I'll be happy to review this book once St Martin's Press acknowledges the boycott and responds properly.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. I was initially interested because I thought it was a murder mystery/thriller. This ended up being way too political and way too much focus was on journalism. It had no thrills or even really much mystery vibes. It was too boring, characters felt flat, and not much development.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

Off The Air: A Mystery, by Christina Estes

Short Take: I read 14% of this book and I want that hour back.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Ok guys, I know it’s March, but I’m really trying to keep up with some semblance of my New Year’s Resolutions. One of them is to read & review as many good books as possible. The flip side of that, of course, is that I don’t want to waste my time with books I don’t enjoy, so I tapped out of this one after only a few chapters. The problem is not the story (barely got into it) or the author’s obvious political leanings (which I know other reviewers had issues with).

No, it’s the author’s compulsive over-explaining. I should have known when I saw the title - Off The Air: A Mystery. As a rule, I don’t like books that feel the need to describe themselves in the title. That’s what a back cover is for. But since this wasn’t a ridiculous “an unputdownable psychological thriller with a devastating twist”, I thought I’d give it a chance anyway. Maybe she thought she was just being helpful, you know?

Nope.

Ms. Estes loves, and I mean really LOVES explaining things. She’s the annoying teacher who lives to stuff every lecture with as many irrelevant factoids as possible, and treats her readers as if they possess the intellect of a semi-sentient soup spoon. The first few chapters are ostensibly about a reporter rushing to the scene of a local celebrity’s death, possibly a murder, and trying to get info from his coworkers.

Which is fine, sure, set the scene. But Ms. Estes just can’t get out of her own way. Instead of building a sense of tension or nervous excitement or whatever vibe she was going for (I genuinely don’t know), she opted to lecture me about the job of journalism: explaining acronyms that had nothing to do with what was actually happening, pontificating on the sorry state of journalism today, and introducing about 10 other characters who don’t seem to have any role other than giving her a chance to explain more about the job. Except for the gorgeous, award-winning woman journalist that the main character is ridiculously jealous of & catty about, I guess she’s there to show us what internalized misogyny looks like. (Spoiler alert: It’s gross, and not funny or interesting at all.)

But lest you think she’s fixated on journalism (and being a capital-B Mean Girl), she also feels the need to explain the demographics of Phoenix, Arizona, and their draconian property tax system. Duckies, I was teetering on the edge when she hit me with “kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish of fermented cabbage” and nope. I’m out.

I’m not a writer or a reporter, but I’m pretty sure there’s some bit that gets tossed around about showing, not telling? This author doesn’t seem to be interested in showing anything, she just wants to tell. Every. Little. Detail. Because clearly readers don’t know anything at all and need to have everything explained to them in the simplest possible terms. Even when it’s something we don’t need to know to follow the story, even when it’s something that everyone already knows. (I live in West Virginia, and we know about kimchi for crying out loud.) It’s downright condescending.

But who knows, maybe one day the semi-sentient soup spoons will start an uprising, and this is the literature of the future.

The Nerd’s Rating: ONE HAPPY NEURON (and some cookies, hold the special additive.)

DNF @ 8%. Couldn't get into the writing style.

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press & Dreamscape Media for advance copies.

I enjoyed this book very much! It was well written and kept the reader interested. When a loud mouth reporter is murdered it is up to his fellow associates to track down how it happened. They follow the poison trail till they find who did it.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I didn't like the main character or any of the other characters. The mystery and its resolution didn't interest me.

Jolene is a fun but flawed character.  Slowly trying to rebuild her career after a disastrous mishap kept her from getting the job of her dreams, she's eager to chase any and every story that comes her way.  However, it's often to her own detriment.  When Larry Lemmon is murdered, she becomes obsessed with not just finding the truth, but being the first to do so.  This obsession turns her into an arrogant, awful person at times.  She doesn't think twice about using and discarding anyone she comes into contact with and it nearly costs her everything.  

Despite all of that, I was rooting for Jolene.  Even in her worst moments, her dedication to the truth was apparent, as were her good intentions.  I'd like to say that she definitely learned her lesson with this story and hope that she doesn't become so consumed by the next big thing.  

One of the best things about this novel were all the side characters.  Her cameraman, Nate, and her friend, Gina were probably my favorites.  They don't hesitate to put Jolene in her place all while supporting her as best they can.  Her co-workers vary from amusing to awful, as do the suspects in the murder.  But then, you'd expect a controversial talk show host to have a wide array of people wanting to do away with him, right?

Something else I appreciated was all the backstory and history of the city of Phoenix as well as the state in general.  Growing up, I spent my summers in the Valley of the Sun and learning more about it had been fun.  And the special shout out to Metrocenter Mall made me smile.  The one thing that surprised me about this book though was the way it delved into a lot of political talking points without hesitation. I generally don't like this in my fiction, but it was integral to the story in a way, so it didn't bother me as much as if it had come out of left field.  

Off the Air is an exciting murder mystery with a lot of twists and turns.  I had no idea who had done Larry in until nearly the end when the pieces fell into place for me.  Lively characters who are flawed but accepting of it only push the story forward, instead of holding it back.  I look forward to seeing what the author publishes next.  I'd even enjoy a sequel to this to see where Jolene and the crew are now.

A solid, entertaining debut cozy murder mystery set in the world of cutthroat on-air journalism. I liked this one a lot and it was easy to listen to on audio. Would definitely read more by this new author! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I went into Off the Air expecting Finlay Donovan vibes but from the perspective of a news reporter. While, Off the Air, even though about murder, was on the lighthearted side, there wasn't much in the way of hijinks and humor. Main character, Jolene, is a tenacious reporter looking for validation and to one up JJ, a superficial but widely popular reporter from a competing station. I found Jolene to be annoying and off-putting at times. I didn't like the way she treated most people. She's very self-centered. She's the star of her life and the book so all of her relationships in the book fell flat. There was an opportunity there for some first rate side characters but they all got the shaft, imo. I wanted to love it but I didn't. I do think the whodunit and why was interesting and was wrapped up nicely.

Off the air was a simple easy read and lighthearted. It was not one of my favorites, but I enjoyed reading it at the same time. It was my to go to book while waiting to be seen a doctors offices just to pass the time. I would recommend this novel to other who stew looking for an easy read.

I am in support of the boycott of St. Martin’s Press. I am withholding my review until such time as this is resolved.

There is an active boycott of this publishing house due to the failure of St. Martin’s Press to ensure the safety of their Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian influencers. Over 7,500 influencers to date have signed the petition demanding that St. Martin’s Press meet the incredibly reasonable demands below.
- Address and denounce the Islamophobia/racism from their employee.
- Offer tangible steps for how they're going to mitigate the harm this employee caused.
- Address how, moving forward, they will support and protect their Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab readers, influencers, and authors in addition to their BIPOC readers, influencers, and authors.
Readers for Accountability recently brought to SMP’s attention the threatening behaviors displayed by friends of your employee towards multiple members of SMP’s team. This not only includes online harassment with threats of lawsuits and reporting but has extended to tracking the whereabouts of a prominent Black creator whom you chose to unfollow.
This refusal to engage with the influencers who provide SMP with free labor is both disheartening and offensive.

Didn’t particularly enjoy this one. Absolutely no likeable characters which was disappointing. Thank you for the eARC and letting me read for an honest review.

If you love watching the news you will definitely love this book. Jolene Garcia is a news reporter who is dieing to know (literally) who killed Larry Lemmon who is a famous radio talk show host in her area. She wants to be THE reporter to figure out his death. I liked this book however I feel like it did drag on a little bit about different facts about politics and different news articles. It was interesting to read about but also I feel like it dragged the story on a little bit. I enjoyed the storyline though of how Jolene finds out how Larry died and the people she comes in contact with alongside doing her day to day job as a news reporter. Overall, this story was good and I give it a 3/5 stars.

This one is too heavy on details that don't really add to the story. It is a solid who-done-it, but it gets bogged down with journalese. I could dig the characters, though. I liked who I was supposed to and really disliked others.

Jolene is fearless and jumps in with both feet before she thinks. She does not give up and may lose a good contact in the police over her persistence. When a local, and very popular, radio host dies, Jolene goes to the scene to cover it. She is the last person to interview the host and is sure that she will get exclusives out of this. But one of her competitors gets there first. Every time she thinks she is in the lead; something comes up and she misses the chance. The station is not happy, and her job just might be in jeopardy. It makes her take some chances she shouldn't. When she comes face to face with a killer, she regrets being so rash. How is she going to get out of this?

Didn’t like this I go to book to escape and it’s a big political book with out saying it. Skip it!
Plot was okay and I would have been more in to it if I didn’t feel like the author was pushing for the politicians.

Reporter in real life takes a stab at fiction with this story about a… you guessed it, reporter. The main character does an interview with a controversial talk show host and then he’s found dead under suspicious circumstances. Overall not a bad debut. I do think it started slow and I likely wouldn’t have kept going if I wasn’t planning for this review.

I received this as an ARC. Thanks to the publisher and author!

Jolene is a Phoenix based reporter who is in the thick of reporting on a murder of a local, controversial legend.
This books explores the depth and competition of the journalism market, and while I appreciated the extra details, found that there were entirely too many people to try to keep track of.
Overall, I liked Jolene as a main character, but the beginning dragged on a bit and the ending felt a bit too rushed. I think if you have a strong interest in investigative journalism, this will be for you. I think the ending could have been wrapped up a bit more nicely with additional information added into the slow burn of the first 1/3. It took me a while to get into, when I try to finish books within a few days.

It was a cute, cozy murder mystery. This is the author's debut novel and she did a good job. I am looking forward to more books by this author.

3.49

I wanted to really love this mystery. I wanted to love it not only because this is her debut novel and, in addition to me not dealing well with criticism, anyone who can get it together enough to write a book when I can’t, deserves praise. I also wanted to prove to myself that, after a slew of duds, it wasn’t that I am impossible reader to please these days.

That said, I also wonder how one can love a book with a character who couldn’t have been created to love. Jolene is a mess. A hot mess. That’s kind of the best I can say. Fortunately, I am a bit of a mess too so that’s not a complete turn off necessarily. She is stubborn and determined to prove herself, even while coming up short at every turn.

**spoiler**
She finally gets all this praise for something that she, yes figured out, but also pursued in a stupid way and then failed to pull off with any documentation needed for airing or posting on social media.
**end spoiler**

I admit, I come up short sometimes too and I’ve known many a JJ, but I am very glad I never wanted to be an investigative reporter.

Let’s talk about the subject matter too! It’s still a little too raw hearing about pundits like Larry Lemmon who is one of many these days and a subject that gives me hives. Too soon!
Constructively, even though it’s a good story, I think we get two bogged down with the technical jargon and ins and outs (and ins and outs) of news reporting, which could have been paired down for those of us not in the biz. At the same time, elements that could have proved interesting were glazed over in a push for a wrap up.
Otherwise a great, imaginative effort and, hopefully, a steppingstone to a better book number two where Jolene has a little more success on a daily basis so that we don’t just pity her but rally around her. The author does well at bringing the character of Phoenix to life. You can tell that she hasn’t just thrown a dart at a map for a location for her story.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for providing an unbiased review.