I really love the mixed media of Janice Hallett books. It's interesting and fun, as it feels like a mystery game in trying to solve. However sadly with this one I just couldn't get invested. I didn't find the mystery to be that interesting and the characters were pretty grating at times.

I will continue to pick up Janice Hallett's books as I find them to be fun and unique.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for this advanced reader copy. This review is voluntarily my own.

Janice Hallett has done it again!! Another twisty murder mystery in the books!! 🙌

There were definitely some twists I did not see coming in this one!! Very interesting and at times humorous dynamics between the characters!! Highly recommend this one!! 👏

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Janice Hallett for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

I made 200 pages into this book and just couldn't read anymore. It was too heavy on the actual art project with no mystery or suspense. I didn't care less about any of the characters or the ending. I found spoilers on Goodreads and even then, it was a lackluster attempt at mystery. I enjoy the mixed media but not enough to finish this book.

It might seem unaccountable to some but I have a soft spot in my heart for the 3 star books that I enjoy and recommend, and Janice Hallett’s mysteries are top of that list. The format is always unique, the characters mostly unlikable, and the plot so intricate that you can’t skim over the slightest detail or you will absolutely miss something. Reading “The Examiner,” like Ms. Hallet’s previous novels, requires work and concentration but the surprises are always astounding and although I wouldn’t read it again, I can and do recommend ”The Examiner” for mystery buffs everywhere.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"The Examiner" by Janice Hallett offers an engaging and unique mystery, told in an unconventional narrative that is refreshing to see. This book fully embraces this writing style by telling the story entirely through chat messages, emails, reports, and journal entries to the group, tutors, and staff. While Hallett’s style is always entertaining, this novel would have been five stars if the first chunk of the book wasn't so slow moving - I found the plot picks up and the pieces start to come together just past the halfway point.

I also found the characters SO irritating and hard to connect with, which made it difficult to care what any of them were talking about (was I that annoying as a student during my BA??) But, fans of her previous work will still find this worth a read!

This is such a good book! Janice Hallett is both the master of these epistolary thrillers, but ALSO a complete master of this character study. The way her characters come through so vividly just through correspondence is actually amazing. I felt inside their heads the whole time and that I knew them so well, which made the twists even that more shocking. I love how the story was crafted and perfectly pieced together; the different missives were presented to the reader in the perfect order to lead the reader to make certain assumptions and miss others.

I had SO much fun reading this and I stayed up way too late to finish it!

I always enjoy Janice Hallett's puzzle books, where the reader gets to piece things together as they go along. This one has a fun premise: six students in a new MA that combines art and marketing skills are required to communicate and submit assignments on a classroom app. It's all being reviewed to make sure their grades are fair by an outside examiner. There are messages between the students, their primary professor, and other staff, submissions for various projects, journals the students are supposed to keep to add to their final project, etc. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time n academia, the results were ridiculous and plausible at the same time--I enjoyed it a great deal. It did seem a bit easier to work out the solution than some of Hallett's other puzzles, but I found it entertaining throughout.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my free earc. My opinions are all my own.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have a weakness for art related books so I was curious to try this one. I have been surprised about how much I have enjoyed it. The story was fascinating and I adored the format, it was so refreshing and stimulating and a great fun. I enjoyed how the story and the mystery unspooled and found myself losing time while reading, constantly scrambling to get back to the book. Loved it and would definitely be continuing familiarising myself with the authors’ works.

This is a pretty textbook example of a book that was very well-written, but just not for me.

Told in emails, text messages, Slack and various other forms of messaging, I found this format to be both very engaging and also perfect for the genre. As a reader, I felt like I was receiving all the clues I needed to put together this mystery as it unraveled and figure out 1. what happened and 2. who was responsible.

Ultimately, the plot was lost on me as things became very convoluted. This also culminated in a plotline that I'm not generally interested in in mystery/thriller novels.

I'm interested in reading more of Janice Hallett's work. Her writing style is both intelligent and unique, and I feel I could really enjoy my experience if I can follow the plot more and it's tighter.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Another riveting book from the modern queen of epistolary novels.

The Examiner is a wild ride from start to finish that careens closer to the edge for me than her previous books. While this book engrossed me, I felt it was almost slapstick at certain points with some far reaching plot twists and shifts. Some things were almost too conveniently wrapped up where others were a bit muddled.

However, as usual, the author keeps you entertained, and the writing style and fast pace make it hard to put down. A mid-range Janice Halley book to me is still a brilliant book in the mystery genre.

The Examiner by Janice Hallett

Once again the author introduces us to her characters via text messages, emails, essays, and other types of media as we follow six art masters program students through the Royal Hastings University’s new Multimedia Art course. Gela Nathaniel designed the program and she's struggling to keep her funding from being cut. These students, diverse in a variety of ways, must succeed if Gela wants to succeed.

Once we meet the students, it's hard to see why several of them were chosen to join the program. But Gela lays out her reasons for picking them and we get to see if she made the right choices or not. The cast of characters extends to more than just the students and Gela and as the cast grows, the challenge to keep track of everyone grows.

There is much bigger story underlying what we see on the surface. But then, that's part of the lesson plan, too, once events are laid out for us, motives exposed, and secrets divulged. For the longest time I had no idea what was going on and even as the story opens up to me, there were still more surprises to come. What I know from the beginning is that towards the end of the course, maybe during the course, or at least at the end of the course, one of the students might be missing. Or maybe not. Texts and emails are sent, course work gets done, various students helping other students, everything can be fuzzy at the edges and confusing to say the least. I decided I wasn't going to be the one to figure things out so I just went along for the ride and that was the best way for me to enjoy the story.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

In true Haslett fashion we have a mystery that leaves you guessing until the very end.

Her unique writing style of sharing through texts, emails, case files and essays is my new favorite was to read a mystery novel. It adds a little something extra to make each character that much more real.

Whoop another hit from Janice Hallett. I really enjoyed the writing style and format of it, as it’s told through the communication of the characters through messages, emails, and texts. The characters are all a little annoying in their own way, but it made all their interactions more interesting. It was fun, entertaining, and kept me guessing until the end.!

Janice Hallett might be my favorite new-to-me author I’ve discovered this year, and she captivated me once again with THE EXAMINER. This time, we’re following a master’s program art course and its six students via their chat messages, emails, and written assignments. I love Hallett’s signature multimedia format and find it completely unputdownable. I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as THE APPEAL or THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ALPERTON ANGELS, because I found I had to suspend my disbelief a bit more - it kind of goes off the rails towards the end. I found that entertaining, but I could see how other readers may find it convoluted. Still, Hallett’s books are always a good time, and she’s an auto-read author for me now!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the free copy in exchange for my honest review!

I admittedly haven't read The Appeal, although it's been on my list for some time. So I was not familiar with Janice Hallett's writing style, and it took a minute to get used to. Reading the entire book through a series of What's App messages, ed system messages and emails was a unique experience, especially for a thriller. I loved the ease of reading; all the burdensome details were removed, and you could focus in a little more on trying to find the clues.
Hallett is great at throwing in a plot twist you didn't really see coming (or maybe you sort of did), and that make you want to back up and reread the book in a whole new light.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Examiner, and I'll definitely read more by this author.

I absolutely love all of Janice Hallett's work but I think The Examiner may be my favorite of all. The dry wit is still present, the format the same as the others but The Examiner is a bit more dark, the humor a bit more edgy. It also spoke deeply about societal issues, world issues really, that we're facing which many are ignoring. I highly recommend the book to all.

Janice Hallett does it again!

The Examiner by Janice Hallett follows 6 students enrolled in a Multimedia Art MA course at Royal Hastings University. We begin the story from the course's external examiner's perspective as he is given the students' intranet messages to each other, their assignment grades and final essays. As he sifts through the jumble of correspondences from the eclectic and troublesome group of students, it becomes clear that something bigger and more worrisome may have happened to one of the students (aka death!) throughout the duration of the course.

Janice Hallett's unique style of writing mystery novels continues to keep me on my toes and always wanting to know more while reading her books. I enjoyed slowly getting to know each of the six students and their course instructor via the "Doodle" messages and their long essays. I don't know how Hallett does it, but she is able to give such distinctive voices to each character -- something I can't imagine is easy to do in this style of writing and is rarely seen in mystery novels.

The ending was a bit confusing to me -- the one downside of this writing style is that we the reader have limited insight into events that happen offline. It's hard to find a solid conclusion to the overarching story. Who truly was the "bad guy?" What is [character's] fate? That being said, I found the first 90% of the story to be intriguing and well-paced. You're confused, you feel frustrated at times, you're trying to string together your own theories for what is really happening in this course and what each character's motives are.

Will always recommend Janice Hallett's books!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

This book was so fun! A great example of how exciting it can be when you're trying to solve a mystery but you don't know exactly what the mystery is until it begins to unravel, bit by bit. There were so many genuine surprises in this book and I really enjoyed the entire read. The format (emails, IMs, text messages, essays, grading memos) worked very well for this story, too.

The story follows 6 master's students who are pursing a degree in a year-long Multimedia Art program that is at risk of losing funding. I can't say much more without giving too much away, but it is clear from the start that not everything is what it seems.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for the free copy for review.

Wow! This book starts with an irresistible hook that draws readers in from the first page.

Pairing the audiobook with the physical book truly enhanced my experience. The full cast of narrators—Anushka Chakravarti, Brendan Dempsey, Jonathan Andrew Hume, Rachel Handshaw, Sarah Durham, and Dawn Murphy—brought each character to life with authentic accents and emotions. In my experience, combining the audiobook with the text provides clarity and depth.

The epistolary format, featuring emails, essays, diary entries, texts, and chats, keeps the pace brisk and engaging. I found myself fully immersed, connecting each conversation to the unfolding mystery. The way everything ties together is simply impressive.

The diverse cast of characters, not only in terms of heritage but also age, adds layers of complexity and amusement to their interactions, especially given the central theme of teamwork. The nuances across characters make this a story where you step back and let it unfold, rather than rooting for just one individual. The dynamics of working in a team with varied personalities are incredibly relatable.

The book delivers a satisfying ending with brilliant twists and unexpected red herrings. It's a cozy mystery you won't want to miss.

Solid 3 stars. Absolutely loved the format of the book with all the emails, journal entries, chats, etc. The story was just okay. I know a lot of people really loved this one but for me it was just average.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the arc!