Scoop

August 14, 2006
This humorous novel from Gutteridge kicks off her new series, the Occupational Hazards, featuring seven siblings in a clown family that disbands when the parents die in a freak accident. Twenty-five-year-old Hayden Hazard sheds her protected, homeschooled life to strike out on her own as assistant to Channel 7 news producer Hugo Talley. Her innocence, simple faith and good looks attract the attention of reporter Ray Duffey and egomaniacal weatherman Sam Leege. But trouble is brewing: an aging newscaster has overdone the Botox, giving her a permanent happy face while announcing the most terrible tragedies, and Ray is assaulted on the air while doing a story on pig zoning. An explosion at the waste-water treatment plant seems simple, but Ray discovers something stinks more than sewage or the pigs. Hugo pops blue pills for his stress, but even his medicated calm can't quell the looming disaster. As she did in her Boo series, Gutteridge clearly has fun with her story; the pages brim with quirky characters and plenty of laughs. Hayden's crusade against Hugo's antianxiety meds are the only questionable note in the book; readers may see it as a faith versus prescription antidepressants message. Drugs aside, this is a rollicking evangelical ride through the television news world, reminding readers why Gutteridge is such a delightful read.

Starred review from October 1, 2006
Here's a tale of local TV set in Los Angeles. It features a clueless but endearing young Christian woman, Hayden Hazard. Her colleagues include a self-important weatherman who could be played by Will Farrell; an overmedicated producer; a goodhearted reporter, Ray Duffey; and an aging anchorwoman named Gilda Braun. It's become obvious that Gilda's 1980s look is responsible for a ratings dip, and Hayden's counsel that only inner beauty matters doesn't help much. Gilda hits the Botox and is frozen in a smile regardless of what tragedies unfold. Such plot as there is results when Ray is attacked while reporting on pigs in the city; somehow, the station has blundered into a significant story. Unintentionally amusing Hayden tags along for the moral, and maybe even for love interest, in one of the funniest Christian novels ever. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)