6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best in this series!, January 22, 2010
This review is from: Drive Time (Charlotte Mcnally) (Mass Market Paperback)
Ms. Ryan has really outdone herself on this last installment to the Charlotte McNally series. This time Charlie's aiming to stop a car scam operation while at the same time, planning for her upcoming wedding. By far the best of the four McNally stories, Ryan has held nothing back in this one. Full of action including high-speed car chases, hidden video, stakeouts, and even her fiancé and stepdaughter get tangled up in the weaving of deception, secrets and murder.
Ryan has a knack for storytelling and her real-life experience in news reporting is highly reflected in her writing. She has a very unique voice and the ability to make each story in her books better than the last one. Though her characters are fictional, you can only suspect that the McNally character reveals many of Ryan's own qualities, which appears to add humor and hands-on investigation into even to the grimmest of crimes.
Her stories in this series are well written, the plots are intriguing, the characters are extremely realistic and the background settings are right on target. I've read all four books in the McNally series and have to admit I've loved them all, but this last one, Drive Time, tops them all. A difficult task in outdoing the last great read, Ryan has handled the task with the ability to keep all the characters, old and new, in place - their personalities never faltering.
Also due to her experience in getting the facts and reporting the news, she's able to use her talents as well to make her stories realistic, allowing the reader into the mind of McNally, and laying out the details to make everything fit into place exactly right, holding the reader in suspense until she lets go of the climatic ending.
What I really enjoy about Ryan's writing is that you can't figure out the plot and ending before finishing the book. I just didn't want to put it down. A real page-turner!
Ryan is an amazing new talent in writing mysteries laced with realism, facts, and plenty of action! I'll miss the series and hope she will add more later on!
Reviewed by Cindy Bauer for [..]
Cindy Bauer is the well-seasoned author of the Memory Box Trilogy (Chasing Memories, Shades of Blue and Crystal Clear), an Inspirational Fiction series. She is an avid reader, a freelance writer and editor, and reviews books for [..]. She's also a volunteer staff member at Visual Arts Junction and contributes articles on writing, publishing and marketing works.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
CHange is on the Air, February 28, 2010
This review is from: Drive Time (Charlotte Mcnally) (Mass Market Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Charlotte McNally is trying to cope with changes in her life as the wedding day approaches. Can an investigative reporter keep secrets that may lead to a breaking story, a change in employment, or affect the loyalty due her intended, her working partners? The burden of shielding the source and doing the job she loves while making decisions that will affect her future make for a strong plot the plows through the narrow streets of Boston.
Hank Phillippi Ryan brings her fans the strongest mystery to date with DRIVE TIME. Charlie Mac at 47 is trying on motherhood, faculty wife, and maintaining the never ending task of following leads to develop a top breaking story for the newest ratings. Three murders, an auto accident, and a faculty meeting have her hopping from abode to home while living out of her tote bag.
This is one you will not want to miss from the annals of crime fiction related to television. Charlotte McNally will dig a hole in your heart and take up residence.
Nash Black, author of Indie finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drive Time, May 4, 2010
This review is from: Drive Time (Charlotte Mcnally) (Mass Market Paperback)
Star Reporter Charlie McNally is juggling a heavy load. She has a wedding to plan, a big promotion to consider and a deadline to meet. Work and family are a new mix for her and she struggles with how to prioritize between the two.
Incorporating her soon-to-be step-daughter Penny into her life is also a challenge. When an unexplained death happens at Penny's school, Charlie steps in to help in the way that she knows best, as a reporter. There's a definite story there and she'll do what she needs to do to uncover the truth.
How much should she tell her fiancé about the stories she's working on? Where do her loyalties belong? As a woman with a loud biological clock ticking away the years, should she just give up the whole idea of a family by this stage in her life?
If you want to know what it's like to be a reporter in the fast lane, read DRIVE TIME by Hank Ryan Phillippi. This story felt real to me. I loved following Charlie as she works to solve the mysteries in the plot. Her character has a quiet strength that seems heroic even as she works through real emotions and issues that many women face every day.
This review is courtesy of Romance Junkies.
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