Customer Reviews

Drive Time (Charlotte Mcnally)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Star reporter Charlie Mcnally has her hands full. She's a 40 something woman planning her dream wedding, juggling a potential big promotion and a brand new blended family. Charlie is busy, trying to be everything--to everyone, and the lines between work and home start to blur. She loves her job, and gets caught up in an action packed race of murder, secrets and intrigue. Fun ride.

Investigative TV news reporter Charlie McNally has a lot on her plate: a dangerous car-identity-theft scam to uncover; her upcoming marriage to prepare for; mysterious threatening phone calls, suspicious deaths, and possible blackmail at the private school where her fiance teaches; secrets to keep (or not); frustration at her inability to be in two places at the same time; and an important career-vs.-personal-life decision to make.

It's an intriguing, complex tale, and Ms. Ryan is a skillful storyteller and a first-rate writer. She also knows her subject well, since she's an award-winning investigative reporter herself. The story, fast-paced, fun, and absorbing, is action-packed, with car chases, stakeouts with hidden cameras, and murder. The characters are engaging, and I especially liked the interplay between Charlie and her co-workers. Charlie Mac is an intelligent heroine, and her fiance, Josh, and her precocious nine-year-old stepdaughter-to-be, Penny, are appealing, smart characters.

This, the fourth installment in the Charlotte McNally series, is the first book by Ms. Ryan I've read, and it was such a good, entertaining read that I'm going to lose no time in getting hold of the first three.

Boston's Channel 3 investigative reporter forty-seven years old Charlotte "Charlie" McNally is looking into a nasty car theft-auto forgery ring. The story smells like an "Emmy" if she and the crew live long enough for air time. At the same time she has an offer to go to New York for the big time.

Charlie is concerned for her fifty-two years old fiancé, Josh Gelston, a teacher at the Bexter Academy, and his nine year old daughter, Penny a student there. Unable to resist, the intrepid reporter makes inquiries that lead her to realize murders have occurred and so has blackmailing. She remains ignorant to the fact the killer is watching her progress with plans to get rid of a nosy investigative TV news reporter.

The latest "Time" after time investigative thriller (see Prime Time, Face Time, and Air Time) is another great entry in a strong series. Filled with non-stop action starting when Charlie is eight minutes away from starting the rest of her life except she and photographer J.T. stop on the highway to investigate an incident setting the tone once again for a fabulous tale. This time the prime story line has Charlie's professional life crash into her personal life as Hank Phillippi Ryan provides a superb thriller.

Harriet Klausner

I went through the four "Time" books in four days. They are exceptionally good. The plots are intelligent and well developed. Best of all, the characters are not stereotypes, as we find in some similar circumstances. This applies particularly to the main characters, but also to the secondary ones, from adults to children. The pace is fast, and we want to get to the solution of the mystery. Those who said this is no thriller are wrong. The comparisons they make are also odious, as are all comparisons. Hank Phillippi Ryan is a terrific, talented, and original writer.

I do hope there are more books from her soon!

This is another installment in the Charlotte McNally series. Arguably, it just might be the best one of the four.

The author, Hank Phillippi Ryan , spins a fast paced, very amusing yarn, full of action and adventure.

In this story, Charlie (Charlotte McNally) is embroiled in the investigation of a thieving automobile scam. Oh, and by the way, she is also busy planning all the details of her wedding that is right around the corner.

Ms. Ryan takes the reader through a vast array of exploits, high speed car chases, crime scene stakeouts, and deceptive secrets. To say nothing of a little murder.

This is a great book for that poolside summer reading. Light and fun, it is not to be missed!

This is Book 4 of the Charlotte McNalley Novel series, and as such, the main characters come to us fully formed with personalities intact. Unfortunately for me, this is the first I've read. Author Hank Phillippi Ryan knows what she's about in the world of investigative reporting and television, and in the fictional world of Charlotte, better known as Charley McNalley, her experience comes through. The book, though a novel, rings true and the plot(s) are tight. An accident is witnessed by Charley and her crew which leads to the perfect story for them to blow the lid off a story just in time for ratings week, a deadly race to the deadline. But another story, full of secrets, and considered worthy of ratings week will almost spell the death of our intrepid heroine.

I really liked the plot line of the major investigation, it was well-thought out, driven hard, extremely plausible, and action packed. On the brink of her wedding, Charley and Josh are certainly not inseparable. She has suspects to keep tabs on, does surveillance with her crew at night, spending more and more time away from home. On top of that, she receives an opportunity of a lifetime, which will take her away even further. Will she make the right decisions in time to save her upcoming marriage and new family? Will Josh make the right decisions? Will their secrets tear them apart?

For those who have been following the series, there will be surprises in store. Characters will be leaving the series and new characters will arrive. Who will remain? Who will take up the offers of change and to further their careers? I love a book that keeps you wanting more. This is a series I want to explore from the beginning. Very well written, strong characterizations.

As a former reporter (newspaper), I appreciate the milieu Hank portrays in her books. Her action is quick and her heroine is sexy and witty!