Hooked: A Thriller About Love and Other Addictions

by Matt Richtel

Book Overview

Nat Idle, a San Francisco writer with a medical degree, narrowly survives an explosion in an internet cafe after a stranger hands him a note warning him to leave immediately. The handwriting is that of his dead girlfriend, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist whom he has been mourning obsessively. So begins 'Hooked'."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446698911
• ISBN13: 9780446698917
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Edge of your seat suspense till the end

I checked out this book after hearing about it from leo laporte. This book kept me turning the page and the ending will surprise you. highly recommended.

Buy the book before the movie comes out...

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.

A thought-provoking, authoritative first novel

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. [...]

Don't Start this Book Unless You've Got the Time---You Won't Put it Down!

As a published novelist, I know how hard it is to keep the pace intense. Matt Richtell has this down cold. From the first page you quite literally will be "hooked". The book is border-line science fiction, but the fiction could be just around the corner; don't let this aspect put you off. It's a fast paced mystery adventure with a nice hero, trying to recover from a lost love when events, literally, explode around him. The tension is palpable---the writing is clean and the plot very credible. Hooked is a great read.

MUST READ - very exciting, hard to put down

"Hooked" is a perfect blend of thriller, mystery, and love story, with a dash of noir as well. The story begins with Nat Idle, a medical school graduate turned freelance journalist, sitting in a San Francisco Café, drinking a mocha, reading a book, and minding his own business. A woman than walks by him and places a folded note on his table, then briskly leaves the café. Thinking he is getting picked up, Nat tries to follow her but she quickly leaves in a red Saab. Nat then opens the note to discover it says "Get out of the café--Now!". Seconds later the café explodes. To make this scene of events even more obscure, the note is written in the exact same script as Nat's deceased girlfriend, Annie, who he has been mourning for years. Thus begins an incredible and fast paced journey that never slows down. Nat believes there is some type of conspiracy going on and will stop at nothing to find the truth that no one seems to want him to have. Numerous attempts on his life do not even slow Nat down. There are many interesting twists and turns along the way that will really get you thinking on the current style of living today, and the reliance that human beings have on technology. Short, exciting chapters, numerous flashbacks to describe Nat and Annies relationship, and in depth looks at characters personalities will make it hard for you to put this book down. You may very easily get "Hooked" yourself. A MUST READ for anyone. You will not be disappointed.