Mystery Book Reviews

Book Review: Hooked

By Sandy Amazeen Jul 16, 2007, 3:03 GMT

In the face of heavy debt, medical student Nathanial Idle contemplated his career and instead of completing his residency program decided to become a freelance journalist. While sitting in a café, an unknown woman slipped Idle a note telling him to vacate the shop just before it exploded. Idle could swear the note was in Annie’s handwriting which is quite impossible as she disappeared at sea two years earlier. The more Idle thinks about the note, the more he becomes convinced the love of his life is alive and warned him to get out of the café. Idle, with the help of Erin, one of the surviving café employees seeks to uncover the mystery woman’s identity while the police repeatedly question them. Before long, Idle isn’t sure he can trust Erin and the deeper into Annie’s past he digs, the more he comes to realize he didn’t really know her at all.

After a strong start the pace slows considerably thanks in part to the many flashbacks where Idle revisits the short time he shared with Annie. These do fill in some gaps and provide further insight to the main antagonist’s character but eventually become tiresome. The storyline and main characters fail to live up to expectation and most of the twists are fairly predictable although the role of emerging technologies is interesting and thought provoking.