Nat Idle, a medical student turned journalist, sits in a San Francisco cafe when a woman puts a folded note on his table. Nat picks up the note, walks to the door to follow her, opens the note and reads: Get out of the Cafe, NOW! The cafe explodes. Sitting in the rubble, he discovers the impossible: the handwriting on the note appears to belong to his deceased ex-girlfriend, a powerful venture capitalists who died four years earlier.
Thus begins Hooked and Nat's frantic quest for answers. His search ultimately presents him with a series of surprises and twists and leads him to discover unnerving truths about himself, and the frenetically-paced digital world he inhabits.
About Hooked | Hooked News
ABOUT HOOKED
Many of us have clear ideas of what constitutes happiness, love, progress, passion, productivity, comfort. I know I do. Hooked is about whether we might be wrong.
In August of 2003, I was processing the end of one intense personal relationship and acclimating to a new one. Coincidentally, I was covering Silicon Valley for the New York Times, immersing in tech world, and I conjured a not-especially-profound theory of modern life. I called it "the cell phone-orthodontist principle." The axiom states that if you're driving in a car alone, and run out of people to talk to, you'll eventually get so bored and desperate that you may call directory assistance to get the phone number of the person who attached your braces in junior high. "I love what you did with my teeth," you might say to your orthodontist, "Are you busy for the next 30 miles?"
What does the frenetic, digitally-enhanced pace of modern life and our need to be constantly stimulated have to do with my personal life, or yours?
When I sat down that August at a café and started writing the first pages of Hooked, I didn't intend to write a book. I was writing a story for myself -- to process, entertain, maybe distract. An excuse to drink sit at a café and drink hot chocolates. Quickly, I found myself conscious of an audience, but I was nervous I would not hold readers' attention. So I purposefully tried to write short chapters, ending them each with a hook, writing at a breakneck pace. A fast book for fast times and busy readers.
What became evident to me as the narrative took shape that I was constructing something broader than a fast-paced story. I am loathe to be more specific because I don't want to give away the twists in the book, but I hope the story articulates something relevant about the impact of the digital era on our personal lives. Might there be some profound similarities about the way we invest in and obsess about relationships, and in our email and mobile phones?
Though I have spent the last decade as a journalist, rooted in and devoted to the facts, Hooked - a piece of fiction - is in some respects the truest thing I have written. It represents a fair expression of where I was at that time and where I suspect many of us spend time in our lives. It was a thrilling, emotional ride to write Hooked. I hope readers will enjoy the ride as much as I did.
About Hooked | Hooked News
HOOKED NEWS
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