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.
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