Reviewed by Captain Kent
In Hooked, G. Bruce Knecht drops us into the cold, chaotic waters of the Southern Ocean, where a ragtag crew of poachers aboard the Viarsa 1 are on the run—4,000 miles of cat-and-mouse with Australian fisheries officers hot on their wake. The target? The elusive and lucrative Patagonian toothfish—rebranded for fine dining as Chilean sea bass. What unfolds is equal parts environmental exposé, legal thriller, and saltwater adventure.
Knecht has the instincts of a storyteller and the eye of a seasoned journalist. He doesn’t just tell us what happened—he shows us why it matters, tracing the tangled web between greed, international maritime law, and the lengths some will go to exploit an unguarded resource. The pursuit of Viarsa 1 becomes more than a chase—it’s a metaphor for how far we’ve let profit outrun responsibility.
If you’ve ever worked the deck, stood a watch, or navigated the back alleys of regulation and risk, you’ll recognize the stakes here. This isn’t fiction—this is the real, raw edge of maritime life, where the boundaries of the law disappear over the horizon and courage often looks like persistence in miserable conditions.
Verdict:
Hooked is a hell of a read. Whether you’re a mariner, an environmentalist, a seafood lover, or just someone who appreciates a gripping true story well told, this book delivers. It’s a reminder that some of the best tales still come from the sea—and that truth, in the right hands, can be far more compelling than fiction.