According to the jacket of this book, it is the author’s first published work. If this is the first, I’ll look forward to reading more, because for a first effort, this kept me turning pages until it was finished.

The author takes an interesting view of the world of technology, how we as a culture are so wrapped up in it and addicted to it, and folds in many sinister twists, turns, and conspiracies that the reader if left wondering, could this really happen? For Nat Idle, his sanity is something he barely holds onto as he nearly gets killed in a café bombing, learns more about his ex- and thought to be dead girlfriend than he ever knew about her, and races through California trying to figure out who in the hell he can trust. And as he gets advised by several of those he can’t trust – to trust no one.

Mr. Richtel has a definite winner on his hands here, and I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Good techno-thrillers for me are hard to come by, but this fits the bill perfectly.

“Maybe every life and death, is its own unsolved mystery. Certainly, I was realizing, that was the case with Annie.” – Nathaniel Idle “Hooked”

After reading Matt Richtel’s novel “Hooked”, I will never look at my computer the same way again. It might even have me casting a wary eye at my beloved wife. A novel that promotes itself boldly on its cover as a “thriller about love and other addictions”, “Hooked” is disturbing for what it says about those addictions, namely how the addictions arise. And how addictions arise is a large part of the mystery in the story. And it’s the mystery that makes “Hooked” as compelling as it is, as Richtel submerges the reader into the story with a great setup. With a start this good, you’ll likely be “hooked” within the first few pages, and suffering from a new addiction: finishing this book.

Nathaniel Idle is a freelance medical journalist idly relaxing in a café when a woman walks by his table and slides a note to him. Thinking he is being picked up, Nat follows the woman outside and watches her get into a car. Only then does he open the note and read it: “Get out of the café—NOW!” Immediately, the café explodes.

In the aftermath, Nat, shaken but escaping any real injury, thinks about the love of his life, his deceased girlfriend Annie Kindle. Surprisingly, Nat realizes that it’s Annie’s handwriting on the note. Wondering if Annie is still alive, Nat undertakes a quest to uncover the mystery of the café’s explosion. Enlisting the help of a sympathetic police officer, Danny Weller, Nat investigates the victims as well as the survivors of the explosion. One survivor of interest is Erin Coultran, a waitress at the café, whose mysterious past and relationships with some of the victims may hold answers to the mystery.

When Erin shows Nat the laptop of a good friend who recently killed himself, Nat believes he may have found potentially important information on the dead man’s computer, if he could only access it. It seems that the files on the laptop are protected by a high level of encryption. If he could only access these files, Nat believes he might be able to solve the mystery surrounding Annie’s death. But when his technologically savvy buddy Mike helps him access the laptop, he finds that certain things may be better off left alone.

The first thing that grabbed my attention in “Hooked” is Richtel’s seemingly effortless writing. The scenes flow seamlessly without any narrative hiccups to throw the reader out of the story. The short chapters help accentuate this fact as well as driving the story steadily along. Richtel keeps the exposition to a minimum and the plot tight, always making certain the reader is keeping their eye on the mystery surrounding Annie. The back-story is filled in through Nat’s infrequent recollections about his life with Annie, most of these reflections providing even more questions rather than answers. Things in Nat’s past take on a different interpretation, as if examined in a new light, depending on his current circumstances. It’s like suddenly seeing the flaws in someone that one was originally blinded to. Along this line, people are constantly telling Nat throughout the novel that he was blinded to Annie’s flaws, a fact Nat attributes to being in love. Since “Hooked” is told from Nat’s perspective, we even see his blindness towards Annie’s flaws in the narrative during his recollections, making Nat an unreliable narrator in terms of Annie. Richtel plays upon this by supplying a clever twist about Nat’s blind love of Annie, a twist that most readers may find disturbing in what it says about love.

The biggest criticism of “Hooked” for me is the ending. This is not to say the ending is not good, I just imagined a more spectacular payoff. It’s natural that when you read a mystery, your mind tries to figure out potential endings to the story, and in this case, my solutions were more extravagant than the truth. Richtel’s answer to Annie’s mystery is not as far-fetched as I would have expected from the setup. Because the ending seems so possible and real (along with being quite creepy), it’s likely what makes the conclusion so disturbing. If it had been more spectacularly imagined but utterly unbelievable, “Hooked” wouldn’t have invited the level of reflection it does on its completion. Instead, it would have been easily dismissed as pure entertainment. The questions that the novel raises in the end are what elevates it above other mystery novels. Therefore, this is less a criticism than a personal observation which doesn’t diminish Richtel’s overall solid novel; it just changes the light it should be reviewed in.

Last Word:
Matt Richtel’s “Hooked” grabs you early with a tremendous start to an intriguing and innovative mystery and holds your attention all the way through to the end. Richtel’s tight language keeps the story flowing smoothly, making “Hooked” an effortless read. However be forewarned, this is one addictive book that you likely won’t be able to put down after you’ve started it. And once you finish it, then you may never look at your computer the same way again. ( )

http://www.book-blog.com/2008/08/rich... ( )

This novel started off great, but turned into a muddled mess at the end. The short summary is that I really like Richtel’s writing style. I will most likely pick up his next book. The beginning was good enough to make me want to try whatever he writes next in the hopes that he’s learned how to end a novel better.

Full review at my blog) ( )

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 resendency program and never looked back. The novel opens as Nat sits in a San Francisco Cafe, reading a book 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 cafe–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 devilously ingenious Kendle 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 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?

Happy Reading!
RJ xx ( )