Hooked- Reviews
“A great book—one of best I’ve read in recent years. Hooked is a fish story, a global whodunit, a courtroom drama — and a critically important ecological message all rolled into one. Read this and you’ll never look at Chilean Sea Bass on the menu the same way.”
– Tom Brokaw
“A high-seas adventure with enough action and suspense to have you holding your breath… A mystery that untangles the roots of a culinary fad fitfully hatched in and marketed from Los Angeles… A courtroom thriller… Proof positive than an objective eye is the most persuasive of all… Mr. G. Bruce Knecht, take a bow.”
– The Los Angeles Times
“Bruce Knecht tells a great story with an ear for the absurd in the tragi-comic world of modern commercial fishing and the contemporary food scene. Hooked will make you laugh and get angry and think twice about what you are eating.”
– Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod: the Biography of the Fish that Changed the World and Salt: A World History
“This is a fascinating and well-told fish story that takes you all over the globe, from slushy seas of half-water, half-ice off Antarctica to the kitchens of restaurants in midtown Manhattan. The cast of characters would strain the binding of the most imaginative novel, from stubborn Australian customs police to cool, sophisticated commercial fishing pirates, to marketing experts who hyped the bizarre, ugly, deep water Patagonian Toothfish into the hottest item on trendy restaurant menus all over the world, and thus spelled its doom.”
– Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down
“Hooked” is a superb work, and one one the most engaging books that readers are likely to find. Knecht is a master of his craft. The story he tells here is both a high-seas adventure, and a subtle exploration of modern times.
– William Langewiesche, author of American Ground, The Outlaw Sea, Sahara Unveiled
“The Patagonian toothfish (aka Chilean Sea Bass) has found its Melville. Bruce Knecht’s story is every big as exciting as Moby Dick. The Patogonian toothfish is losing the battle big time. It is the object of massive legal and illegal fishing, and in this thrilling and informative book, the good guys chase the bad guys halfway around the world.”
– Richard Ellis, author of The Empty Ocean
“Only a few non-fiction books convey a gripping suspense story, and a rare one indeed that does so in a well-written, well-paced prose. Hooked is a page-turner. But it’s also an important tale of right, wrong, and the struggle to protect our options.”
– Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean
“Every citizen should read this book. In a highly entertaining fashion, it connects the fish, human appetites and ignorance to make it obvious that future government and civic inaction is unconscionable.”
– William Ruckelshaus, founding director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
“A riveting account of how the rise of the Patagonian toothfish from trash status to gourmet cult fish renamed Chilean Sea Bass led in just a decade to stocks being depleted everywhere except the remote sub Antarctic seas, driving up the price and so offering huge rewards to pirates.”
– The International Herald Tribune
“Knecht lands a salty, suspense-filled adventure tale with ramifications for every fisheater among us.”
– Men’s Journal
“A cliffhanger…You won’t be able to put this book down.”
– The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
“An essential cautionary tale about why humans are the weakest link in the food chain … Knecht supplies the big picture, even as he narrates a gripping tale that is more Master and Commander than Super Size Me. A wake up call, you might say, if it weren’t already too late”
– Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“A fascinating story that weaves suspense and environmental reporting into a tale of the worldwide consequences of America’s ravenous appetite for fish.”
– Winston-Salem Journal
“Knecht tells his story with vigor and enjoyment. Alternating chapters detail the discovery of the fish, the worldwide destruction of fishing grounds and the efforts of people dedicated to slowing the destruction.”
– The Sydney Morning Herald
“How the fish nobody wanted became the trendy Chilean Sea Bass, and how over the last 30 years it has been fished almost to the point of extinction.”
– The New York Times
“One of the best reads about the ocean to come along in ages. It is better written than a John Grisham novel, has more high-seas excitement than The Perfect Storm, and is factually engaging. It has only one drawback: When you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down.”
– The Providence Journal
“Piracy on the high seas is never dull, but Bruce Knecht’s wonderfully styled account of Australian patrol boat Southern Supporter’s chase in 2003 of the Uruguayan long-liner Viarsa delivers edge-of-the seat reading.”
– The Australian
“Knecht’s gripping book flips between the commercial history of the toothfish—just the latest of many culinary fads than end up threatening an ocean species—and the chase, which illustrates the practically lawless world of commercial fishing.”
– Publisher’s Weekly
“The ultimate fish story.”
– San Diego Union-Tribune
