Hooked by Asako Yuzuki

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.

From the author of Butter, Hooked is a tense and psychologically astute novel about the fragile line between intimacy and fixation. Eriko appears to have built a flawless life, but beneath her polished exterior she is deeply alone. When she becomes captivated by Shōko, a woman whose messy, unguarded life seems to offer everything Eriko lacks, admiration soon turns into something far more dangerous.

With food, desire and female friendship at its core, this is a darkly compelling story about control, longing and the hunger to be truly seen. Asako Yuzuki writes with elegance and precision, creating a novel that is both quietly unsettling and impossible to look away from.

For fans of
Sayaka Murata, Mieko Kawakami, Butter, Japanese literary thrillers, dark fiction about obsession and womanhood.