Hallett writes mysteries in a way that no one else does. She has tight stories that leave clues the whole way through but you never can quite tell where she’s heading until you get there.
Like most of her stories, this is told in two parts; one told in “present” time while the other is told as the bulk of the story unfolds. In this case, we have six students and a teacher who are embarking on a Multimedia Arts course teaching creative-types who to work in the “real world.” It is a prospective course and being added to the calendar full time means that Angela “Gela” will get to keep her job.
We watch the six students work their way through the nearly ten months of the course as they work through personality clashes and their assignments. But some of the students aren’t there just to take the class and at least one of them won’t be alive at the final presentation.
The last section dragged on a bit (the last day was maybe 1/4 -1/3 of the book) and the end was a bit over the top but always a fun read from Hallett.

Four stars
This came out September 10, 2024
ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

I flew through The Examiner -- just like I did my first Janice Hallett book, The Appeal. Something about reading a modern epistolary novel feels like listening to great gossip: you don't need to invest a ton of effort to get a big payoff. The ending was a bigger twist (or handful of twists) than I was expected from how grounded the start of the novel felt, but I couldn't stop reading.

Janice Hallett is a brilliant writer! I was so excited about her latest book - The Examiner. I just knew it would be another fantastic read. (It was!)

A group of six artists comprises the inaugural group of students hoping for a masters in art degree. They're a very mixed bunch but all are eager to take the course. And their professor is thankful for having the funding to run the program. But...

Oh, there's a fabulous but! Each one has their own agenda - and that's the fun of this book. Can you suss out what everyone is up to?

Hallett reprises the epistolary style of writing that I adore. The book is told through emails, coursework, texts, message boards, essays and their inner dialogue. The reader is the quiet seventh student, hearing everything that is going on and and trying to put the pieces together.

Good luck with that! The plotting is absolutely brilliant in my opinion. The clues are sometimes right there to see, while other times they're longshots. Hallett throws in more than one twist and turn on the way to the final 'aha'.

Fantastic! A very easy five stars.

Janice Hallett is the Queen of creative, unique mysteries told through texts, message boards and other media. In this story was have a MA program for artists which gathers a unique group of students.

However, as we watch this group, follow their communications and see each of their projects throughout the school year, it’s clear something has gone horribly wrong. Like murder wrong.

As always with her books, I was quickly hooked and so intrigued to find out what all happened. I truly had no idea where this story was headed.

This is my third book by this author and I will continue to pick her up. Unfortunately by the last fourth of the novel, it was losing steam for me and the ultimate ending and reason for the whodunit was less than climactic for me. I think Hallett rides the line of her stories being a little convoluted. THE APPEAL and THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ALPERTON ANGELS rode that line perfectly with lots of information but this one felt like it went a little too far with all the storylines. But that’s just one readers opinion!

Told through a mixed-media format of emails, diary entries, text messages, and coursework, an Examiner (the person assigned to audit the grades) determines that something went very wrong during this art class and that a student may be missing.

A newly developed multimedia art program attracts diverse groups of students, leading to some intriguing dynamics! I consistently questioned each student's motives, as they all seemed to have their own agendas. Most characters were unlikeable, making them perfect suspects.

The mystery novel included multiple red herrings that kept me guessing throughout. While the pacing may have been slow initially, the pace allowed for in-depth character development, which I found quite rewarding for a large cast. Although the book's length felt noticeable, the gradual build-up ultimately contributed to an interesting mystery.

I paired the audiobook with the physical book, and the full cast did an exceptional job helping me understand the six students, professor, and examiner. This really elevated the story during the slower parts.

4.5 ⭐️ - Six aspiring MA students embark on a new course that plans to combine the arts with the corporate world as they blend their skills towards one culminating project. However, through the various forms of discourse that are common in Hallett's mysteries, we soon learn that something isn't quite right. What went wrong, and who didn't make it to the end of the course?

I really love Janice Hallett and her books. Of course, we have the unconventional storytelling that makes all of her mysteries seem so fresh and fun, but, for me, what I love about her books is the characters. I am often smirking, cringing, or full-out laughing at the interactions and exchanges between her characters. If you have recently been enrolled in a college course, especially with lots of online correspondence, then you'll immediately recognize the young go-getter, aging student with computer troubles, and that one person who always has an excuse or is turning things in late. The only reason it wasn't a full 5 stars for me is that it just didn't capture me as much as The Appeal did, although I did appreciate keeping up with fewer characters.

Thank you, Atria Books and NetGalley, for my copy of this e-ARC.

The Examiner is one of those books that you can't put down. Told through an online chat network modeled after discord or slack, email addresses, and texts, The Examiner is an epistolary novel for our modern era.

The novel begins with the characters taking an experimental masters degree program that attempts to create a learning experience that will not just have them creating beautiful art, but also give them marketable skills for working in the real world. I like that Hallett is able to make the early texts and chats mundane enough that they seem realistic and grounding for the novel, but gossipy enough that they keep the reader hooked. There is also a sense of gothic in the novel looming that something negative has happened, but we at first are unsure what and then to whom.

There were several interesting twists which were well balanced in that I didn't see fully coming, but were built up enough that they didn't feel as if they came out of nowhere. None of the characters are who they at first seem. The novel will appeal to those who like mysteries and thrillers. Those who work in academics should find Hallett's satirical takes on the field amusing; I found as someone with an MFA in writing some of the situations very relatable despite the very dramatic ending.

If you enjoy this whodunit, you can also check out The Appeal, The Twyford Code and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Hallet.

This was such an interesting read! I haven’t read any mystery books quite like this one. The story was so engaging and it was told completely through chat messages, emails, reports, journal entries, etc. It was really hard to put this book down, especially once I was invested in the mystery and trying to find out what would happen next.

While reading this one I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go and there were a few good twists in the plot that kept me guessing. I definitely didn’t see that ending coming.

Read this if you like:
🔍 Mixed media format
🔍 Mystery stories
🔍 Cast of interesting characters
🔍 Academic setting

Overall this was a fun read and I enjoyed trying to solve the mystery along side the characters in the story.

Thank you Atria Books for sending me a gifted copy to review.

Hallett is a must read author for me and this was a wild story! I did not know where it was headed and there is no way I could have guessed. I love how she weaves her plots - small details and layers being revealed as you go. None of the characters were particularily likeable but Hallett’s writing makes it easy to dislike everyone but care an awful lot about the story. Because they weren’t perfect, they all felt like people you have met in the workplace and definitely would not want to do a group project with.

once again Hallett proves why she is my current undisputed favorite mystery author! the mixed media is so much fun to follow, and makes her books so easy to binge, and you can always count on clever well-timed reveals throughout. this one is best gone into pretty blind - just know it follows 6 students and their professor in an MA course. Hallett’s stories shine because even though she usually has a large cast of characters, she takes a lot of time building them and letting the reader sense their dynamics before diving into the mystery aspect. another winner from her!

I love Hallett's writing style & the choice to incorporate mixed media into her books; this was no different! I had a great time, I was gripped by the mystery & it's a fairly quick read! Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Janice Hallett and her style of writing in the mixed media format. This is the third book of hers I have read, but I own her other two and I plan to read them soon. The Examiner starts out slow but I feel you should stick with it because once the twists come, several of which I did not see coming, it really starts to pick up and then it is really hard to stop reading. There are six students taking an art class for their masters distinction. When two students fail to show up to class, one student begins to question why. Did someone get murdered, and if so by whom? I really enjoyed the mystery and I plan to get to her others soon.

The characters in this story are absolutely insufferable, which does make the reading experience a bit more fun. Along with the format of texts, emails, chats, the characters compel the story. I didn't rate it higher due to how I felt the ending was spelled out and that the clues were minimal throughout. I also thought it was about 100 pages too long.

What a unique story! Six students, a tutor and an examiner in an art course creating a team project for a business. This story will have you thinking twice about any team you are on. Everyone on this team has a different agenda. When some of them stop coming to class is there something going on. Has there been a murder?

This book is told in chat sessions and essays written by the students for the class. This is the first time I am reading a book written like this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was trying to figure who was who and also who gets murdered. In the end I was surprised as I had not suspected some of the twists. What a wonderful read. I recommend giving this book a try.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #JaniceHallett and #AtriaBooks for a copy of this book.
#TheExaminer

This book is both compelling and confusing (in a good way.) It kept me guessing all through until the last pages. There were good plot twists. I liked the format of chats and reports. I liked most of the characters, except for one who was so irritating I was sure she would be the murder victim! Overall, I enjoyed it and recommend it. I will be looking for other books by this author. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for giving me a copy.

I requested this book because I read The Appeal a while ago and thought it was both innovative and smart. The Examiner is in the same vein, as it lays out the plot entirely through mixed media format. The basic premise is that the evaluator for a graduate-level arts course begins to suspect foul play amongst the students and wants others to examine the evidence.

What worked for me: I love the mixed media format. Piecing together the plot line through text messages, e-mails, and other non-narrative formats is appealing to my inner detective. Janice Hallett is an absolute genius at conveying not just plot points but subtle character details through these non-traditional formats. It's really clever at how she's able to flesh out her characters with zero narrrative text! Overall, I give this book a solid 3 stars. I could probably even be convinced to round it up to 4 stars due to how clever it is.

What didn't work as well for me is that the plot line seems to be pretty bonkers. I'm not 100% that I completely grasped what happened, but I understood enough to know that the plot veered way into the land of disbelief. The first part of the book seemed to move very slowly, but once I made it to the 50% mark it moved a lot quicker. Even so, once I made sense of what was going on I was kind of disappointed. It's crazy, yes, and that detracts a little bit from the character development.

That being said, if you enjoyed any of Janice Hallett's earlier books, I think you will want to give this one a try. I would also recommend it to readers who read and loved the Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle as well as The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley. This is a cerebral book and it's not one you can just pick up and halfway pay attention to.

Finally, I would recommend to readers that they should pick up the print version of this book. I read the e-book version and I would have liked to to have flipped back to certain sections to keep track of the characters.

Janice Hallett has done it again. This mystery is told in mostly message board, texts, and school essays was so layered that once it got to the meat of the story - a missing student, I could not put it down. Hallett’s style can be a little disorienting at first but it helps develop her characters and plot so that the storytelling is very satisfying and her overall themes really stand out.

This story is about six students and their professor in a small one-year master program in art at a well-respected university. The book covers the entire academic year and at first it seemed like the story would center around petty grievances between group mates but it was much larger in scope. Throughout the story, Hallett reveals more and more about the students and how they ended up enrolling in the course. There are some big surprises towards the end and like all of Janice Hallett’s work - the story isn’t exactly linear but it is pretty easy to follow.

Beyond just being a mystery about a missing person, it’s also a book that begs the reader to ask larger questions about group dynamics, value systems, and confirmation bias. I found myself pulled into the conspiracies almost as much as the characters. I’ve read all of Hallett’s mysteries and while this isn’t my absolute favorite it’s a great addition to her catalog. I look forward to her next one.

I received this book from the publisher via an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Truly, in Janice Hallett we trust. She has easily cemented herself as one of my all time favourite authors, and that's quite hard to do that for a mystery/thriller author. It's not my typical genre. However, something about her books just work for me. This one was absolutely no exception. In fact, I think it might just be my second favourite of her works.
The first half of this book was a bit on the slower side. We spend a lot of time getting to know our cast of characters and their inner dynamics. They truly are an odd bunch with some very pronounced personalities, not at all likeable either. We get to see them interact over messages, and other school related communications. It was incredibly interesting to see events that happened of page (aka in class) discussed differently within different conversations/group chats or even official reports. It becomes very clear pretty early on that there's A LOT of tension within this group. Every so often we also get messages between the examiner and some other outsiders discussing the case. This makes it VERY clear that those tensions are only the start of our journey. As the book continues, more and more threads get introduced. There's a lot of questions, oddities haunting the characters. I was very excited to see all these little inklings turn into something bigger.
Then around the halfway mark we finally arrive at this big event the whole book basically counts down to. Quickly it all starts to unravel. Tensions rise to their hights, and people can't hold the facade anymore. Everything starts moving much more quickly as we finally delve in the meat of the mystery, and therefore also start to solve things. I definitely saw some aspects coming, but overall this book went in a completely different direction than I could ever expect going into this book. My jaw definitely dropped a few times. I was on the edge of my seat, and just couldn't read fast enough. The only thing keeping this book from a five star to me is that in the end I do feel like some threads could have been tied up just a little neater. Now, I get why it is as open as it is, but I just wanted that tad bit more to be fully satisfied. Overall I still had quite a few questions left that I would have loved to have an answer to. However, I still really loved my time reading this book, and I do definitely HIGHLY recommend this one.

Another fun mystery from Janice Hallet. I enjoy the epistolary (ish? not just letters) format. Her books feel like an escape room puzzle as a book.

Hallett has again delivered a puzzle-box of a mystery, told in email and text threads, diaries, course notes and instructions. The Examiner is about a fledgling multimedia art program, merging art with the corporate world, as the six candidates work together on a campaign for a communications company. The cover says it all: "Six Students. One Murder. Can You Solve the Crime?"

The Examiner proved entertaining, with Hallett doing impressive work giving individual personalities to the students, their tutor, the staff at the college. The students are quirky and their voices, competencies (or lack thereof) and motivations stand out. We see what they say to each other in their public message board, and we get the bigger picture with what they say to each other privately. They are all up to something, aren't they?

There are twists and turns, people are dodgy, at about 25% in the story there's a class field trip that changes the trajectory and where it goes from there is anybody's guess. Seriously. Layers are peeled back, more thrown on, it's clever and exciting and funny and a lot is foreshadowed and there are some truly WTF moments. Something is going to happen! Murder! Lies! Art!

My thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC.