E&P

from Editor and Publisher magazine, hitting newstands on June 1

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003591682

'Hooked' On a Feeling That a Digital-Age Novel is Needed

By Dave Astor
Published: June 01, 2007

When it comes to the digital age, Matt Richtel writes about it from allkinds of angles. Since 2000, he's covered technology and telecommunications as a New York Times staff reporter. Since 2001, he's written a United Mediacomic strip ("Rudy Park") set in an Internet cafe. And since June 1, Richtel has been a published novelist whose Hooked comments about the impact of thedigital age on personal lives.

Why all the Web themes? "You write what you know," replied Richtel. "I spend my days as a reporter immersed in this stuff."

But Richtel, 40, doesn't write only about digital matters. "Rudy Park" maybe set in an Internet cafe, but its characters have relationships, politics,and other things on their minds in addition to computers. And Hooked -- onlythe third release from Hachette Book Group's new Twelve imprint -- is a thriller that doesn't exclusively focus on what Richtel describes as "the hyper-fast way we digest information" in the 21st century.

Still, today's shorter attention spans helped inspire the book's format. Hooked contains 60 chapters in less than 300 pages, and many of the chaptersend with a "hook" designed to make readers want to continue on.

Richtel is a little surprised that he continued writing Hooked afterstarting it in 2004. "A book seemed daunting after I spent my life characterizing the world in 800-word chunks," he said, referring to his Times articles.

The reporter/author manages to also find time for the daily and Sunday "RudyPark" strip partly because the art is done by another person: Darrin Bell,who also draws and writes the "Candorville" comic for the Washington PostWriters Group.

Richtel joked that "Rudy Park" is "a labor of love and a vow of poverty,"though its client list of about 60 newspapers and Web sites isn't bad in amarketplace filled with so many comics.

The San Francisco-based writer, who scripts "Rudy Park" under the pen nameof Theron Heir, also delivers for the Times the monthly "VC Nation" columnabout the venture-capital industry. And he's about 100 pages into a second novel that, unsurprisingly, has some digital-age themes.

bookgasm

fear not, the new review from the site "bookgasm" is family-friendly.

excerpt: "When it comes to making good on his title, Richtel knows how to work it. From the start, his story proves every bit as hypnotic as the book’s optical-illusion cover."

And

"As good as Richtel is at building suspense right away, I must commend him more for the flashback chapters that depict Nat and Annie falling in love. Their actions and dialogue comprise a realistic and accurate portrayal of the initial joys involved in finding your soulmate, and it’s hard not to feel a little contact high in your heart. The romance depicted here is real, not sappy or fantasized. "

Full review:
http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-fi/hooked/#more-1438

Also, please see the new review at 1340mag.com.
http://www.1340magbooks.com/hooked.html
In brief:

"From the moment I gazed upon the dizzying cover to the nail biting conclusion I was captivated (refuse to use the word “hooked”). Richtel has crafted a wonderful book that is guaranteed to satisfy the thriller/suspense novel craving that may be present within you. "

We blush

Get Hooked

Friends, countrypersons, thrill junkies,

I am pleased to announce the publication of my first novel, "Hooked,"
a fast-paced thriller about the nature of love, obsession and life in
the digital era.

Hooked has gotten nice early reviews: "a shrewd cinematic thriller"
(Booklist); a mix of Michael Chrichton and John Grisham (Edgar Award
Winner Rupert Holmes); "an astonishing first novel" (Bestseller
Katherine Neville).

There is more information about the book and upcoming book signings at
www.mattrichtel.com.

A special request: I hope you will consider passing this email along
to friends, family and others who like their books like they like
their caffeine and email – tough to put down. First novels usually
catch on through word of mouth, so I'll be grateful for yours.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Warm regards,

Matt

we've injured a reviewer

(we'd remind readers that it is improper to feel any joy over a physical injury, even when sufferer is a literary critic...)


From today's New York Newsday:

"Matt Richtel's "Hooked," a first novel by a syndicated cartoonist and New York Times technology writer, takes the cell-phone issue by the horns. Here laptops and Palm Pilots themselves are the agents of doom, tools of evil corporate warlords in their quest to subjugate humanity and its credit cards. From the opening scene in which he narrowly escapes a bomb blast in a San Francisco cafe, med-student-turned-slacker Nat Idle will put aside the freelance article he's writing on how cell phone radiation affects the brain to investigate a series of fires, suspicious deaths and acupuncture sessions gone bad. Quickly the trail turns towards his dead girlfriend Annie, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who "died" five years earlier in a boating accident. Though his characters are thin and his plot somewhat dizzying, Richtel's gift for one-liners undercuts his cheesier moments. In fact, I was so drawn in at one point that I had my nose in the book while walking across my garage. I tripped on a stray skateboard and smacked my head on the garage floor. So maybe all these high-tech computer viruses and cell phone schemes are overkill. You can still knock somebody out with a novel."

Poisoned Pen Post

A thanks to the Poisoned Pen, one of the land's finest mystery/thriller bookstores (www.poisonedpen.com)
It has selected Hooked for its "First Mystery Club." This is a club of autographed first printings from a handful of debut mystery/thrillers.

see the poisoned pen commentary on Hooked, or buy a signed copy from Poisoned Pen, at:
http://www.poisonedpen.com/html/firsts.html

mushroom head (early reviews)

Friends, countrypersons, mom,

The book launches in two weeks. I've been asked by friends how I'm feeling (where on the continuum between peaceful and Sybil) - and to share a few thoughts on the blog.

My head is swelling. Literally. I have been many weeks without a haircut. The sides are puffing out like someone took an air pump to my skull. My wife is calling me 'mushroom head.'

I'm getting it shorn tonight. A somewhat symbolic slicing. It means I'm readying myself for public showings -- the upcoming readings, a few media events, a presentation here and there. I'm getting my game hair on. Next, my wife will want to have me properly bathed and clothed, but we're not rushing into anything.

Book reviews are trickling in. Booklist called it a shrewd cinematic thriller; A reviewer for Enfuse, a culture magazine in Colorado (where I grew up) said it caused her to question the nature of love. Review at: http://www.enfusemagazine.com/culture/content.cfm?Article_id=576 ; Parade Magazine is making it a "parade pick" in an upcoming issue; New York's Newsday has put it on its summer reading list.

Publisher's Weekly gave Hooked a tepid review. Before we asked for a correction, the review incorrectly spelled my name, that of the protagonist and the protagonist's love interest, and it got basic facts wrong about the plot. (Maybe if it went semi-weekly the organization would have time to actually read the books before reviewing).

The bulk of the reviews and other media should come in the next month.

So with the launch imminent, what is the mood of a first-time author, soon to be shorn?

Eighty percent of me feels balanced, not obsessive, excited for a new experience -- like I've got a nice coffee buzz but could still manage a nap. The great joy was in writing the book; now, should people choose to read it, it's their experience. Much as I'd like to have my ideas out there, I can't control if people buy it, or read or like it, or, having done so, want to burn it...and me.

Which brings me to the periodic madness. There are moments when I get a little dramatic, weird and lose perspective. Like I'm ready to be fitted for a white, ventilated full body suit. I guess can't spend three years creating something, unveil it to the world and not periodically feel vulnerable, and like maybe it would have been better off going into a quiet career in tax law.

I'm ready. I'm in the right frame of mind. Come what may. I refer, of course, to the imminent hair cut. May it be everything I hope for, and less.