzuki does a decent job showing how both women cope with their lives in their own ways. She isn't completely redeemed, but I understood her better by the end. All that said, I think a lot of Asako's musings can become muddled and this book could've been more impactful if it were shorter. I was admittedly more intrigued by the obsession aspect more than I was with their individual family drama, so I wish there was more of that as well. Could totally see this as a stylized film adaptation. Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Kirra · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of Butter, I was immediately intrigued by Asako Yuzuki’s lastest translated novel, Hooked, which explores a similarly quiet but unsettling form of obsession. Although Hooked was released two years before Butter and translated later, it’s hard not to notice how both novels circle the same emotional territory. In each, a woman becomes consumed by another who represents a life she both envies and wants to understand, blurring admiration into fixation.

Eriko is an interesting character on paper. Based on her descriptions, she seems intelligent, hard-working, and attractive, someone you would expect to have people naturally drawn to her. Instead, she is a loner, living only with her parents and lacking any real personal relationships outside of them. She struggles deeply with boundaries and the unspoken rules of emotional exchange, which makes her a morbidly compelling character to follow as her behaviour becomes increasingly self-destructive.

Shoko, by contrast, draws people towards her and holds admirers with her online presence. She presents herself as a relaxed, happy, child-free married woman enjoying small pleasures, writing about convenience store food, sushi trains, and snippets of her relationship with her husband. Her blog feels relatable and it creates the illusion of an uncomplicated, satisfying life. Shoko herself isn’t particularly complex as a character, but that feels intentional. Much like in Butter, the fascination lies less in who the admired woman actually is, and more in how the protagonist projects meaning onto her.

I tend to enjoy novels by Japanese authors for their structure and slower pacing, often placing more emphasis on routine and small, repetitive details. Similar to Convenience Store Woman, Hooked spends a lot of time embedding the reader in everyday life and quiet psychological discomfort rather than dramatic plot movement.

That said, even appreciating this style, I did find parts of the book slightly dull. I kept expecting a sharper escalation or a moment where the tension between the two women would finally break the surface. Instead, the story remains rooted in that simplicity, allowing the discomfort to simmer but never quite boil over. I enjoyed the exploration of obsession and dependency, but I finished the book wishing it had pushed further and would have delivered a more impactful final turn.

(Thank you to HarperCollins Australia for a copy for review, Hooked is out 12th March 2026!)

[Rem Tolentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hooked, by Asako Yuzuki, like the Nile Perch on its well-designed cover, is an acquired taste. Delving into the depths of obsession, longing for emotional connection and companionship and societal expectations of women, Yuzuki cranks the dial to 11 and crafts an eccentric, shocking and punchy novel that took some unexpected story twists.

Often not explored anywhere else; Yuzuki writes on the Female Loneliness epidemic and her main characters Eriko and Shoko are interesting, complex and flawed characters that long for friendship and female companionship. Eriko is beautiful, fit, well-educated and has a perfect job but lacks the personal relationships and connections that often accompany a person of her physical stature and social standing. Shoko, on the other hand, is a housewife that operates a trendy homemaking blog. Although fame and the ability for others to gravitate to her comes easy, she desires to be left alone and is accepting of her lack of ambition. Their lives intertwine due to a chance encounter and their interactions and own commentary on the nature of their “friendship” make up the bulk of the novel.

Yuzuki cleverly makes several metaphors to the Nile Perch - an invasive fish that was introduced to Lake Victoria in Tanzania - that has eliminated all other native fish in the region. This destruction of being outside its own native environment is paralleled in Eriko’s own self destructive spiral when she finally introduces herself to Shoko’s life, forever changing each other’s trajectories for the worse. Its really interesting how Yuzuki mentions in her writing that in the past, Japanese companies would market the Nile Perch as simply white fish or sea bass - an interesting metaphor to Eriko’s own machinations to market herself as the perfect “friend” to Shoko.

What holds the novel back is the disjointed and uneven plot, with the first and last thirds having sufficient momentum to drive the story beats forward. However, the middle is meandering and repetitive and was more difficult to power through.

Hooked may not be for everyone, the POV characters are unlikeable, and some scenes of Eriko’s spiral are difficult to get through - but Yuzuki does make it clear that one way or another, people are searching for something to latch onto even if it assuredly results in one’s demise.

Thank you Ecco for providing this advanced review copy for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neither work-obsessed Eriko or blog author Shōko have female friends. When Eriko tracks Shōko down to a local diner, they bond over their shared struggles.But quickly, the first throes of friendship begin to curdle. Eriko's desperate, obsessive desire risks ruining everything in Hooked, Asako Yuzuki's follow-up to bestseller Butter, both translated by Polly Barton.

The first 2/3 of this novel is a harrowing psychological thriller. The metaphor of the Nile perch as an invasive, desperate species; the sharp knife-edge of Eriko's loneliness; the unreliability of her self-image, all make the book impossible to put down. Yuzuki uses these two women and their dynamic to explore the ways men (and some women) put down women with endless double standards (unmarried and jealous, or single and slutty). She also explores the influencer world and the dangers of parasociality.

The final chunk was less successful. The climax comes at page 312; but there are 83 pages still to go. The book's biggest success is in the push and pull between these two women, locked in a battle of desperation that neither quite understands. As in Butter, we swerve away from the thriller genre and into a more introspective space; but the first half of the novel held such increasingly compelling, blood-pumping, alarming dynamics and decisions that this turn feels like a letdown. (There's also, I'm afraid to say, a moment where the character realizes how far she's fallen almost exclusively because of how fat she's gotten, which might have been less offensive if it wasn't so purposefully done.)

With a tighter final section, I think this could have been one of the best psychological thrillers I've ever read; it made me feel itchy, had me making faces on the train, cringing on my cough. Still, it remains a very compelling story about loneliness, the desperate need for connection, social media and its issues, and much more, all with a fierce climax and characters I won't forget soon—Eriko is singularly terrifying.

Content warnings for self-harm, misogyny, forced vomiting/disordered eating, domestic abuse and violence, toxic relationship.

[Adam Sorensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down for Goodreads.

Written before the breakout success that was Butter but only now receiving its English translation, Asako Yuzuki's Hooked has a story concept that --pun intended -- totally hooked me. While it didn't completely come together as hoped and the prose leaned fiercely into over-explanation at times, I found the overarching narrative and themes incredibly appealing.

The story is pitched with dual protagonists: Eriko is a young and successful businesswoman at a trading firm, newly responsible for the importing of the Nile Perch to Japanese markets. She is obsessed with the online work of Shoko, a married woman who writes an online blog about married life. Eriko finds a way to meet Shoko and they draw an instant friendship with one another. However, the story soon reveals the shared jealousy they hold for one another, and that Eriko's obsession may be a more harmful form of obsession.

This concept is instant dynamite, however I found the writing leaned too far into "tell, don't show" on many occasions. The perceptions of both characters are over-exposited to the point of exhaustion, where I feel a more deft touch would have landed with larger impact. I also felt that this style diminished the story's impact as many scenes played out with interruptions in the form of expounding on each character's psyche.

Still, there is so much to chew on here. The story has a lot to say about the parasocial relationships we create in attempts to connect with others, and how harmful these can become. It also deeply explores the gendered and specifically Japanese aspects of female friendship, identity, and comparison in extremely absorbing ways. I also loved the segments juxtaposing the behaviours of fish in their environments to our own behaviours. I think this makes it worth your time at the end of the day, and my experience with the book will not deter me from seeking out more of Yuzuki's work.

The translation drops in March, and I definitey suggest checking it out to see what you make of it! My sincere thanks to HarperCollins Australia for providing a review copy of this one.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Harper Collins Australia for the ARC of 'Hooked'!

'Hooked' is a novel that explores female friendship, familial relationships, self perception and most prominently, the expectations of women in Japanese society from within and without. It explores what this pressure makes women think of themselves and of others, as well as how these perceptions shape their actions and lives more broadly.

I loved the start of this book, and I liked the end of this book. The middle dragged a bit for me, unfortunately. From the subject matter, I expected things to get weird and messed up. And they did at times, but not really in the ways I expected! However, the bulk of the novel was mostly introspection from the two main characters, who changed their minds and came to minor epiphanies that they each seemed to instantly disregard or forget about for the most part.

Every single character in this novel is flawed to some extent - some more than others! There were definitely parts where I could relate to each of the two main characters but some of their traits and flaws ended up quite exaggerated and watching some of their decisions play out felt like watching a car crash where you know the end result is going to be awful but you can't turn away.

At one point, all of the women in the novel were so awful (by design, obviously!) that I started wondering whether the author has some incredibly sexist views (depite being female herself, I believe). However, the men were awful too so I guess it's more of a commentary on the complex nature of humans and how societal expectations shape us all and contribute to our behaviours. I can only think of one character is the whole novel who seemed 'good' and uncomplicated.

I still enjoyed this book overall but it just felt a bit longer than it needed to be.