Hooked (PB) - C-format

The unmissable new novel of friendship and dangerous obsession from Asako Yuzuki, the award-winning author of the global bestselling sensation Butter. A Most Anticipated Book of 2026 in Guardian, Vogue, New York Times, Forbes, The Times, Sunday Times Style, Elle, Stylist, BBC, Grazia, Bricks Magazine, Radio Times, Lithub, Oprah Daily and Daily Express. - 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 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 soon Eriko's obsession with Shoko begins to spiral out of control, threatening her carefully laid plans. How far will she go to hold on to the best friend she's ever had? Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is an unsettling story of the line between friendship and dangerous obsession, and a delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan. 'Yuzuki has become the poster girl of a boom for Japanese fiction.' - The Times. 'Tender and thrilling it's Yuzuki at her best.' – ELLE. 'No one writes about the hidden depths and lurking monstrosities of womanhood quite like Asako Yuzuki.' - Alice Slater, author of Let the Bad Times Roll. '[A] razor-edged story about women, appetite and what we'll do to feel chosen ... Safe to say, we're already hooked.' - Oprah Daily.