Colgada

by Asako Yuzuki, Silvia Saorín (Traductora)

¿Hasta dónde llegarías por una amistad? Una historia de obsesión, secretos y el precio de la soledad.

Eriko, una mujer aparentemente exitosa, se obsesiona con Shoko, una ama de casa que escribe un blog. Tras conocerse, Eriko cree haber encontrado por fin una verdadera amiga, pero su comportamiento posesivo hace que la relación se
deteriore. Mientras Eriko se hunde en la soledad, Shoko sigue lidiando con su pasado y la presión de su éxito.

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

324 pages, Paperback

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

[Emily May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being neither beautiful nor having any outstanding talents, she needed some hook in order to attract people’s interest. It was something that everyone did, to a greater or lesser degree.

This is a weird book. And I think it's even weirder because it remains fairly understated. It doesn't go completely off the rails like some of the other books on my "girls gone feral" shelf, so for a while I wasn't sure if I was reading another unhinged women book like the ones by anglophone authors— a dark social caricature, if you will —or if I was experiencing some culture shock.

I noticed some other reviews mentioned they had wanted it to go further, thought it would be wilder, but just when you think Yuzuki will go there, she reins it in. But I actually quite liked this. It is obvious that she is sympathetic towards her deranged characters and views them as victims of a system, or perhaps a culture, that puts a ridiculous amount of social pressure on women, pitting them against one another, trapping them in cycles of resentment, passive aggression, and envy.

The story follows two very different women— Eriko with her prestigious office job, and Shoko, a housewife and casual lifestyle blogger. Eriko has always struggled to maintain friendships with other women, her attempts thwarted by jealousy and weird gender politics. Not to mention her own issues, but you'll find that out if you read the book. Shoko is initially flattered when Eriko wants to be her friend, but soon her increasingly erratic behaviour becomes cause for concern.

I love how Yuzuki takes familiar anxieties and transforms them into something grotesque and uncomfortable. Ageing, beauty, motherhood, and social status... these concerns are all magnified to the point of absurdity, and the effect is deeply unsettling.

Early on in the book, I was not sure how tolerant I was going to be of all the female rivalry and the lack of nuanced female friendships, but Yuzuki makes it clear that this was a deliberate choice, intended to critique the forces that pit women against one another. In addition, though the translation delivers a writing style that is punchy and light, there is still a mounting sense of unease throughout— a sense that things are going to go very wrong.

It is a weird book, and it won't be for everybody. Eriko's work is mentioned throughout— controversially reintroducing a foreign fish into the Japanese market —and it serves as a metaphorical parallel with the women of the story: women existing within an ecosystem defined by competition; women released into unfamiliar waters, eating each other because what else can they do? Rather than finding solidarity, they are trapped in a system that rewards comparison and hierarchy.

[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.

[Emma.catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demolished with the same delight and satisfaction as ‘Butter’ - Dare I say: I was hooked 🪝💖✨

Hooked is one of my most highly anticipated books of 2026 and I am thrilled to say it totally lived up to the hype 🎉

This was an expertly crafted, disturbingly realistic novel about modern womanhood. It focused primarily on an obsessive relationship between an outwardly perfect, yet lonely trading company employee and a popular housewife blogger. Asako Yuzuki explores with acute insight the ache for connection and how lives can slowly spiral out of control.

How far would you go to be seen? 👀

‘Relating to other people - now Eriko thought about it, it seemed to her that this was the most valuable thing in all the world.’ 🌎😌💖✨

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

Eriko is leading a seemingly perfect life. Her new task, to reintroduce the controversial Nile Perch fish into the Japanese market. But despite all her success, she is desperately lonely.

Enter: Shoko

…a popular lifestyle blogger whose untidy, laid back aesthetic epitomises everything Eriko isn't. Eriko becomes fascinated by her. Obsessed. She takes her stalking offline and tracks Shoko down at her favourite restaurant, orchestrating a friendship between them. But as her obsession grows, her behaviour starts to spiral broaching dark territory. She sets off an unraveling for both women…how far will she go to hold on to the best friend that she’s ever had?

Yuzuki has delivered another masterpiece that is equal parts thriller and character study. Her ability to convey the hidden intricacies of womanhood is astonishing. Her insight - invaluable!

What starts off as a fairly innocuously relationship between two lonely women sets the groundwork for an epic derailing of both their lives. Yuzuki begins to build the tension quite early on in the story and steadily leads us in suspense throughout. I enjoyed both he beginning stages and the development. In the beginning, Shoko is unaware of Eriko history of obsessive behaviour, but as readers we get to sit back and watch the inevitable unfold. However, in the latter stages of the book we are held in a great sense of mystery as to what will evolve.

Something that struck me throughout the course of reading this book was the chilling tone. It was similar to that used in ‘Butter’ but to an even greater degree through the use of an unreliable narrator. I LOVE when authors use questionable voice and it worked really well here.

I actually found myself having unexpected sympathy towards Eriko. I felt her character so deeply. Her insecurities and downfalls felt so raw and relatable. I wanted to help her, yet I was slightly afraid of her 😅 Yuzuki really knows how to make you FEEL exactly what the characters are feeling by making us understand why they make the choices they do.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot but I loved the twists and turns that it took. I was definitely surprised by the direction Yuzuki took it in. She crafted the storyline very cleverly and clearly, resulting in a very satisfying ending.

‘As her skin grew accustomed to the temperature of the water, the boundaries between herself and the outside world would grow hazy, and trappings such as her age, her weight and her gender lost their significance.’ 💧 😌 💖 ✨

Overall, this was a FANTASTIC read. It was incredibly compelling to read and I still find myself thinking about the characters. If you enjoyed ‘Butter’ I am pretty sure you’ll love this one too. It had a similar vibe and although I did enjoy ‘Butter’ *slightly* more, this is still an amazing addition to the genre of Japanese thrillers. I can’t wait to see what Yuzuki does next 👀

4.5🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

[Holly Hearts Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just to let you know, this book is about 2 women who don’t have any female friends and the book will tell you that about 1,000,000 times. Nothing really happens. I mean, one gains weight? I guess that’s the biggest plot twist for one of the women lol I wish it was weirder and darker but alas, 2 out of 5 stars.

[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.

[Christy fictional_traits · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sometimes too much knowledge can create its own problems…'.

Although thirty, single, and living at home, Eriko is the epitome of corporate success, well-groomed, diligent - almost robotic. Yet there’s one thing she’s never achieved: a female friendship. When she stumbles across a blog that celebrates the antithesis of her carefully controlled life, she becomes hooked to reading Shoko’s daily entries, “savouring it…it’s deliciousness seemed to percolate through her body.”

Shoko, by contrast, has little real ambition. She certainly never anticipated that her blog would attract attention, but when a publisher takes interest, her carefully detached persona begins to shift.

Like Butter, Hooked by Asako Yuzuki carries that same quietly obsessive energy, with food once again threaded throughout.

What makes this work is the dynamic between Eriko and Shoko. While Eriko’s behaviour becomes increasingly unhinged, it’s the way both women change that makes the story compelling. As Shoko’s online presence grows, she too is shaped by performance and perception.

Yuzuki explores how easily we let ourselves be defined by others and social media, as well as the tension between control and perceived freedom. Both women believe they’re making independent choices, but those choices are constantly influenced by the need for validation, societal expectation, and image ideology.

That said, the obsessive spiral does begin to spin its wheels, for a bit before it speeds up to the end. I also felt that the ending was \underwhelming given the level of psychological drama that precedes it.

Overall, Hooked is thoughtful and unsettling, exploring identity, obsession, and the quiet ways we reshape ourselves.

'...society foists all these standards on us. The world we live in is specifically designed to make us compete'.

[Holden Wunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s always a bit of a bummer when you see a book that you really enjoy the premise of but the execution feels a bit lacking and that summarizes my experience with Hooked.

I really enjoyed the plot points and the challenges that come with wanting desperately to have female friendships while also not understanding why it’s unattainable for you. It’s incredibly relatable and rife with social commentary. I liked the characters even though they’re all incredibly unlikable because they’re fun to read about and follow along.

However, it was meandering. It went on so long and I’m someone who can read a 700 page book about a character. I never mind a character study but the “study” was missing so it needed more editing. A good 100 pages off this book would’ve done so much for the pacing and characters and think it would’ve made it a bit more marketable as well. Some of the character choices were also so unbelievable and wild that it just felt sensational to add some spice and not things people would actually do.

For a book so grounded, this took off into wild directions that seemed aimless for the sake of adding interest but it was a disservice to the overall book and the points it was trying to make.

[Alessia Veltkamp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not, in fact, hooked.

[Sarah ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hooked - Asako Yuzuki


إريكو تعيش حياة مثالية، فهي شابة متألقة على كل الأصعدة وتتمتع بحظ وافر من والدين محبين ووظيفة مرموقة في شركة كبرى وتعمل على مشروع طموح جديد، لكن خلف الصورة المصقولة للشابة الأنيقة وحدة مدمرة؛ فإريكو لم يكن لها يومًا صديقة واحدة حقيقية وهنا تدخل الشخصية الثانية في الرواية: شوكو؛ صاحبة مدونة شهيرة، تعيش حياة عشوائية بعفوية، شقة فوضوية وجبات عشاء جاهزة من الخارج، وزوج لطيف وإن كانت علاقتها المضطربة بوالدها تقض مضجعها، ولكنها تكتب كل يوم عن حياتها غير المثالية بعفوبة عكس المعتاد من المدونات وتكتب عن الرضا والاستمتاع بكل لحظة،
هذه الحياة اللامبالية تخلب لب إريكو التي تصبح مهووسة بمتابعتها والسعي لصداقتها. وهنا تبدأ علاقة افتتان وهوس قد تدمر كلتيهما.



رواية ما فيها أحد صاحي.
وصاحي هنا تعني: شخص سوي، طبيعي، عاقل .

اتفهم أن الكل يعاني في علاقاته الاجتماعية من الصداقات وعلاقات الزمالة في العمل إلى افعلاقات العائلية..
لكن الكاتبة بالغت في كل هذه العلاقات السامة والمسيئة بين شخصيات هذه الرواية.
إريكو وبحثها عن الصداقة وعلاقتها بوالديها وزملائها في العمل وانعدام ذكائها العاطفي، شوكو وعلاقتها بوالدها وأخوتها وزوجها والتي وإن بدت كشخص واعي لكنها احتاجت لوقت طويل لتفهم نفسها ومن حولها..
هذا الكم من العلاقات السامة والغريبة كان مؤذي وخانق جدًا، أحببت رواية الكاتبة السابقة "زبدة" كثيرًا، أحببت التوازن الدقيق التي كتبت به الشخصيات وأحببت تناولها للعلاقات النسائية وصداقاتهن، لكن لم أحب أي شيء في هذه الرواية.
ربما يكون السبب شخصي، ولم أفهم الشخصيات :(


لا أحب تقييم الروايات بأقل من ثلاث نجمات-خاصة إن كانت صدرت مؤخرًا خشية التأثير على التقييم العام، لكن لا مفر من هذا هنا :(

[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.

[CarlysGrowingTBR · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is....... something. Something good, unhinged, bat sh*t crazy. And absolutely for me. If you like unhinged weird girl books, you'll like this.

I could not put this book down. This was a rare occurrence for me where the first half and second half of the book were equally entertaining and captivating, but with still different tones as you read. The first 50% of this book was purely unhinged and absolutely crazy. Watching these two main female characters interact with each other and their lives slowly dissolve into oblivion was absolutely maddening. I was so engaged and I could not look away from what I was positive was going to be an extremely messy train wreck at the end. But towards the last 50% of the book, we got a lot of introspection and character development and it was still super interesting even though the unhinged moments, while still present, were fewer and farther between.

At the main core of all of this craziness was absolutely just two flawed women that really felt relatable at their core. There was a lot of times, that while it seemed absolutely crazy to me, I could relate to why they were doing the things they were doing.

I really enjoyed the way that this book dissected explored the relationships that women have together and how they can be extremely volatile at times. Women are constantly pitted against each other in a variety of situations and having close female female relationship relationships can sometimes be an extremely difficult situation. There's a lot of loneliness and alienation that women have to grapple with as they grow up and unfortunately, some women never reached their full potential in relationships with others. Societal expectations and gender roles can have a lot to do with this, and this Book tackled all of that in an extremely complex and interesting way.

I immediately went out and bought this author's other book butter, and I can't wait to read it.

[neyann · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book reads like a man wrote it

[Keely Kovacevic · Rating 1 out of 5]

I truely wish I had DNFd this book. This book wants to be so many things, but it is instead just an emotionless account of two deeply unlikeable women going on about how hard it is to make women like them.

I found every character in this book incredibly selfish and at the same time forgettable. Every interaction was like two people talking over each other with no one listening and nothing moving forward, but also with subtle and not so subtle threads of misogyny weaved throughout.

So many metaphors were played with and left unfinished, and this book is really only getting the star and a quarter because I liked learning about the fish.

Thank you for NetGalley and 4th Estate for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[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.

[Kennedy Elise Edwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a word: Boring.

In a sentence: A slice of life narrative with people who suck.

They are both so annoying. Every chapter just repeats the same cycle of themes and feelings. I had my buddy-reader spoil the ending for me and I don’t want to waste any more reading hours on this one. Both POVs start to blend together into one self-loathing, woman-hating woman. It’s like reading a poor imitation of “Mean Girls” if none of the girls were interesting AND instead of being high school students with room to mature, they’re grown women in their 30’s. I am also disappointed that the fish metaphor the author spends so much time on during the build-up never goes anywhere —per my friend who finished the book.

Making female friends can be hard. It can be SO HARD. But if you are 30+ years old without aaaany female friends to say one kind word about you? Baby, it’s you. You can’t blame the world anymore. You’re 35.

[A Dreaming Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, Ecco (eARC) and HarperAudio Adult (ALC) for providing me with advanced copies.

This was a very interesting book with well written character studies. I was expecting pure obsession and spiralling and zero self reflection given the title. But that was not the case. It felt somewhat open ended with a decent amount of self introspection which I think worked really well for this book. I liked the way Shoko realized she was similar to Eriko in so many ways. That was a smooth reveal. This book really made me think about a few things and some parts hit too close to home which is honestly a little scary. I really love Japanese translations and the translator did a brilliant job with it. I got enough of the Japanese setting without losing much of the subtlety (I hope). I would recommend this to anyone who loves a character study, female friendships (not the wholesome type) and Japanese books.

The narrator did a brilliant job of bringing the book to life. It was great to listen to it with the right pronunciations and made it more engaging

[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.

[Charlotte Walters · Rating 1 out of 5]

70% of the way through but I can’t go on. All the characters are annoying and the plot is flat af.

[Rosemary Atwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greater complexity, fewer distracting minor characters and a stronger, more believable plot than ‘Butter’ make ‘Hooked’ another enjoyable page turner from Yuzuki.

Once again, cuisine takes centre stage, along with intriguing insights into contemporary Japanese culture and traditions. In contrast, ‘Butter,’ feels quite commercial and lightweight in comparison with the darker undertones and elements explored here.

Polly Barton’s lively translation captures these nuances sensitively too. Great escapist reading.

[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.
Most Anticipated Books of 2026 |

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own
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[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

[Clover · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/5
395 pages of nothing much.

But you will learn about fish. Nile perch to be exact. That's kinda cool.

Basically, Eriko is a perfectionist while Shōko is the opposite and both women are painfully lonely. Eriko is beautiful and everyone notices. She's very ambitious and has a strong work ethic. She'll also talk a lot about Nile perch to the point where she comes off as highly neurodiverse, which shines a different light on her actions. It's not a chilling book of obsession, it's two women struggling with social queues.

Shōko doesn't work and barely manages to complete a single "housewife chore". She's not ambitious in the slightest and just likes rambling on her blog. She has a massive victim complex, which Eriko calls her out 100 pages into the book. But Shōko also says very correct things about Eriko, as does Keiko, Eriko's ex-bestfriend. Why bother reading after this? Nothing much actually disputes these comments/impressions/observations that are made between them.

The most intriguing thing was the mystery of what happened to Keiko (Chapter Fourteen, specifically pages 148-150 or just 150 for the spark notes). In the end, Keiko wasn't very interesting either and there was still over 200 pages left!

The translator, who is British, uses British phrases which was disappointing as Japanese idioms and phrases are wonderful and it weakens the text when cultural nuance is removed. I didn't want to read a British book/author, I chose a Japanese author for a reason. I'll be more aware of translators for next time.

Her first novel, Butter, does sound more thrilling. This book truly is just about two adults who struggle to make friends for very normal, not scary or malicious, reasons. They just talk about how lonely and frustrated they are. It's just boring. Eriko doesn't come off as someone who is going to wear Shōko's skin or sleep in her bed or anything actually terrifying.

So this book falls flat in every way other than I do believe Asako Yuzuki wrote a long book examining female friendships, sniffling Japanese ideals for women, and OCD/neurodiversity.

Oh, and there's a sprinkling of fish puns.

[Ulla Scharfenberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hab es nach der Hälfte abgebrochen. Ich war schon kein Riesenfan von "Butter" und "Tokyo Girls Club" hat zwar relativ vielversprechend angefangen, hat mich aber dann nur noch genervt. Wie schon bei "Butter" auch hier wieder unendlich viel Redundanz, schleppende Längen... Und der Plot erschien mir ab einem gewissen Punkt einfach überhaupt nicht mehr glaubwürdig, völlig überzogen und einfach nervtötend. Schade.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it is likely universally difficult to make new friends as you get older, especially if you work in a highly competitive environment or don’t work outside your home or if you have no children at home. I started out enjoying this novel with its tale of two lonely women who were seemingly opposites forging a new friendship, along with its examination of the heavy and competing societal pressures on women in general and particularly in Japan. The two main characters represent polar extremes of how women may react to those societal pressures. Eriko is the model of trying too hard: a highly coiffed, obsessive-compulsive, insecure, workaholic, perfectionist, narcissistic business woman with stalkerish tendencies who almost comically overthinks everything. Shoko is the model of not trying much at all: a childless, slacker-wife blogger who wears old clothes and no makeup and is willing to seek sympathetic attention (while confirming popularity) with lies. Added to this is Eriko’s fish-import business project giving rise to an exotic-invasive-predatory-fish-destryoing-an-ecosystem analogy for the dehumanizing impact of inadequately regulated capitalism. For around the first 200 pages of this 400-page novel, I was absorbed and onboard, but then it became an absurd ridiculous over-the-top ramble. The main characters and other characters behaved in unbelievable cartoonishly extreme but stereotyped ways that took me completely out of the story’s world. I began to wonder whether this is comic farce or satire I just don’t get? The points being made about women’s roles and the business world became too heavy-handed. I felt that discomfort I have when it seems like an author is using mental illness or disability as a quirky character trait instead of careful character development to push the narrative along. The last few chapters winding up the novel improved a bit, but not enough to redeem this book for me. After finishing this, I read that even though this novel only recently was published in English translation, it was actually written years before the the author’s international bestseller Butter, and that the author had greatly improved her craft in the meantime. I wish I had known that before I read Hooked and read Butter instead. I read this to participate in the Japanese Lit April 2026 group read.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't say that I enjoyed this one as much as Butter, but consider me always intrigued and eager to read Yuzuki's future books. "Butter" used the pleasure and freedom of preparing and consuming delicious food to examine fatphobia and misogyny in contemporary Japanese society, and the whole conceit/juxtaposition was effective in my opinion. Food also plays a role in "Hooked," though the focus is more on imports, commercial food shipping, food product development, that kind of stuff, with particular attention paid to MC Eriko's work on importing Nile perch fish meat into Japan. There's information about the devastation caused by this species when it was introduced to the Lake Victoria ecosystem, and, at first, the Nile perch buildup seems to weave nicely with Eriko's own narrative. It does seem to take a backseat as the story goes on, though its metaphorical specter is still there throughout.

Our other MC Shoko is a seemingly laid back and nonchalant lifestyle blogger (which sets her apart from other prim and proper housewife influencers), who Eriko becomes obsessed with. Chapters alternate between their two perspectives, and we delve deeply into their inner selves, pasts, and fraught familial relationships and female friendships. Sometimes the scenes of interiority go on for quite some time, which can make the pacing feel slow. That being said, the character examinations of both MCs are interesting and complex. The vibe and overall progression are similar to what's done in "Butter" in that way. What you get in the end is another complicated and compelling story about two women ravaged by the constraints of their families, patriarchy, and Japanese society as a whole. There's also some fun callouts and takedowns of bad/toxic online behavior, featuring those anonymous-type Reddit or Tattle forums specifically started and used to crucify and teardown influencers.

I preordered this one from the bookstore, and I'll be keeping the copy in my physical collection.

[Marisa LM · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got hooked on Hooked just like I did with Butter. What an amazing book.

Both books share strong similarities, like the detailed descriptions of food, the role of women in society—whether as daughters, sisters, or friends—and the constant search for friendship and validation that never really happens.

Shoko and Eriko’s story shows how 2 women with very different backgrounds end up becoming obsessed with finding that special person, that friend who will listen to them in their darkest moments.

I like how at first it seems like one of the two isn’t behaving “normally” (according to society), but later in the story it becomes clear that maybe she isn’t the one truly losing control.

There’s a lot of social criticism, just like in Butter, especially about what a woman should or shouldn’t do, and how she’s expected to behave within her family.

The story really makes you think about all these topics, especially the question of whether the family someone grows up in can shape their character and determine how they behave in the future.

Once again, an excellent book from this author! I could read it again tomorrow!

[fiza nasri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two women in their entanglement of ‘toxic’ friendship; bit stressful and so unhinged yet I was glad that the writing style and its exploration were much more compelling than my previous read with Butter. It was almost a page-turner to me delving into both Eriko and Shoko’s POVs; from an obsession, one’s loneliness, insecurities and desperation to an unhealthy attachment craves that grasped both lives in a mess of a friendship in disguise, quite tense on its psychological strain with none of the characters being that likeable much both for their actions and traits but somehow their overall drama piqued my curiosity for how dark their tales could go.

Having an enthralling glimpse to gender roles and identity unease with familial dynamic observation that go fairly intense; each having their own problematic struggles that deepen the plot emotional perspective making it bit disturbing for me to digest esp with Eriko’s part. Bit forced on the used of the Nile perch metaphor but I can see how the author wanted to give that mirroring ref to the whole obsession arc as it goes so parallel with Eriko’s role in trying to lure Shoko’s identity into her control. The blackmailing part really spooked me but I liked how it progressed throughout; the realisation afterwards, those office scene madness for Eriko and how it turns out for Shoko in her twist of interaction with Nori.

Overall engaging and thought-provokingly plotted for the theme. Would recommend if you love a dark friendship theme or drawn to flawed character dynamic and unsettling psycho-related backdrop. 4/5*

**Thank you Times Reads for the gifted review copy!

[Jennifer Mcarthur · Rating 1 out of 5]

This felt aimless and repetitive from start to finish. The primary issue I had with butter was that it was far too long with the plot becoming a chore to finish, this was much worse in this book. I found more of an issue here with the translation/writing style than in her last novel as well, the sentences often read extremely cold and lack emotion even in sections where it’s clearly needed. However, my main issue was the “intense and thrilling” nature that is described in the blurb is given to you within the first few chapters and it honestly just comes off heavy handed for its position in the story. This was a struggle to finish and if I hadn’t waited so long for my reservation at the library I would’ve DNF’d.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC for review. Published March 17, 2026.

3 stars

Translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton

I chose this because I read the author’s BUTTER, which I found interesting, if not wholly successful and I wanted to give the author another go. I did not love this title either and I think this may be my last effort with Yazuki. It wasn’t a bad book, by any stretch, but I found it overly long and it wasn’t for me.

It involved female friendship, or, really, the lack thereof with two characters. Eriko is a well-placed corporate worker while Shoko is a married homemaker who has started a blog that Eriko begins reading. Eriko arranges a “chance” meeting between the women and a twisted sort of relationship develops. Connections of all types are examined.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a 3.5. Kept me entertained but the 'obsession' aspect sort of petered out and we slog along for awhile, and then we get a surprisingly sadistic Maori stabbing whatshisname with snacks in the office break room, and Shoko gives her dad a pedicure, and it was just odd...but oddly interesting.