Female loners abound in contemporary Japanese fiction: Sayaka Murata¡¯s quiet misfits masking their incomprehension of social mores, Mieko Kawakami¡¯s traumatized teens and women living on the margins.

To this melancholy mix arrive the protagonists of Asako Yuzuki¡¯s ¡°Hooked,¡± translated by Polly Barton and released this month.

Hooked, by Asako Yuzuki. Translated by Polly Barton.?400?pages. HARPERCOLLINS, fiction.