We're #1 (But George Steinbrenner Would Yawn)

In baseball -industry parlance, there are big markets, and small markets. Then there is Boulder, Colo. Population: not so much. But it's my hometown, home to the Boulder High School Panthers, The Sink (bar and grill where Josh and Noel Repeatedly Fell Down Drunk, in a good way), and to many other warm and fuzzy-visioned memories.

It also is the site of Hooked's conquest over the Yiddish Policeman Union and Michael Chabon.

In this week's Boulder Daily Camera (the local paper of record), Hooked was the #1 bestselling book at local bookstores.

I can't claim this as any momentous victory, for a variety of reasons. Chief among them: the list reflects the fact that I did a reading at the Boulder Bookstore in late June, an event that doubtless temporarily inflated sales. After all, friends and family cajoled everyone they knew to attend and purchase book. Nevertheless, I am thankful for this tiny moment of extreme dominance over the world's big-market literary heavyweights.

Separately, but surely not unrelated, Hooked was #3 this week on the Rocky Mountain News bestseller list.

Meantime, herewith, a spate of new reviews:

"A jolting debut..Richtel manages to produce one entertaining, and dare I say, addictive, read." -- Fredericksburg, Va. --Virginia Freelance Star -- http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/072007/07082007/297514

"In the aptly titled Hooked, his first novel, Richtel accomplishes this by keeping each of the pop thriller's chapters short (usually less than five pages) and ending them with just enough of a hook to demand that all but the heavily distracted or previously engaged keep reading. The Internet-age story — which features café explosions, dirty cops, espionage and a grisly acupuncture torture scene, among other plot-propelling devices — is difficult to deny or walk away from" -- Westword (Denver's weekly newspaper) http://www.westword.com/2007-06-21/calendar/hook-line-and-sinker/


"This novel is written with an intensity and plotting that is unexpected in a debut...The mixture of medical and technological factors heightens the mystery. The writing is fluid, the story intriguing. A very good read." -- The Mystery Morgue

"What I had never considered is that electrical stimulation, along with subliminal suggestions, could lead to the perfect crime. I dare not say more as I want everyone to read this book! I truly believe this is the first great pop thriller of the digital age. This book is guaranteed to become a classic." -- ILoveAMysteryNewsletter.com

"This novel has a great title because "Hooked" is exactly how you will feel after reading the very first page... This is an action packed novel that is written around the technology world we live in today. The chapters are short and that is something I like. It always makes me want to go on and read another chapter before I turn out the light. " - Bestsellersworld.com


"HOOKED by Matt Richtel (Twleve, an imprint of Grand CentralPublishing)is a debut novel that is highly suspenseful and a thriller of the first magnitude. Revolving around the hight tech world we live in the book opens with the visit of a dead girlfriend saving Nat Idle from an explosion. From there it picks up the pace. Touching on our addiction to all things tech, this book will freak you out." - Central Crime Zone - http://centralcrimezone.blogspot.com/2007/06/summer-reading.html