Hooked

‘Yuzuki has become the poster girl of a British boom for Japanese fiction’ THE TIMES

‘Tender and thrilling it’s Yuzuki at her best’ ELLE

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.

The unmissable new novel of friendship and dangerous obsession from Asako Yuzuki, the award-winning author of the global bestselling sensation Butter.

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 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, Shōko. Shōko’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 Shōko down at her favourite restaurant and befriends her, Shōko is at first charmed by her new companion. But soon Eriko's obsession with Shōko begins to spiral out of control, threatening her carefully laid plans. How far will she go to hold on to the best friend that she’s ever had?

Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is a thrilling and unsettling story of the line between friendship and dangerous obsession. A delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan, Hooked brings together all the ingredients for which Asako Yuzuki is so adored.

‘An exciting new thriller that you won't be able to put down’ RADIO TIMES

‘Expect to see this distinctive pink cover everywhere’ GRAZIA

‘[A] razor-edged story about women, appetite and what we'll do to feel chosen … Safe to say, we're already hooked’ OPRAH DAILY

‘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

‘Dark, spiny and slippery, this haunting tale of loneliness and longing in the modern age will leave you gasping’ TOBI COVENTRY, author of He’s the Devil

About the author

Asako Yuzuki is the author of Butter, her first novel translated into English, which became a no.1 Sunday Times bestseller. It won Waterstones Book of the Year 2024, the Books Are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award and Fiction Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, among other accolades.

She won the All Yomimono Award for New Writers for her story, ‘Forget Me, Not Blue’, which appeared in her debut, Shuuten No Anoko. She has been nominated multiple times for the Naoki Prize, and her novels have been adapted for television, radio and film.