Review: Hooked Up, by Fiona Sussman

It’s a good time to be an Auckland reader. Days after Auckland Libraries’ celebration of local writers We Read Auckland wrapped, Fiona Sussman’s new novel Hooked Up has arrived in bookstores.

Like its precursor The Doctor’s Wife, Hooked Up is a Tāmaki Makaurau thriller. The book opens in Mangawhai, but by page 50 it’s clear Detective Sergeant Ramesh Bandara and Constable Hillary Stark have an Auckland case on their hands. A serial killer with a vendetta against the cast of a TV dating show is on the loose. The book’s title is a triple entendre: the name of the dating show; a reference to the manipulation that occurs on set; and the method of murder. Ten years after Hooked Up airs its cast and crew are being picked off methodically, strangled from behind with a smooth, high-tensile strength weapon.   

While Bandara and Stark investigate Hooked Up’s cast and crew, Sussman probes reality TV, asking whether it can be a source of deep harm. The question is as old as the genre, with existing fiction responses already, both onscreen and in print. Lifetime’s UnREAL and Jesssica Knoll’s The Favourite Sister are examples. But these questions are as relevant as they’ve ever been. The reality dating format is often a conduit for misogyny and sexism. During this year’s UK series of Love Island, Women’s Aid released a public statement calling out patterns of misogynistic and sexist behaviours and highlighting the need for participant education from the production company. Sussman’s dating show Hooked Up is several steps away from Love Island, but terrible behaviour occurs and is exacerbated by the production company, for ratings. In the present day action, the first murder victim is Todd Lumsden, the kind of guy who routinely calls women sluts and, it turns out, has been physically abusing and financially controlling his wife, Julia.  

Domestic violence is woven more broadly into the narrative. Constable Stark divides her time between Family Harm and the Waitematā CIB. Stark’s own mother, we find, was brutally killed by her father when she was a child. Sussman is plotting the dots that connect abuse and sexism and misogyny in our culture. We’re drawn to the drama when we see sexist behaviour on Love Island or Married at First Sight, or in this fictional world, on Hooked Up. But these are the same beliefs and behaviours that fuel abuse. Knowing this, and enjoying the genre, puts dating show viewers in a difficult place. What feels like ‘a bit of fun’ as one Hooked Up character describes her experience watching Real Housewives, could be something more sinister. A guilty pleasure, yes, but might viewers assume some actual guilt? Hooked Up never quite brings readers to feel this discomfort or responsibility. Sussman’s point of view characters, Bandara, Stark and Constable Chris Hōhepa, aren’t dating show fans and so the culpability of audiences—and society broadly—isn’t explored closely. Sussman puts the dots down, but it’s up to readers to connect them. The questions raised are more about consequence than culpability.

While the concern expressed by Women’s Aid was for young and vulnerable audiences, Sussman’s focus is on the vulnerability of participants. Is there potential for long-term psychological harm? Hooked Up’s answer is a clear yes. In the months after the show, long before the murder investigation, a participant with a history of depression commits suicide. During filming, information about this woman’s past is weaponised for onscreen dramatic effect; and the situation is exacerbated by the relationship in which the production company has placed her. When Bandara talks to a doctor familiar with the participant’s death, he is told in no uncertain terms that the show contributed to the depressive episode during which she commit suicide. 

Sussman is an accomplished crime writer. She won a Ngaio Marsh Award for The Last Time We Spoke in 2017. The Doctor’s Wife was shortlisted for same awards in 2023. Hooked Up is a highly enjoyable, well-paced thriller, with a compelling set-up. It’s the kind of book readers will inhale, reading swiftly to find out what happens. 

The book’s present day action also has its own hook up, a budding romance between Ramesh Bandara and Hillary Stark. Bandara, an officer grappling with his own mental health issues, and who is willing to talk about it, is the kind of character readers will enjoy spending time with. Ditto Gavin, German Shepherd, police dog drop out, and very good dog. While there appears to be a minor plot timing issue—two of the italicised scenes, set circa 2012, include a dinner party where dating show contestants discuss vaccine mandates, this has no bearing on the overall plot. 

And for this Auckland reader, the familiar backdrops: Takarunga/Mount Victoria, Karangahape Road, Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill and my own connection to them (shout out Glenfield Mall, retail haven of my early working life) offered a little extra jolt of excitement. An excitement reminiscent of spotting my letterbox in the opening titles of The Block NZ the year that reality show was filmed in Sandringham. Reviewed by Kirsteen Ure