2 reported stars

The premise of a mystery from a reporter’s point of view is a new and intriguing one. Unfortunately, when the plot is slow and filled with too much trivia about the Phoenix location and news reporting melodrama, it can’t work.

I never related to the characters in Off the Air. The main protagonist, Jolene, is self-centered, as is her main competition, who always seems to get the scoop first. Peripheral characters were dull and forgettable. No one cared about the murder victim either.

The pace of the plot picked up in the last 15% of the book, but by then I was only reading to finish. As the author gains experience in showing a story and not reporting it, I think her readers will look forward to more of her work. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one fell a little flat for me. For a cozy mystery, it had a whole lot about journalism and not much about anything else. There was also a lot of political undertones. Sometimes it felt like there was so much detail without anything really happening. I do appreciate the knowledge about journalism that was brought into this story and how competitive it is in that profession. That being said the FMC constantly complaining about getting scooped became grating. I think the author has promise and am intrigued to see what she comes up with in the future. This one just left me wanting with the execution.

Cw: Death, misogyny, animal cruelty/death, child abuse, drug use.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration.

Thank you to St-Martin's Press, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

<b>"Attention is the drug of choice in local news."</b>

A "cozy" mystery debut from Christina Estes. When Jolene Garcia, a journalist, gets wind of a high-profile radio host was found dead, she vies for the control of the narrative. Wants that exclusive found in media.

I initially found myself interested because of the mystery, because of the media. But this just fell flat for me. While I am not a journalist, I felt a major disconnect to Jolene, and how she went about everything. To me, like a lot of others, this felt less like a pure mystery novel and more about the journalism, and the media side of a tragedy. The mystery fell more political and I feel like journalists should at least try to be neutral. Though I know it's never the case.

With Jolene, I had a hard time relating to her. She took advantage of everyone around her, and her ignorance pushed things over the edge.

As this is Estes's debut, I feel like she'll accomplish more in coming novels, and I can't wait to see where she goes from here.

tws // provided by the author; references to abandonment, ageism, animal cruelty, child neglect, classism, homelessness, racism, sexism, sexual coercion, and substance abuse.

Jolene is a TV Reporter hoping to catch a big story. When a local controversial radio host dies she's chasing the lead and the mystery for days. I wanted so much more for this book. I felt like so much of it was spent her chasing the story that the murder got lost and was not interesting. I would read another book by the author in the hopes that there is better pacing in the next book.

did not finish - I couldn't get into this one. I found myself having to reread and just now invested in the story.

This was well written and fun to follow. Gave some interesting insights into the world of journalism while throwing out a great mystery with enough red herrings to keep it interesting. I would definitely read another by this author.

This book was okay for me, it didn’t really wow me. I thought the plot was super basic and while I don’t mind unlikeable characters, I felt like Jolene was just wayyyy too unlikeable for my taste. I also thought the murder mystery aspect of this book could have been better written.

What I liked about this book:
1. Debut book for this author.
2. Insights into life of press with all the changes in the world of social media.

What I didn't like:
1. Too much information on Phoenix which didn't add to the plot.
2. Lots of politics
3. Felt very "clinical" - almost like we were reading a manual of how the work was done.


My thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

This book was a real struggle for me. I was hard to care about the characters.

Just an okay read in my opinion.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a super quick and easy read! It was very different in terms of books I read - this book is rooted in realism of journalism and TV reporting which is super cool! It isn't my flavour of reading overall but there is a lot to learn from this one!

Thank you SMP for the opportunity to read and review!

This book is pretty good. It started out great and hooked me, but it didn't hold.my attention. By the middle of the book I was fairly bored but I'm glad I stuck with it.

Worth the read, but room for improvement…

Off the Air caught my attention as a Tony Hillerman prize-winner, and the blurb sounded interesting too, so I was happy to receive a review copy. For me, however, Off the Air didn’t fully live up to its promise.

First, the good. I enjoyed the mystery itself, which took enough twists and turns to keep me engaged, trying to figure out whodunnit. Although the protagonist, Jolene, isn’t officially a detective herself, she does a nice job of putting together what she hears from her sources, some internet investigation, and her own legwork, and eventually comes up with the solution. And I enjoyed following along as she did.

In addition, the author, Christina Estes, an Emmy-award winning journalist herself, does a very nice job of addressing the challenges and ethical issues facing journalists today. Not just the need to get a scoop, but the 24/7 pressure to put out digital updates, the financial stresses on news organizations as customers move away from traditional news sources, the competition between local and network operations, and even the public’s expectations that (qualified or not) they should get to be involved in the reporting process as well. There was a lot that made me think, although I have no solutions.

Sadly, however, I had trouble really getting into Off the Air, mainly because I found many of characters to be over-stereotyped: Jolene’s competitor and nemesis, JJ, relying on her looks to get her by; the victim, a nasty far-right shock radio host; the station manager, making decisions based on his wife’s whims; the buzzword-spouting consultant; even Jolene’s possibly well-intentioned but ultimately nosy neighbor. I do understand that stereotypes exist because there are lots of people who fit them, but there’s also a lot of nuance in the world, and Off the Air could have used a bit more of that.

Overall, though, I thought that the good outweighed the bad, and would still recommend Off the Air to read. (One note: if you do lean far to the right in your politics, such that you might agree with the right-wing victim, you probably won’t enjoy this read. Definitely not an issue for me, but YMMV…) And finally, my thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the review copy.

This is the debut novel from Christina Estes, a broadcast journalist herself. The mystery kept my attention and interest in finding out who the culprit was but for me the best part of the book was the clear realistic view on broadcast journalism. I knew little about that profession before reading this book and yet quickly bought into the ways of that world and the business/personal interactions of those in the thick of it.

DNF @ 11% - honestly not in the mood for this type of book. I've tried 3x and it is not catching me.

If you're into journalism and love a good behind-the-scenes story, Off the Air is a must-read!

This book takes you deep into the newsroom, mixing the author's real-life experiences with the excitement of today's media landscape. I grew up around journalists and have always loved TV shows and movies set in the industry so I was immediately hooked by Jolene and her drive to succeed. I really like how Christina Estes showed how the business of news (ratings, social media, celebrity reporters…….) can conflict with and influence reporting. It's a fascinating topic and one that gets more relevant by the day.

Don't sleep on this debut!

Thank you Minotaur and NetGalley for the gifted copies to read.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.
While the writing style was good and it for sure was interesting to read about the drama, stress, and excitement that goes on in a news station, it did not peak my interest to learn more about it. The characters were not likeable at all and not much happened in the book. It seemed to just go on and on with not much happening besides the protagonist trying to make a name for herself.
This book for sure manifested even more so the dislike towards media and them pestering people and their lives. It was an ok read but seemed a little boring to me as there were no twists at all. A lot of the chapters and what was happening seemed repetitive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an e-arc!

This story follows a determined journalist who is dedicated to advancing in her career. When a local celebrity of sorts dies suspiciously, Jolene makes it her mission to find out any relevant information possible to make sure she has the scoop first before any of her competitors can run the breaking news on the air first. However, Jolene finds herself frustrated at the amount of information she is forced to keep off the record, or the unwillingness of key people to talk to her. Jolene is looking for clues wherever she can, getting herself in a dangerous situation.

I did enjoy this book, however I do think that it has a very niche audience. I used to be a reporter, went to school for journalism and am now in the PR field, so I could appreciate and relate to a lot of things within this story. I think that it’s a worthwhile read for anyone in that line of business as journalists are so often portrayed poorly in books and movies, whereas this book is more accurate to the experience. (To an extent) However, someone who does not have this background may not enjoy the specifics.

Going off of that, context is so important in reporting and I could understand why the author so heavily explained things that were mentioned to the reader..however, sometimes it interrupted the flow of the story, and the things that were being so over explained maybe didn’t have to be. I think that some of the things that the author provided context on could be considered common knowledge.

Overall, besides the occasional over explanations, I did enjoy this author’s writing and very much appreciate a story about a reporter and the hectic life of news media that is actually written by a reporter herself. I did find myself laughing at some of the relatability, like the one source who was so eager to do an interview and became forceful about it, even though the reporter politely declined multiple times. Or the attitude of some of the people Jolene did interview, and how some of them were very anti-reporter.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book to everyone in general but I definitely do recommend to readers that are interested in media, journalism, reporting, broadcasting, etc.

"Off The Air" by Christina Estes is about Jolene Garcia, a local TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona (named after the Dolly Parton song). The narrative kicks off with Jolene investigating car registration prices, but her attention quickly shifts when she learns of a death at a radio station. She rushes to the scene, very eager to be the first to report on the incident.

The deceased is Larry Lemmon, a famous and controversial talk show host. Jolene realizes she has a unique advantage in covering this story because she was the last to interview Lemmon. Driven by her ambition and dedication to uncovering the truth, Jolene dives into the investigation, putting herself in danger to get the inside scoop on Lemmon's death.

The novel gives readers a front-row seat to the intense and often dangerous world of investigative journalism. Jolene's relentless pursuit of the story makes for a compelling and thrilling read. The book effectively captures the stress and excitement of a reporter's life, making readers feel like they are right alongside Jolene as she navigates the challenges of her job.

"Off The Air" is an interesting and engaging book that highlights the demanding nature of news reporting and the lengths journalists will go to uncover the truth. I’ll rate this 3 stars. It gave me a newfound appreciation for the field of investigative journalism. Thank you NetGalley and publishers!

Debut mystery is realistic about the world of multimedia news and journalism.

Local television reporter, Jolene Garcia, wants a big story and wants an Emmy. When a controversial radio personality, Larry Lemmon, dies while at work on radio station KFRK, Jolene wants the inside track. Soon the death is considered suspicious, and everyone knows that means Larry was murdered. Since she was the last person to interview him, Jolene has the notion that this will be the news break that makes her career. Despite competition from other local and national news outlets, Jolene has a couple of sources that might give her an advantage if she can find out the truth first and get it on the air.

This was funny at times and lighthearted at others. Some serious political hot topics are discussed as part of the shock jock's rhetoric, and there are lots of details about the inner workings of news organizations. The author has experience and obviously knows what she is writing about, and that insider information is interesting. Although I have an aversion to reporters and how they want the story at any cost, I can understand how the public's demand for 24/7 news and social media feed the frenzy. I found it quite convenient that Jolene had so many sources and also thought her investigation was equal parts unlikely and ill advised. All told, it was easy to read in a single sitting and a unique contemporary bit of storytelling.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The narrator, Marcella Black, did a good job of providing nuance and distinct voices for all the characters. This dual method always adds to my enjoyment of the reading experience.

Note: I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book should tick off all the boxes for me- it's billed as a mystery set in Phoenix featuring a controversial political talk show host- that should be everything I would need for a new favorite book. Unfortunately, it just doesn't come together for me and I was really struggling to power through the story. This was more TV/media based (like a day in the life of an investigative journalist, really) and not enough mystery, it was almost like the mystery aspect was just tossed in as an afterthought. Also, as someone from Phoenix, this was overly Phoenix-y and tried so hard to name drop every restaurant, road, etc. It got to be a bit much. I liked the concept of this story more than the actual execution, unfortunately, and I ultimately found this to be ok but not great.