Jolene is in a race against time - to save her job and solve the mystery. Interesting portrayal from a reporters side with trying to find the truth while having to do what you have to do to get a front page worthy story. Not only is Jolene putting herself in danger, she is testing her ethics on how she gets that story. The tension and pressure she is feeling will keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see “whodunnit!”

I had an Ecopy as well as the audio version. I found myself mostly listening on audio, but it’s been a multitasking kind of month.

A local TV reporter, Jolene Garcia, covers all the news she can, from storms to special projects. When controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon's body is found, circumstances surrounding the death appear suspicious. Jolene had the last interview with the talk show host which gave her an edge above the other news stations.

I enjoyed the fast paced antics of the reporter as she tried to get her scoop and solve the mystery, I never knew how cutthroat reporting could be. I found the book to be entertaining and captivating which kept me wanting more. I always try to determine who the murderer is and in this book it through me for a loop the whole time, I couldn't guess.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration by Marcella Black, I found the characters were really well defined and it was easy to determine who was speaking. The pace of the book was perfect, I found it fast enough to follow along and stay entertained.

The author, Christina Estes, surpassed my expectations with this book and I'll be eagerly anticipating another novel by her.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had really high hopes for this book as someone who loves traditional media and mysteries. There were excellent points: pro journalism, pro diverse cast. I liked that.

The cons were writing that felt a bit mechanical at times when describing how things work in media that took me out the mystery and a constant nagging of a fellow journalist who was cast as a ditzy digital girl who only cared about her looks. Could this person exist? Yes. But also, it made it hard for me not to see the protagonist as a bit of a mean girl herself. I was waiting for a moment where there could have been some understanding that you can like fashion and social media and not be an idiot, but my Miss Congeniality moment never came. It felt 2 dimensional. Similarly, the rest of the characters were poised for greatness, but felt underdeveloped.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Off The Air
Christina Estes

This was an overall enjoyable story. I loved that it was a cozy mystery. The beginning of the story really intrigued me. The suspicious death of a popular talk show host and the reporters fighting for the opportunity to share important information. I did however struggle keeping up with the plot. There was a lot of extra information about the behind the scenes aspects of reporting that just kind of lost me.

Narration was done by Marcella Black. I was happy to have been able to listen to this book on audio. I feel like Marcella did a fantastic job bringing this story to life.

Thank you @netgalley and Dreamscape for the opportunity to listen to this ALC.

This was a great cozy mystery. I thought the audio was done well and I quickly listened to it over a weekend. The story kept me guessing.

Ebook/Cosy Mystery. I want to thank Netgalley for letting me have a ARC of this book. However, with all the hype around it, I found the novel average. As someone who worked in radio and newspaper (not a reporter), I found some of the plot did not make sense. The TV station has three outside cameramen. I can see one for the tip reporter, but most reporters learn the equipment, set up the shots, do a segment, and edit it themselves. Most radio shows do not have an engineer like Frasier. That is a thing of the past. And finally, a reporter would be fired for even thinking of talking to CNN before a formal interview with their own station and their affiliate would be next...not CNN.
The novel tried to give the characters humanity., but I never felt it. I skipped over the fun fact fillers about cyanide and landscape. The killer came out of left field with a big huh.

Off the Air is a standalone mystery (first volume in a series?) featuring a local reporter in the main role by real-life reporter Christina Estes. Released 26th March 2024 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

The longstanding advice to authors to "write what you know" is certainly applied here. The author is an Emmy award-winning journalist in real life, and the depth of background and verisimilitude are impressive. At some points, there might be a bit too much nuts-and-bolts description of getting the news to viewers, but overall it's interesting and engaging (mostly). There's a *lot* of backstabbing, competition, and elbow jabbing taking place between competing reporters for exclusives and sources which is exhausting to read (and undoubtedly to live as a day job also).

Most of the main character's colleagues are whiny, superficial, catty, and unpleasant. She's not a whole lot better in some ways, and her main police background source was an unpleasant rude boor (and should be punched in the face). The constant mistakes and frustrating coincidences were distracting and largely unnecessary.

The length is surprising for a modern mystery, and immersion isn't overall even throughout. The writing and dialogue are very good, the author can definitely write. Her descriptive prose is spare and smooth; her characterizations are well rounded and believable, and the dialogue is rapid fire and not clunky.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours 30 minutes and is capably narrated by Marcella Black. She does a good job of delineating the large cast of characters which span a range of ages, both male and female. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Three and a half stars. Worth a look for fans of journo-mysteries.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Off the Air by Christina Estes is the story of Jolene Garcia, a local TV reporter, who often just misses the latest breaking story and thus misses her "big break." When the controversial local radio station host, Larry Lemon, mysteriously dies while at the radio station, reporters swarm to the scene. All the reporters are vying for an exclusive. Unfortunately for Jolene, she is always a step behind.

What happened to Larry Lemon? Was he poisoned? This book is a whodunnit. Who could it have been? Will Jolene find out? Is she safe?

It was an easy listen and nothing too heavy. The narrator did an excellent job voicing the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced listen in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was not for me. I picked it up looking for a fun little cozy mystery but it did not deliver. I like cozy mysteries for the well developed plot, the well developed suspects, and the mystery. None of those really applied here I thought? My main issue was that so much of the book was spent following the journalist missing being "first to the story" that there wasn't a lot of time spent developing the plot and the people.

While I don't think the mystery was the central story in this book, this was still a worthy debut. At times it was too heavy on the journalism aspect, but in other times that worked in its favor. We got a lot of insight into what people will do for an exclusive news story, which is what I think the main point of the story was about.

"OFF THE AIR" is an entertaining thriller that will keep readers engaged until the final page. With its well-drawn characters, pulse-pounding plot, and timely themes, this novel is a must-read for fans of mystery and suspense. Highly recommended for anyone craving a thrilling ride through the world of broadcast journalism.

I received a copy of the audiobook from netGalley for a honest review.

I enjoyed this mystery even though Jolene was way too laser focused on reporting to see what a jerk she was being to her coworkers, neighbors, insiders and friends. I was surprised by the killer though not the twist that brought them to light. Annoyed by Jolene's naïve when it came to getting the scoop and almost ending up dead herself. I liked the inside feel of the city and local newscasters. I will continue with this series even if I want to punch Jolene on occasion.

Off the Air features Phoenix television reporter, Jolene Garcia, who is covering the murder of a local conservative radio talk show host. Jolene is always on the lookout for the next big story, so she jumps right into this one, trying to get exclusive interviews, information on the air before any of the competitors, and the best leads. I will say I didn’t always like Jolene. She is determined, but totally willing to hurt people along the way, but I could feel her frustration when she had info she couldn’t share or when someone “stole” her interview. I’m also a little tired of backstories lately. Jolene was in the foster system for years before being adopted by her grandmother more out of responsibility than love. She was attacked by a dog when she was a child, causing a fear of dogs that of course comes into play. She also made an inaccurate report at her previous job that affects how she does her work. I think I’m ready for just a protagonist who has had a relatively normal life, except for solving the occasional murder. (Happily, I’m listening to Murder at the Vicarage. Miss Marple has just that kind of uneventful life.)

The mystery itself was fine, although there was more emphasis on the journalism and behind the camera drama than on solving the case. But it was interesting look into the life of tv journalists/ multimedia reporters. The victim was unlikeable and a media personality, so we had plenty of suspects. I can’t say I was surprised by who the killer was, but I did understand the motive.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a good job. She gave each character their own distinct voice and kept the pace moving along.

Overall, this was enjoyable enough. I liked the peek into a news station and Jolene was a competent investigator.

I received an audio-arc of Off the Air. This I Cristina Estes debut novel. First off, I loved the audio version of this book. The narrator did a fantastic job and I enjoyed listening to her voice the entire time. The narration added a lot of value to this book and is the only reason I finished it.
As always, my opinion on a book is only based on how much I enjoy reading a book. Cristina Ester is a great writer and you can tell she was a great reporter. This book was definitely written with a broadcast & journalism feel. Based on the cover and the blurb, I thought this was going to be more of a fun, murder mystery, women sleuth story. This book really highlighted the bad and ugly part of reporting and how reporters have to fight to stay on the ethical side when competing for ratings, for clicks on Social Media, and to be the first to a breaking story. Another thing I didn’t like was how big of roll politics played in the narrative. I think people who enjoy the news and reporting will like this book. But I can say that I completely agree Lemmon got what was coming to him.

Thank you NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for an audio arc of ‘Off The Air’!

Jolene is a dedicated reporter who will do anything to get to the story first, even if it means putting her own life in danger.

If someone were to give me the nitty gritty details of this book, I’ll be honest it wouldn’t entice me. This is one of the most mundane stories I have ever read. It’s essentially following Jolene around at work and sometimes seeing her feed her pet fish and eating dinner in front of the TV. Not exactly a riveting plot. BUT, Estes pulls it off. I was so gripped with this story and had fun seeing what Jolene was up to, even if it was just microwaving a potato. It’s obvious that Estes has a lot of love for Phoenix, AZ, where this story takes place. Everywhere Jolene goes or everyone she interacts with has a fun little anecdote to them, and it was especially cool to learn some of the small businesses mentioned are actually real! It felt like I was there in Phoenix and all of these people had been around for my entire life. It was such a wonderful thing to experience. By the end of the book, absolutely no character development has been achieved. Jolene is still the same old workaholic she’s always been. Like I said, it’s so weird how this book shouldn’t work at all, yet totally does. If you like watching daily vlogs or those TikToks where people go grocery shopping, you will probably love this. It’s basically a really deep look into what an investigative reporter does all dayI also highly recommend it as an audiobook since the narrator, Marcella Black, has the coolest voice ever. It’s similar to Alex Cooper’s from Call Her Daddy but a little raspier.

I’m so happy I was able to read this gem of a book. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. This was more political than thriller/mystery to me. The politics didn't bother me at all; I just prefer more thriller aspects. However, this was a twisty book when it got to the meat of it

This book was so good. I really enjoyed the whole thing start to finish. It's gripping and interesting.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me listen to an advanced audiobook.

I absolutely love “backstage” or “industry” books and expected to like this, but the heroine/protagonist was truly such an unlikeable individual she detracted from the story. I know she represented how cut throat and determined journalists were but at the expense of justice, tampering or contaminating evidence and crime scenes, and harassing her cop friends? It was very frustrating to read.

The story itself was well written, well narrated, and developed I just really wanted the protagonist to be checked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advance copy in exchange for my review.

Wow this book was fun! I read a lot of thrillers but I don't think I've ever read a mystery quite like this.
I really enjoyed Jolene a lot. I liked how driven she was and that she really just gave no f***s.
When a book has a main character that you either really like or can see how others might dislike them, for me that makes the story that much better.
This was a page turner for me 100%, I read it over and could not put it down.
I cannot wait to read more from Christina in the future!

🎧📖 note: the narrator did a FANTASTIC job bringing this story to life. I read this twice once with my eyes and once with my ears and the audiobook version was even better.

“Off the Air” was a fun, whodunnit. But it became very media and sourced heavy read where the mystery story seemed to get bogged down by the journalistic angle. As a result, the novel started to drag and lose a bit of focus during the last third of the book. It was a good, but not great read, so 3 stars ⭐️ seems to be appropriate for this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy for review.