The Other Woman - Hank Phillippi Ryan

[Luanne Ollivier]

Hank Phillippi Ryan is an  award winning investigative reporter for a television station for Boston, Massachusetts. She has also turned her talents to fiction writing and has won numerous accolades for her four books. After all, she's writing what she know - reporting and investigation. So I eagerly picked up my first book by this author - her latest - The Other Woman.

Jane Ryland was a television reporter, fired when she refused to reveal a source and cost the station a million dollars. Now she works for a newspaper. But the drive is still there to uncover the 'big' stories. And she thinks she's found it in the final days of the senate race. A mysterious woman is appearing at every rally for the governor.  At the same time her cop friend Jake (or as she refers to him - Jakey) is investigating the deaths of a number of young woman. Is it a serial killer? Could there be a connection between the two 'cases'?

I never read other reviews until I've written my own. And I've discovered I'm in the minority on this one. It was an okay listen, but never really engaged me fully. I listen back and forth while driving to work and honestly found my attention wandering during the last few discs. Much of the story seemed to be repeated - there were multiple phone calls and texts that I found interminable, discussions rehashed and more. I truly think Ryan dragged out the story - it could have been two discs shorter for me.

The reader was Ilyana Kadushin. Kadushin has an excellent voice - rich and resonant. She also read the Twilight series. And that was the character I associated her voice with - a teenager.  Her breathless delivery didn't suit an investigative reporter character. She really didn't have a different voice for each of the characters and at times I was hard pressed to figure out who was talking. You really had to listen the the "Tuck said, Jake said" cues.

I never really bought into the Jane Ryland character.  Her cutesy references (Jakey and Janey) and daydreaming about her married boss (Hot Alex) lessened her and I had trouble taking her seriously. I found Jane's dialogue amateurish given her profession and Jake as a detective was the same.

Given the number of 'big name' blurbs that promoted this book, I thought I would love it too. Sadly,I didn't. Read or listen to an excerpt of The Other Woman.