The Examiner
I’m a fan of Janice Hallett. The Appeal and The Alperton Angels are outstanding books in a unique format. However in The Examiner, I felt like Hallett took a winning formula, combined it with a notebook of ideas, and this became the final product.

Besides immediate dislike of some of the characters (if you know, you know) and inexplicably detailed backstories on others, the book overall tone of the novel was “convenient”. Even the twists, while legitimately surprising, are revealed in deus ex machina format and piled at the end.

In the Appeal and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, the twists and turns revealed in new materials fell within the realm of possibility. The Examiner, while full of Hallett’s characters and ideas, combines too many plot points with too many insane twists to end on a satisfying note.

Thank you to Atria Books for the advanced copy, and I look forward to reading more Hallett work!

Every time I think Hallett can't give us a better book, she does! This latest book runs circles around the reader, without the reader even realizing they're being led astray. I'll even go so far as to say she is quickly becoming the modern day Agatha Christie! The story seems straightforward- a group of students starting a trial course, coming from different walks of life, a professor needing the course to succeed, to keep her job. Not much recipe for a story one thinks, but oh the interpersonal dynamics that evolve! Nothing is ever as it seems, and when the big reveal comes in the book, about one of the students, it leads the reader to many ah-ha moments of thought, before continuing to read on. As the story changes and evolves, the reader's interest is changed, but is it for their best? This story will keep your little grey cells churning and deciphering until the surprising end!

So this is a great concept for a book! And I absolutely love anything Janice Hallett writes. But for some reason this one didn’t do it for me. I felt like it was missing something and had too much of something else. I was trying to force my way through it and was starting to not want to pick up anything else. I see a lot of other people have been really enjoying this book so maybe right now isn’t the time for me to read it…maybe down the road I will pick it up again and give it another try! DNF.

The Examiner by Janice Hallett #seventyfourthbookof2024 #arc #theexaminer #epistolarynovel

CW: death, accidental murder, domestic terrorism

A new masters course in multimedia arts has been set up, and the six inaugural’s students will decide its success. When the course’s examiner reviews the students’ message boards, course materials, texts, and essays for the year, he finds that someone is in danger. Can he figure out the mystery of who and why?

I live for epistolary novels and I really enjoyed this author’s The Appeal, so I had high hopes. I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much. It was very slow to start and the real action didn’t start until 80% in and I’d almost given up. At that point, the plot got a little convoluted and it was difficult to get straight some of the machinations. The characters were well written and believable. Their communications via message board and texts felt real. I did enjoy a certain reveal that occurred about two thirds in, and I appreciated that I never guessed that reveal.

Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the advance copy. (pub date 9/10/24)

Pros: the hybridity of the text, the first-hand materials narrative, the setting
Cons: simply not my cup of tea, long for this plot, characterisation did not feel interesting
Please note that although not exactly the same, I work in a similar setting as the books, and am familiar with some of the details. My suspension of disbelief was negatively affected by what I did not find authentic, even for a story with a bit of wit at its core.
I wish this book the very best journey.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. Hallett’s books have been mostly a miss for me since The Appeal and this book pretty much followed that trend. I like the way she tells stories through texts, essays, emails, etc., but I don’t think that structure worked as well with the student assignments. They were too long, so those sections slowed down the whole book. And then the last 20-25% of the book was so implausible, that I was just laughing to myself. I think this may be my last Hallett novel.

The Examiner by Janice Hallett was a wild read! It tells the story of a group of art students pursing their MA and their instructor set in the UK. The students are recruited specifically for this program each for what unique qualities they bring to the group. The instructor, Gela, needs this program to work out in order to keep the MA program funded. The reader will soon realize there are very different reasons this group is not just seeking a degree. This story takes many twists and at about 60% through I was in utter shock. It is told through mixed-media, which made the pages fly by; this is a nearly 500 page book. I did get a little bogged down in the first half, but once the first domino fell, I was hooked. This is my first Janice Hallett book and I am interested in reading another novel. Overall The Examiner is a 4 star read for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me get my hands on this book early! This book was such an adventure! This is my first from Hallett and I will definitely be picking up more titles from this author. There were so many laughs out loud moments and I have a million notes with theories for this engaging mystery. I was easily able to engage with characters and the follow the plot. Very pleased!

Gela Nathaniel has launched a new master's program in multimedia art. Its a year long course encouraging its students to explore different forms of art and learn how to use art to support a business. Gela's course is a test drive that she needs to succeed to have it run again. The course has six students: a sculptor desperate for the top grade, a marketing executive wanting a new career, a gallery owner wanting to improve his art skills, a single mother balancing art and her kids, an older man wanting new education, and a successful artist who doesn't seem to need the course. As the class goes on, the students face challenges from the coursework and from each other. At the end of the year, a group of examiners have to review the course to make sure the student's final grades make sense. But reading through the exchanges of these students, the examiner starts to uncover that these students may be hiding something and nothing in this course is what it seems.

Janice Hallett once again proves she has mastered her found documents genre. The Examiner is told primarily through the messages exchanged between the students and their professor, mixed in with their coursework and the examiner's thoughts. The Examiner is a great ride once you get into the format and then the book keeps moving with a fun look into a graduate art class and a murder mystery on top of it. There are some fantastic twists in the book and I was very impressed in the final sections with how Hallett pulled it all off to create a satisfying mystery. The early sections just focusing on the class move a little slower than the second half, but are still enjoyable due to the distinct characters and interesting art assignments. Highly recommend this to fans of Hallett's other works or people wanting a uniquely told mystery novel.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy of The Examiner in exchange for an honest review.

The Examiner follows six students and their professor during a year long art course. After receiving their assignments to grade at the end of the year, the examiner notices something is wrong. They think someone has been killed and the students are covering it up. Through these assignments, essays, diary entries, and messages, we see where it all went wrong during the year.

After being in a book slump for months, I sat down and read this book over two days, It was fast paced and such a fun time. There were several little reveals throughout the book that kept my jaw on the floor and I couldn't wait to find out the full truth of what happened. I loved reading about the different assignments and it was almost funny at times how poorly some of the students were doing in the class.

What truly drives the plot of the book, though, is the Doodle messages. Doodle is their school platform where they can communicate with each other and what the majority of the book is told through. I found it to be the perfect platform for this book and you could really see the relationships between the characters shine during these portions.

My biggest problem with this book was that the main character felt an awful like the main character in The Appeal. It seems as though Janice Hallett relies on this quirky, female main characters that is kind of socially inept and loves getting into other people's business. I understand why this character type works well for this type of book, but I would love to see a main character from her that is different and isn't borderline unlikeable.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it!

What a fun mystery! It's a bit off the wall, there's a VERY annoying character again (like in The Appeal
😂), and it takes awhile to figure out what's going on but an enjoyable ride through it all. The Appeal caliber book, welcome back, Janice. Read for Goodreads book club and enjoyed discussing what was happening and how right/wrong we were!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the Advanced Reader Copy!

Another gripping novel from Janice Hallett, who is currently rocketing up the ranks of my favorite writers.

Reading like a perfect cross between “craziest art school gossip you ever heard” and “potentially supernatural espionage thriller,” this book would not let me go. The characters were fascinating, fleshed out, and kept you guessing, just when you thought you’d got them all figured out—a necessity for any good mystery but especially critical for a story told entirely through their school essays, instant messages, and texts. I’m also especially keen on how Hallett paces doling out clues and intrigue, making for a fast-paced and satisfying read.

As a former multimedia Fine Arts Student from an equally underfunded and almost-as-small cohort, Hallet perfectly captured the tension, atmosphere, and colorful clashing personalities, too.

Guys, I really don’t have anything negative to say about this one. Simply put: toe to tip, it was exactly my shit.

Reads like: an episode of Normal Gossip, filtered through an episode of Last Podcast on the Left

Perfect for: art students, radio engineers, anyone who has ever played the game Oxenfree, blind and visually-impared readers, and the mystery-minded

Another well thought out, suspenseful read from Janice Hallett!

This author doesn’t disappoint when it comes to her very unique way of story telling. This is my fourth read of hers and I loved every page! Everything is so organized and really gives the reader an in depth look into each character. We follow an investigation into a team of art students, one of whom possibly ended up dead before the completion of their course. Emails, messages, and reports provide the backstory.

I definitely recommend the read!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

This has a really fun premise: something bad has happened in an art master's degree program, and you have to read emails, messages, and class assignments from the students to piece everything together. It started out a bit slow for me (reading the class documents, mainly) but got really interesting after a few sections. I think it suffered most from the format -- is it really likely that the students could remember and quote entire conversations in their papers? -- but it was an intriguing mystery with some convincing twists. At one point I predicted a big plot moment, but it took the book ages to get there, which was a little frustrating and also contributed to the average rating. But I still recommend for whodunit fans!

4.5 stars. This book shows why everyone should hate group projects - because this is the group project from hell.

Janice Hallett is one of my favorite writers out there today: I love the epistolary storytelling, allowing us as the reader to discover things alongside the investigative characters. Her twists are always excellent, even when they’re small and seemingly insignificant. The character work shines because, as anyone who has ever had to work on a group project will tell you, everyone is a little bit terrible and insufferable.

This is my favorite Hallett book to date! I can’t recommend her work enough and look forward to many more mysteries.

Thanks to NetGalley, Janice Hallett, and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed this puzzle following a group of academics on a master’s degree course together during which one of them goes missing (maybe!). Told in Hallet’s conventional multimodal format, you will not able to stop turning the pages. Who knew a book about academics could be this captivating!

I loved Janice Hallett’s The Appeal, and her way of storytelling - constructing intricate mysteries mainly through first-hand materials like emails and notes - is fascinating and so fun to read.

I was really looking forward to The Examiner, about a possible murder on an arts master’s course. The book read quickly, but I had mixed feelings at the end - the first-hand materials were interesting as always, immediately compelling and pulled me in like a puzzle, and some of the twists were clever, but the story kind of spun away from itself at times, trying to jam a lot into every nook of the plot and touch on big issues, and ultimately relying relying on “super secret special technology” MacGuffins that didn’t really add to the story and frankly didn’t make a lot of sense.

It was still a fun read, a good escape, but not an entirely believable mystery.

The examiner is not your typical mystery novel. It's a unique, unconventional page-turner that takes you on a thrilling ride with its unexpected twists and turns.

The story introduces a fascinating group of six art students, each with their own distinct backgrounds and perspectives, who have come together for a new MA program. Their task is to create an art installation for a cloud-based company, and despite their differences, they are united in their creativity. However, their project is overshadowed by The Examiner, whose ominous message hints at a potential tragedy.

The characters were well-developed, and the story was masterfully plotted and multi-layered. The mixed-media style (email, WhatsApp, discussion forums) was fun and made for a quick read. The pace is steady for most of the book until the end when it speeds up considerably. And then, there's one more email to wrap it all up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review! Thank you, Janice Hallett. You are an absolute master of epistolary mysteries!

This was a quick read once I started it! I love Janice Hallett books and this one did not disappoint. I actually enjoyed it more than a couple of hers I recently read. The twists of this were great. The only thing was that I was a little confused by the Ben character - I wish they explained who he really was more.

"Told in emails, text messages, and essays, this innovative page-turner follows a group of students in an art master's program that goes dangerously awry, from the internationally bestselling "new queen of crime" (Electric Literature) Janice Hallett.

Gela Nathaniel, head of Royal Hastings University's new Multimedia Art course, must find six students from all walks of life across the United Kingdom for her new master's program before the university cuts her funding. The students are nothing but trouble from day one.

There's Jem, a talented sculptor recently graduated from her university program and eager to make her mark as an artist at any cost. Jonathan, who has little experience in art practice aside from running his family's gallery. Patrick runs an art supply store, but can barely operate his phone, much less design software. Ludya is a single mother and graphic designer more interested in a paycheck than homework. Cameron is a marketing executive in search of a hobby or a career change. And Alyson, already a successful artist, seems to be overqualified. Finally, there is the examiner, the man hired to grade students' final works - an art installation for a local cloud-based solutions company that may have an ulterior agenda - and who, in sifting through final essays, texts, and message boards, warns that someone is in danger...or already dead. And nothing about this course has been left up to chance.

With her trademark "unique and exhilarating" (Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot) voice, Janice Hallett weaves a fresh and mind-bending mystery that will keep you guessing until the final page."

Oh, as a former art student I am ALL IN about terror in a master's program for art!