What is it like working in a TV newsroom for a woman trying to get ahead? Jolene Garcia tells her story, the ups, downs, wins, and losses in this Tony Hillerman Prize-winning debut by Christina Estes. While the writing is good and the general premise of the book is somewhat interesting, I couldn’t identify with the main character, Jolene, at all and found her very annoying. Maybe newsrooms really are like they are portrayed in this book with all the backstabbing, story stealing, and conniving going on. It was uncomfortable reading about it and I had a difficult time finishing the book. The author, Christina Estes, says this is taken from her own experience. I would like to read more of her work but on a different subject.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, this is my honest review.

I was intrigued to read this book because I have never read a book from a news reporter’s perspective. This was a great mystery thriller and it felt like the reporter was more of a detective. I recommend this book to anyone that likes a mystery or just is interested in how crazy competitive being a reporter is.

Reviewed this on GoodReads

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the copy of Off The Air by Christina Estes. I don't read a lot of cozy mysteries so I was pleasantly surprised at how fun this one was. I loved the insider insight about the news business! The mystery was good and I liked how Jolene followed the leads, even if I didn't really like her or her methods much. I can still see her having a series of her adventures. If you’re looking for an easy, engaging read, this one fits the bill! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

3.5 stars rounded up. I liked this one, but didn't love it. I kept waiting for it to get better and pick up the pace, but it never really did.

I think there was a bit too much discussion about newsroom procedure/politics, and it took away from the plot of discovering who killed a local radio shock jock.

Jolene was a likable main character and it was easy to root for her throughout her adventures in finding out who killed Larry Lemmon.

Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC of #offtheair

Off the Air was not as fun as I hoped it would be. The synopsis sounded good, but it did not live up to my expectations. This novel is extremely political. I read to escape so reading about politics, even if I agree with them, is not for me. There is also a lot of very detailed information about journalism, which added nothing to the story and was extremely boring. There's also a lot of detailed information about totally irrelevant (to the plot) things like the history of Native American schools or the background of an Emmy statuette. Jolene is insufferable as well. She's kind of awful actually. She's whiny and a terrible coworker, friend, neighbor and reporter. She deserved to be scooped most of the time. Her morals were all over the place too. Sometimes she cared about integrity, sometimes she didn't, sometimes she had zero human decency and other times she did. I just didn't like her. That being said, I did want to know who killed Larry Lemmon and I had no idea who it was so that kept me reading. Overall, I don't think this is a bad book it just isn't my cup of tea. If you don't mind reading politically charged books and you don't mind an unlikable MC and a lot of detail, then I think you would enjoy it a lot more than I did. 2.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

This was a very nice debut mystery. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the chance to preview it.
The story was well written and I particularly enjoyed the strong sense of place (Phoenix Arizona) and the timeliness of the context (crazy conservative radio show host, the immigration issue and out of control news coverage).
The characters were little hard to bond with - I liked Jolene more at the beginning of the book than by the end. Her behavior was pretty erratic and inconsistent. I hope that her predicaments are not common in reporters.
The other characters were pretty superficially portrayed and very much "types". Nate seemed the most sympathetic to me.
The plot was fun to follow and the mystery was cleverly plotted. Lots of suspects and lots of misdirection.
The idea of a reporter trying to solve a crime makes a good story but I wonder how realistic the situation is and how accurate the depiction of the news station environment is. I'm not a person who really watches local or mainstream news broadcasts and this story doesn't make them seem appealing at all.
Overall I enjoyed the read and would be interested to see more from this author.
3.5 stars

Sharp, witty and gritty. A great first novel by Christina Estes!
The pressure reporters are under to get an exclusive, be first to report new information, stay true to their journalist principles and keep station chiefs happy really comes across in this story. I felt for Jolene as she spiraled out of control, desperate to beat the perky JJ, please the ‘sexy’ loving social media station guru, and keep her source happy. It made what she did so believable.
The writing and dialogue were great and the editor did an amazing job of keeping the plot and pace tight and tense.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for inviting me to read an ARC of Off the Air.

Jolene Garcia is a journalist, who is trying to make a comeback from a botched project earlier in her career. When a popular radio show host is murdered, she thinks this is the story she needs to catapult her into stardom.

Overall, I thought this concept was very interesting. I didn't know much about journalism, and thought this was very eye-opening to how fast-paced and cutthroat the business is. It's neat the author had experience in this field, and I appreciated how realistic, frustrating, and unglamorous it can be at times.

That being said, as a person with experience in forensic science and criminal investigations, it was really stressful and frustrating for me seeing how media can really interfere and cause trouble on active cases. Additionally, I found the main character to be kind of awful...towards her coworkers and her sources. Was she professional most of the time? Kind of...but it was just a little sickening that someone so self-involved gets what she wants in the end. True to life? Yes, and too much so because it's just sad seeing how often people with questionable moral values seem to constantly win at life.

Because of this unlikable character, and the fact parts got a little tedious and repetitive, this book was just okay to me. If you don't care much for the criminal investigative side of things and you're into the news media, this would be a great read for you.

Jolene is the star of the book! Her mother named her Jolene after Dolly Parton's song, a song where Dolly begs Jolene not to steal her man.

This was written by a debut author and the writing is good. Lots of references to places in Phoenix and Scottsdale. The border wall is discussed several times. "I am not a racist. I am a patriot who cares about my country, a country based on the laws. When we allow people to break the law by entering our country illegally, we are staying to the world, "Laws don't matter. Do what you want."

Larry Lemmon, a talk show host, died under suspicious circumstances. Jolene a TV reporter is determined to find out the truth about his death.

Fasted Paced, Cutthroat, and Tough Character! 3.5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy! This book is set to release on 3/26/24.

Overall, this was a fun read for me. I enjoyed our main character even when hee determination got to be a bit much and it pushed away those closest with her.
At times I thought she was maybe pursuing the story too hard for all the wrong reasons: her past. But as someone who was in a similar situation as a kid, you do what you gotta do to survive that part and to prove your worth as an adult. Extremely relatable.

I don't know that the killer jumped out at me from the start but there were definitely vibes. Enough that when the reveal happened, it wasn't shocking. Now the reason for it to happen? That was. And yikes. On all the bikes. Thankfully we never know the real, undead Larry in this book. Just what we learn is despicable enough that, well, too bad so sad. I didn't care who killed him...just wanted to see how Jolene handles it all.

This was an engaging mystery debut. Following Jolene as she tried to unravel the mystery of who killed Larry Lemmon. The behind the scenes of local news and the fact that Jolene was trying to uphold journalistic rules made this very interesting. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jolene Garcia works for a local new station and a top story broke of a local radio station host. Every reporter is out there trying to get the story before the other. What ends will Jolene go to solve the murder?

I enjoyed the story but at times Jolene irritated me because she never put any one else in mind.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy

An enjoyable palate cleanser of a book. It was a quick read with an interesting storyline. It was a little slow and I had a little difficulty putting some of the smaller pieces together. All in all just ok

Off the Air by Christina Estes was a quick fast read. A storyline I haven’t read about yet. It did seem at times I lost track where the story was going with the misc facts she put in the story.

Overall a good book by a good author.

Unfortunately, I had a really hard time getting into Off the Air and it was a DNF at 22%.

The first things I noticed was it felt like there was an agenda being pushed, ever so slightly. "Right-leaning" = very bad and "Left-leaning" = smart and right and good. I felt like I knew what the authors political view and opinion was just from the comments made. When I'm reading, unless I chose a political book, I don't want to know, no matter which way your opinions lean...left or right, I don't want to know. Maybe that's my fault for not knowing it was going to be that kind of plot, but I just thought it was a normal news anchor story, not a political news anchor.

Other than that, it was kind of slow. It was hard for me to like the MC.

I wouldn't necessarily call this a mystery/thriller, but maybe a very political journalistic procedure? If you're wanting to know how the ins and outs of journalism work, you'll enjoy this book. If you're looking for a thriller, maybe not.

3.75/5⭐️

One thing I appreciate more than anything is when an author has personal experience and connects it to the story. There are such little details in here that make it so enjoyable and overall I liked the story. Pacing was great, I see a lot of people say that “oh it was slow” but when you put into context that this is HOW IT WORKS I liked it. Pretty generic at times but generic isn’t bad at all. Solid debut, nice pacing and was fun to read!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.


I regretfully DNFd this book at 10%. I really tried to keep reading it, but the FMC is seriously obnoxious. She has all these rude thoughts about others right off the bat, but claims everyone else is rude. Characters who are portrayed as being politically right of center are seen as awful characters, but the ones who are portrayed as being left of center are seen in a glowing light. I honestly just cannot read something where people are displayed in such a fashion, as if one group of people are worse than another, instead of individually creating and judging characters by their own traits.

A fast-paced insight into newscasting, Off the Air is a light read that introduces you to the behind the scenes, and sometimes cut-throat, of what it's like to be a reporter. I was pleased to find out that Christina Estes was herself a reporter and I trust that she used her lived experience to give us an accurate portrayal of what it's like to be behind the camera.

I really enjoyed this! I haven't read a book from a reporter's perspective and appreciated the real-life relatableness of Jolene. I was rooting for her (and hoping for the demise of JJ) and was pleased that the book had a storyline that was both not predictable and felt realistic. I also liked that the book gave a content advisory related to the subject matter. I haven't seen this in a book before and I think it is helpful in case there are readers sensitive to certain topics. Estes really covered a lot of challenging topics in a succinct way.

I hope you can also get to know the Channel 4 news team and I look forward to future work by Christina Estes.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for this ARC!

Larry Lemmon, a predominant and controversial TV personality, is dead. Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter who is trying to get her big break while covering this story.

This book was an enjoyable, easy, quick read. Thank you Net Galley, Minotaur Books and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

Off the Air is a novel by Christina Estes about Jolene Garcia, a reporter in Phoenix, Arizona. Jolene is focusing on trying to be upgraded from general, mundane, everyday stories to special assignments. Jolene gets her opportunity when local controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon mysteriously dies. Jolene is determined to help solve and report the story to gain the exclusive before her competition does. She just has to do it without being the next victim.
I really enjoyed this story. The characters were likable, and the story kept my attention. There were a couple good twists and I genuinely did not know who the killer was until it was revealed. I give this book the rating of 4/5 stars.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the invitation to read and review this novel.