Customer Reviews

Prime Time (Charlotte Mcnally)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you jump for joy every time a white-collar crook like Bernie Madoff lands in the slammer, you'll cheer for Ms. Ryan's fictional TV journalist, Charlie McNally, who's assigned to cover the "accidental" death of a middle manager from Big Pharma but finds herself in the thick of murder, fraud, and greedy CEOs. I've always had trouble sticking with stories written in the present tense, but in Ms. Ryan's hands, present tense conveys the "I want it now!" environment of a journalist's double-espresso-zero-sleep world. Charlie has a buoyant sense of humor, just the right amount of snark and sophistication to make you laugh aloud. In her mid-40s and perimenopausal, she's a refreshing break from the ovulating hotties who populate so many (too many) novels. Her equally three-dimensional sidekick, Franklin, is her producer, ally, and dose of common sense. They make an invincible team for a pageturner. And don't believe the "romance" label attached to this mystery. Sure, there's the start of a romance in it -- no, not between Charlie and Franklin -- but sexual tension doesn't power the plot in this book. It's whodunit and suspense and wonderful escape.

This book is a delightful, fun, quick read. There were times when I laughed out loud, and many times when I found I couldn't turn the pages quick enough to find out what happened next. Hank Phillippi Ryan is an award winning reporter, and the character she paints has a reporter's detailed mind that is fun to be a part of. It's a delicious summer read, with a lot of fun details... Just pop it in your beach bag, and you will quickly become engrossed in this story. I understand that there is at least one more book in this series, coming out later this year. I'm looking forward to the next adventure..

PRIME TIME by Hank Phillipi Ryan

An exciting new mystery series debuted recently, with Hank Phillippi Ryan's first novel PRIME TIME. The writing is compelling, as the reader is instantly drawn into the world of TV investigative reporter Charlotte "Charlie" McNally. Charlie is a stylish, divorced, forty-ish, Emmy-winning reporter with a wry sense of humor and an overwhelming dedication to getting the story. When the widow of a man killed in a car accident contacts Charlie and asks why she never returned her now-deceased husband's email, Charlie's antennae stand right up. After just a few inquiries, she and her loyal producer Franklin become convinced that they have not only uncovered a suspicious series of email messages, but that they may also have tripped over a murder. The book is full of twists and turns, as one moment the case looks clear-cut and the identity of the killer appears obvious, and the next the reader is wondering exactly who Charlie can trust (as does Charlie herself). Author Hank Phillippi Ryan is a much-admired investigative reporter in the Boston area, and her expertise shows in every line of the book. From scooping rivals to dealing with the police, Charlie is a believable and magnetic figure. Her frequent observations about her profession ("Courses they don't teach in Journalism School: Future Shock: The Choice of Fame or Family") mesh well with her concerns over the precarious nature of her job. But Charlie's no whiner - when it comes to getting the facts, she's willing to roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty. Unfortunately, the other side is just as willing to dirty its own hands - to keep the story from reaching PRIME TIME.

Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan is the first book in the Charlotte McNally mysteries and it's a fast and good read that I really enjoyed. It's a suspenseful thriller based in the journalism world made all the more realistic as Hank Phillippi Ryan is a television investigative reporter herself. What I liked even more is that the main character Charlotte (Charlie) is a forty-six year old woman trying to survive in a world where how you look and how old you are mean a lot. It was really refreshing to read something from the point of view of someone in my age range for once.

Charlie McNally is a character you can relate to. She starts off talking about her hot flashes, hangover and spam on her computer and how she's never going to be able to get anything done and I was already hooked. Charlie is funny, sassy, intelligent and has a nose for getting the best stories and she has the awards to prove it. She's not afraid to do whatever she has to in order to get her story - even to the point of risking her own life.

In this installment Charlie is scrambling for her big story for the November sweeps and she still hasn't come up with anything. She is terrified that she's on the way out, that she'll be replaced by someone younger and prettier. Every time her snarly boss Angela phones or pops in her door, Charlie cringes.

As luck would have it Charlie stumbles on a story she wasn't even looking for. She's called in to interview the widow of a man who had just been killed in a car accident. She finds out that he had apparently sent her an email before he died so when Charlie heads back to the office she looks for this email and it ends up opening up a whole other can of worms. What seemed to be only spam actually turns out instead to be something sinister with a bunch of corporate firms - something that may have already caused a few deaths and may be putting Charlie's life in danger as well. Will Charlie uncover what's going on in time to save her own skin?

Prime Time is a great start to the series. Charlie and her producer Franklin make a great pair and Charlie's sense of humor adds a spark to the story. There was even time for a little romance for Charlie who all but thought that romance was a dead end in her world. I'm really looking forward to reading the next in the series, Face Time, so keep an eye out for that review soon.

I was hungry for a new author and new books to read - and I discovered Hank Phillippi Ryan's books just in time! Hank's books are fantastic. Don't ask me to pick one because I loved them all. I especially love the fact that the novels are centered around a 48 year old investigative reporter and not the typical 20-year old. Each has a realistic and enticing story line and subplot. The plots are intriguing and the characters engaging. You'll enjoy a mystery, a little romance, passion for one's calling, great friends and family. It's got it all - and great writing. Prime Time, Face Time, Air Time and Drive Time - read them all in that order. I honestly can't wait for the next book.

I had no idea until recently that she had written this series. I wolfed down the first book like a starving man with a doughnut and look forward to savoring the rest. Hank has been on local TV news here for decades and is always worth watching. Now I have another reason to admire her work. This is a well crafted mystery with excellent character development, plotting and a nice touch of romance. A chase scene is vividly described and brilliant. Charlies inner dialog is believable and hilarious at the same time. Nice bit of writing!

I like Hank Philippi Ryan and I like her books. Met her on line in her blog, Jungle Red, then in person at a conference. In Prime Time, I admire how she constructs her sassy protagonist, Charlie McNally.

Charlotte McNally, at forty-six, has been the face to dominate Channel 3 News, but her contract is up for renewal and she needs a huge story to win the November ratings contest. She along with her producer, Franklin, stumble across what they think is something shady going on with Aztratech Pharmaceuticals. Bradley Foreman, a number cruncher for the company, sends a box of files to two people and then turns up dead in an apparent accident that officials are calling suicide. As the duo dig deeper, one of the people who received one of those boxes dies in the same manner. The deeper they dig, the closer the two get to danger.

PRIME TIME is book one of the Charlotte McNally mysteries. Charlotte is the perfect leading character. She's funny, smart, and her insecurities are a hoot. The working chemistry between Charlotte and Franklin is a breath of fresh air. When Josh Gelston, the receiver of the other box, surfaces, it looks that Charlotte might have found her a love interest. Truths soon uncovered have her wondering if he's part of this mess or just an innocent trying to help her out.

Even though I figured out the ending, the book remained interesting, mostly due to the engaging character. They were the best part of the story for me.

Your average murder mystery novel requires several things: A murder, someone to investigate the murder, enough other characters to both help and obfuscate things (not to mention generating clues for the reader), plus, hopefully something to make the characters and plot unique enough that you don't just say, "Yep, ho-hum, it's another MYSTERY novel."

All of these necessary elements are present in Prime Time with sufficient quality to make this book a good read. The heroine of the story, Charlotte McNally, is a very competent female TV news anchor and reporter, who, however, is close enough to over-the-hill that she is in a publish-or-perish situation with her boss at the station, i.e.: Come up with some hot sexy stories for ratings season next month, or your next news beat might be Unemployment. McNally is a likable, believable character, and anyone who has endured a bureaucratic, bean-counting boss will certainly sympathize with her situation.

As for the murder victim, he is a drug company executive who, it turns out, emailed McNally and several other people days before his "accidental" death, and seems to have been about to spill the beans on some nefarious goings-on. Without giving away too much of the plot details, the conspiracy trail that begins to unwind from this incident involves a scheme in which the parties communicate their dirty deeds via email messages disguised as spam. Speaking as a computer professional, I was grateful that this fake-spam-email scheme as laid out in the novel was at least technically feasible and possible, as opposed to totally laughable and absurd, as is too often the case when mystery or fiction writers try to get technical. (Even taking suspension of disbelief into account, an obvious gaffe of that sort would make it hard to enjoy the story fully. Remember Ethan Hunt sending emails to "Job@3:16" in one of the Mission: Impossible films? Yikes.)

And, of course, eventually we reach the denouement, where the villains are all revealed, and in hindsight we can see all the clues we missed in the story that pointed to them all along. Anyone who has kids (or was a kid themselves in the 1970s) has almost certainly been subjected to Scooby-Doo. You know, at the end of every episode of Scooby-Doo, the disguises come off, and the perpetrator is revealed to be the kindly old innkeeper, or the Sheriff, or whoever would seem to be the LEAST likely suspect. I had a bit of that ol' Scooby-Doo feeling at the end of Prime Time. I'm not saying that the revelation, or the plot choice of which characters turned out to be bad guys, wasn't perfectly logical and sensible, but... well, perhaps you'll see what I mean when you read it.

Prime Time is not a deep, moving piece of literature that you're likely to treasure on your bookshelf for years and re-read thoughtfully many times. It's just not that sort of book. That said, the novel is definitely entertaining, enjoyable, well-thought out and executed, and I liked the characters, especially Charlotte McNally the heroine, well enough to stay with them to the end, and I wanted to know how the story came out. That's pretty much all that a mystery novel should be expected to do for you. So if you like murder mysteries at all, this is certainly a worthy one to consider, and could be an especially good choice for the beach or to pass the time while traveling.

Prime Time, the first novel in a series of three, by Hank Phillipi Ryan is the story of Charlie McNally seasoned reporter for Channel 3 where trumping the November ratings ensures a renewed contract. At 46, Chrlie worries about being replaced, her face on camera, the next big story and her love life. Prime Time is a fun, quick read that reminds me why I love mysteries! The writing is superb, the story made it hard to put down and difficult to predict, I never knew who to trust. I can't wait to dive into Face Time and Air Time. I bought all three books as Christmas gifts and I'm glad that in the end, I decided to keep them.