Hooked: A Thriller About Love and Other Addictions [Hardcover]

Matt Richtel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This oddly flat thriller from first-time novelist Richtel opens with a warning in a dead girlfriend's handwriting, followed by an explosion in a San Francisco cafe. Nat Idle, who barely escapes, is perplexed by the note: his girlfriend Annie--from a very wealthy family involved in various opaque concerns--was swept off her sailboat four years ago and never seen again. Nat tracks down survivors of the blast, including waitress Erin Coultran, whose actions make Nat suspicious; when the home of aspiring novelist Simon Anderson, another survivor, catches on fire, Nat's suspicions intensify. Nat's investigations take him to Strawberry Labs, Annie's family company possibly named after Annie's childhood Labrador retriever. Despite intentionally short chapters à la The Da Vinci Code, Richtel (who writes the comic strip Rudy Park under nom de plume Theron Heir) has trouble bringing Nat to life or tension to the plot--in part because of Nat's first-person flashbacks to his relationship with Annie. Richtel's trying to do a brainy update of classic noir, but falls slightly short.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Nat Idle is a romantic. After finishing medical school, he abandons further training to become a freelance journalist; and he falls in love with Annie Kindle as soon as he hears her laugh. She is taken with his romanticism, even though her father, the alpha shark in Silicon Valley's venture capital sea, is grooming her to become his "smiling assassin." But Annie is lost in a sailing mishap, and four years later, Nat is still infatuated, still mourning. So, when a pretty woman leaves him a note in an Internet cafe, he follows her out the door--and escapes a lethal bomb blast. The note was written in Annie's distinctive hand. The scientist in Nat won't believe that Annie is still alive, but he begins to investigate the blast and finds himself immersed in Silicon Valley intrigue. Fully two-thirds of Hooked is a shrewd cinematic thriller, filled with knowing insights about San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and the wired-wireless world. But Richtel, a reporter for the New York Times, stumbles a bit as the story unfolds into an uberplot to turn us all into Internet addicts. Still, many readers will happily suspend disbelief and simply enjoy the yarn. Thomas Gaughan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Twelve (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446580082
• ISBN-13: 978-0446580083
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #498,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking, authoritative first novel, June 27, 2007

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hooked: A Thriller About Love and Other Addictions (Hardcover)

Nathanial Idle has finished medical school, finds himself $100,000 in debt and begins having second thoughts about his career path. He is, however, very interested in medical stories --- both the breakthrough discoveries and the abuses in his field of study. So, instead of completing the required residency program to become a doctor, he turns to investigative journalism.

It is during this time of great decisions that he meets the love of his life. Annie is everything he could hope for, more than he imagined could exist in a human being. Their romance is storybook perfect --- perhaps too perfect to last --- and as quickly as he finds her, an accident snatches her from him. Nat is beyond consolation and feels himself destined to go through the rest of his life with a gaping hole in his being.

Yet he continues moving mechanically from day to day, from assignment to assignment, taking comfort from the various people in his life who offer it to him. It is at this point that the story opens with Nat sitting in the Sunshine Café and someone sliding a piece of paper onto the table. He picks it up and reads: Get out of the café...NOW. And then the place explodes.

The explosion sets off a series of fires and deaths that seem too connected to be coincidental. Simon Anderson, a patron in the Internet café, does not recover from his wounds. Andy, a friend of Erin (one of the waitresses), becomes depressed and jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. The police uncover Erin's history and suspect that she may have had something to do with the explosion. What is the connection, the common thread that pulls these events together?

As Nat hangs on to the hope that Annie was the one who warned him about the explosion, he seeks to prove that she is somehow still alive. But the more he investigates, the more he discovers that he didn't really know her. He finds out that his adorable, quirky little angel may have been the mastermind behind the problems now facing her billionaire father's investment company. He learns that her job as a venture capitalist went far beyond securing investments for the company. In fact, her schemes may have led to cover-ups involving both death and destruction.

HOOKED is a thought-provoking, authoritative first novel by Matt Richtel that illustrates some of the inherent dangers in allowing technology to become the "drug" or the "god" of our lives. It forces us to face our own addictions to our digital instruments and to realize how excitedly we look forward to the "next big thing." Is there some kind of a plot to turn our Blackberries into Crackberries? Could there be? Using the skills learned as a journalist, Richtel does not lose any of the themes or storylines in this complex tale, causing readers to eagerly reach the well-drawn conclusion.

[...]

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy the book before the movie comes out..., November 17, 2007

By	Hadley Wilkins (San Francisco, ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hooked: A Thriller About Love and Other Addictions (Hardcover)

I picked up a copy of Hooked on a last minute book stop after realizing, suddenly, that I was leaving for my meticulously planned week in Tahoe with no email, cell phones or clients, but then, as of yet, nothing new to read.

I had thirty minutes to plan my assault on the local Border's so I texted a friend who dutifully responded back with some suggestions including Hooked, which he recommended because it was "a good page turner".

Turned out he was right, and it also proved an appropriate antidote for someone trying to take a breather from work-encouraged ADD and you know, get away from it all and things like that.

Hooked is a totally fun book about an overly sentimental Bay area journalist who stumbles upon a nefarious plan hatched by local venture capitalists who have created the next big technology innovation and they have figured out what we always suspected the Microsofts and Googles of the world were secretly up to...getting us feeble-minded consumers literally addicted to their products. There's love, mayhem, mystery and death...and truly, it becomes addictive as you try to figure out what's really going on. I read it in a day.

Trust no one, but read Hooked.

My only real complaint is that there wasn't a Part Deux for those of us who got hooked.

Makes an excellent stocking stuffer.
Or Hanukah/Kwanza gift.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great "listen" for a long summer drive, July 12, 2007

By	Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hooked: A Thriller About Love and Other Addictions (Audio CD)

(Thriller on 5 CD abridged--also in hardcover)

Nat Idle, a freelance journalist who decided after graduating from medical school that he was better suited for a career writing about, versus practicing medicine, left the required residency program and never looked back.

The novel opens as Nat sits reading a book in a San Francisco cafe, when a woman places a folded note on the edge of his table, then, without pause, quickly exits the cafe. He picks up the note and attempts to follow the mysterious woman outside, only to catch a brief glimpse of her speeding away in a red Saab. He then reads the note...."Get out of the café-Now"! It was much more than the words that grabbed Nat, it was the script. It was Annie's handwriting-Annie, his deceased girlfriend, for whom his heart still ached. How? His swirling thoughts are interrupted, as at that very moment the cafe explodes, knocking him off his feet.

This single terrifying moment changes Nat's life once again, and launches the story into overdrive. Richtel takes the reader on a fast-paced journey, full of relentless action and drama. With the added dimension of Jason Singer narrating, readers can easily visualize the sharply etched, strong characters Richtel created, especially the ruthless, clever and devilishly ingenious Kendell family. The exact circumstances surrounding the loss of Annie aren't explained until later, which adds to the nail-biting tension and myriad of questions that urge the reader on. Nat appears to be a hopeless romantic unable to bury the past and move forward. But this too will be revealed as yet another ingredient carefully woven into this meticulously designed high-tech web of deceit.

Hooked is absolutely the perfect title for this debut novel from Matt Richtel. Undoubtedly after this reading (or listening) experience, there will be legions of fans hooked on Richtel's complex plots, endearing characters and strong delivery. Hooked will leave even the most astute suspense thriller fan in awe of Richtel's ability to weave the unimaginable into the very fabric of reality. You will never again surf the web or check email without a quick thought and then shake off the idea as ludicrous. But is it? Or.... are we already, hooked?

Armchair Interviews says: Hooked it is-whether you read or listen, you will be hooked, too?