Title: PRIME TIME
Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
ISBN: 978-0778327172
Pages: 288
Publisher: Mira (July 1, 2009)
Category: mystery
Review source: author
Rating: 4/5
This is all for the good, I attempt to reassure myself. Melanie suspects Brad was on the trail of . . . something. Now the three of us are going to continue his quest, and if we’re lucky (as we often are), we’ll dig up the journalistic treasure at the end of the trail. Brad would have wanted it that way. After all, he sent me that e-mail. And it must be important to Melanie, too, or she wouldn’t have let us come back to her house on the very day her husband’s body was found.
PRIME TIME introduces us to 46-year-old investigative television reporter Charlotte “Charlie” McNally, an indomitable, uncompromising, clever, and dedicated reporter. She’s not without her faults and that makes her someone everyone can relate to: she worries about her career [aka the next big story], aging in a field of young, blonde whipper-snappers [television journalism can be cruel like that], her lack of a romantic life and being over 45.
Writing with riveting details, Emmy and Agatha Award-winning television reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, Hank Phillippi Ryan deftly allows readers an all-access pass into the cutthroat world of television journalism where you’re only as good as your current story. PRIME TIME contains a multitude of twists to keep you guessing right to the last page. Ryan succeeds in crafting quite the page-turner.
Charlie is determined and scrappy and instantly someone you want as your friend. She’s that type of woman who would go above and beyond to help you solve or fix any problem that you have and that’s a true blue, special friend. She’s devoted to her producer Franklin. Charlie’s investigative journalism skills prove exceptional on this mysterious case which begins with a strange email and turns into a case of corporate fraud, murder, and imminent danger to Charlie and Franklin as they pursue the truth. Not only is PRIME TIME a fantastic mystery but it provides a compelling insider’s view of television journalism. PRIME TIME is the first in the Charlotte McNally series and I cannot wait to dig in to the next few novels to find out more about this layered, flawed journalist.
ENTERTAINMENT REALM 
#1 by Julie P. on December 27, 2009 - 03:22
I have this one sitting in my huge pile and definitely want to read it (especially after your review.) I’m in the mood for some twists and turns right now — I’ll really need a book like this after the kids go back to school and I actually have time to do some reading.