Thanks to Atria Books, Janice Hallett and NetGalley for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first of Janice Hallett's novels I've read and I have to admit that I really enjoy the format she's adapted for telling her stories. For those unfamiliar with Janice Hallett's novels, I've come to understand that her writing style is through essays, texts etc. This book is no different - this is a page-turning thriller set in the world of academia told via essays, forum messages and WhatsApp.

A new year-long MA course at the fictional Royal Hastings college combines the creative arts with the real-world marketing and financial requirements of a business. The reader follows six students from the beginning of the course to their final installation at a tech company's new solution's launch event. It's apparent to the reader from the start that something has gone wrong during the course as a student may be missing. The style of writing makes learning about each student very interesting as it creates that dichotomy between how one perceives themselves and how they are perceived by others. I pride myself in being able to figure out twists and turns in mystery novels well before they are revealed, but I can truly say that I didn't predict the twists here. As the story progresses, the reveals become wilder and wilder, finally culminating in the installation evening. While the reveals were crazy, they didn't seem completely out of the blue as there were enough clues to reach the conclusion it did- however, it did leave me feeling a bit dissatisfied with how it was resolved. Saying anymore would be introducing spoilers so I'll just say the events did seem a bit far-fetched.

This was a easy and quick read, and would be enjoyed by those that like mysteries told in a unique format.

I had so much fun with this twisty mystery, written in Janice Hallett's signature unique 'mixed media' style! She can truly do no wrong in my book and has become an auto-read author for me. Personally, I think Hallett has gotten better and better with each one of her books when it comes to truly developing her characters and their personalities alongside a propulsive plot, all while staying within her contemporary epistolary style. I’m going to continue to look forward to everything she writes!

This sharp, puzzle of a story is best gone into blind, but the set-up at least is fairly straightforward. We follow a group of six students, all very different from each other, who have enrolled in a one-year Master’s degree program for multi-media art. The program is overseen by their tutor, Gela, and because it’s a brand-new program, all of the students’ work and grades must be reviewed and validated by an unbiased “examiner” not involved in the course. In order to ensure they can appropriately validate the students’ grades, the examiner is given access to all of the various methods of communication used between the students and Gela during the course, largely on a messaging type of platform known as Doodle and via WhatsApp messages, as well as access to all of the students’ assignment work and Gela’s critiques. It’s these Doodle messages and coursework that we, the readers, get to read along with to see the story unfold. It is not long before the examiner comes to realize that things are not what they seem in this course, and that one of the people involved may be in real trouble, if not already dead.

The Examiner is a super ambitious and masterfully plotted story, full of well-developed characters. The plot was meticulously multi-layered, twisty in the best possible way, and none of the characters are really who they seem, which made it so hard to put down! While the pace did admittedly seem to sag just a little bit in the middle for me, it was otherwise perfect to keep you turning the pages but not too fast that you lost track of what was going on. The combination of great characters with unique personalities, a propulsive storyline and the perfect number of twists and turns made for just a darn fun read! Finally seeing how everything was going to come together in the end was addictive, and I wish I could experience it all over again for the first time!

All in all, The Examiner was a super fun, sometimes dark, and even humorous ride and Hallett’s best yet in my opinion! Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

** “I love change. When something that was good turns bad, I don’t hesitate to move on. The trick is recognizing that moment when it happens, because it might be something very small that gives the game away.” **

Janice Hallett once again offers a uniquely told thriller with “The Examiner.”

When a group of six very different individuals are offered a position in a new Multimedia Art MA program, personalities immediately clash and strange things begin occurring.

Directly overseen by tutor Gela Nathaniel, the group is made up of: youngest member Jem Badhuri, who works primarily in clay and sound, and just might be a bit of a snitch; Jonathan Danners, who runs a gallery with his father but doesn’t seem to have much artistic ability; oldest member Patrick Bright, who runs an art supply shop and is trying to reveal more of his abilities; Ludya Parak, a single mom and graphic designer who has very little time for the program; Alyson Lang, a professional artist; and Cameron Wesley, a burnt out financial marketer who also seems to have very little time for the project.

As the team must work together to create a real-life project for a communications company, strange occurrences start happening. And when some students begin to worry about other students and their whereabouts, things suddenly aren’t what they originally seemed.

Told by using message boards, e-mails, tutor and student reports, and other written formats, Hallett fills “The Examiner” with twists and turns and a unique band of characters. She keeps the reader guessing and even adds some unexpected developments with extremely unexpected plot twists.

She does also reveal some great themes, like both the highs, lows and dark side of teamwork; life can take strange turns (“It started weird and stayed weird. I’m not adverse to strangeness. Strangeness is just life, right?”); learning from bad times and moving on from them; and the power and danger of secrets.

“The Examiner,” which is due out Sept. 10, does include curse words, for those concerned about that.

Five stars out of five.

Atria Books provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

I wanted to give this author another chance after I was unsure how to feel after the first book. I am sad to say, I’m not impressed. I was bored for majority of this book. I like the way it’s written through different mediums, but the story just never hooked me.

I've previously read Hallet books (primarily as audiobooks) and this is the first print I've attempted. I really believe physical print for Hallet's work is the way to go. Her ability to develop and sustain suspense through intranet messages, emails and student reports is remarkable. I loved this book up until the very end. She kept me on my toes wondering what was going to happen. Fully recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for a complimentary copy of this novel! This is the fourth book I’ve had the pleasure of reading written by Janice Hallett! I always look forward to reading them and this one was especially interesting! It was definitely a wild ride! This novel follows the same unique pattern of a Janice Hallett’s storytelling. The story Is built through what’s app messages; emails; text messages; a private college app called Doodle; and papers/essays submitted by the students. Gels, who is in charge of six students picked from across the UK, is the head of the Multimedia Art course at Hastings University. The class consists of Jem, Jonathan, Ludya, Patrick, Alyson, and Cameron. As they each work to complete their assignments, things begin to run amuck! They then escalate from bad to worse as the course progresses. There is also a final character, The Examiner, who is hired to grade the student’s final project. And he has a message of his own…someone is about to be dead or may already be dead!!!
Look for this exciting new novel from Janice Hallett AVAILABLE September 10, 2024

The Examiner is a clever and engaging mystery -with a unique format- that keeps readers guessing until the very end.

I cannot remember the last time I read a thriller where I couldn’t guess a single twist, and for that, I absolutely love this book! I had no idea where the story was going and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

The story unfolds through a series of emails, documents, and texts, immersing the reader in an investigative experience that feels refreshingly interactive.

The format is unique and adds layers to the storytelling, making it a standout in the genre.

The characters are well-developed, and the plot is intricately woven with twists and turns that are both surprising and satisfying.

However, the unconventional narrative style might take some time to get used to, and at times, the sheer volume of details can feel overwhelming. Despite this, the author manages to pull everything together in a way that makes the journey worthwhile.

Overall, this is a brilliantly constructed puzzle that will appeal to fans of modern mysteries looking for something different. A strong 4-star read!

I have read and loved Janice Hallett's previous novels, but this one was unbearably slow and boring. The pacing felt off compared to her prior stories.

Gela Nathanial is creating a new multimedia course at a local university and has found six perfect students. The students have six assignments and one final project to get through. Slowly, class members stop showing up to class or provide a myriad of reasons why they can't be there. At the final showing of the project, everything comes to a head.

Having read another Janice Hallett novel, I had high expectations but I did not enjoy this one as much. I found this to be far too slow a mystery to have me turning pages. I did not feel that by stepping away from the book to do other things, I was missing anything. All of the characters bothered me as they were full of themselves and had many annoying qualities. I'm hoping I enjoy other novels by this author more.

Having read two of Janice Hallett's other epistolary mysteries, I hope I can count myself in her fan club. I can't decide if she's getting better with every book, because each novel has had its own ingenious twists, creepy moments and hilarious moments, and characters just complex enough to be believable. Her ability to channel so many unique voices is a talent she leverages with finesse. Some reviewers find her plots thin or silly, but I'm so engrossed by the unfolding developments I happily buy in to the absurdity. Indeed, the absurdity might be part of the delight of reading Hallett, especially because I'm more serious moments when she gets close to the bone with characters haunted by dark secrets, it can suck the breath right out of you. I would read anything she wrote.

This was my favorite Hallett since The Appeal. I was a fan of the university setting and the wide cast of characters. I enjoy Hallett's style of presenting her stories using mixed media.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Janice Hallett for the ARC of this book, which comes out on September 10th!

Fun novel that puts puts the reader in the detective seat as an external examiner trying figure out what happened during the course of an Arts Master's program that goes dangerously off-kilter.

Told in the author's unique format of text messages, emails, essays, and chat rooms, this novel gives a fun spin on the mystery novel much like the rest of the author's works. It is refreshing and ingenious the way it is written and really makes you think outside the box. Writing was wonderful and had some interesting characters. It created fantastic moments that made me go back to earlier pages to see how I could have missed the surprising revelations. While overall I liked her book The Appeal a little bit more, The Examiner is still worthy of consideration to read for any novel sleuth out there. Highly recommend this book and this author!

I absolutely love Janice Hallett's writing style. The mix of emails and texts makes this such an easy, fun read and kept me reading into the night. With this format, I never want to put the book down because I always want to see what happens next. I like the setting of the story taking place in an art program at the University level.

Janice creates such interesting characters; some I love and others not so much. And the twist at the end makes this book such a fun read. I highly recommend this book and all of Janice's books. Just love her style.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.

I am a huge fan of Janice Hallett and her brilliant storytelling style. This book was phenomenal and a diamond in the crime genre.
I was hooked from the early pages and was never lost or confused. Even though the story is told in messages and board posts it was clear and easy to understand. The cast of characters was relatively small which made it easy to follow.
All characters were distinct and had unique characteristics and the twists were fun. Some I guessed and some were surprising to me and introduced at the exact right time to shock the reader, but also to hint at "what is next".

Highly recommend it to all crime and mystery readers.

3.5. Hallett's writing is impeccable and realistic. I will NEVER get sick of a mixed media book. However, and I don't know if maybe some of it is a cultural thing - because sometimes the heaviness of understanding how universities/etc. work in non-American places is a bit much for my clearly pea-sized brain - but some of this just felt so convoluted and confusing. Without going into any specific plot details, so as not to ruin the book and what happens, I am even confused by little details such as why someone whose art project sounded great, according to what the tutor, Gela, said in her reviews, would receive a C or a D. Like... ???

Overall, I think that this is an objectively good book. I do think it was a bit too long, and I would have to reread it and take notes to fully understand all the plot points and character motivations; however, Hallett's writing and some of the little twists were good enough for me to rate it a 3.5.

This is another classic Janice Hallett novel, it is written in a mixed media style. I think she manages to do this brilliantly, I really enjoyed this story.

A very unique writing style: the story is completely told through emails, texts and essays. I’ve never read anything like this and was skeptical at first. Well, I ended up really liking it and enjoyed following a group of art students by reading their course essays and their messages to each other, their technicians and their tutor. It was almost like spying on them while at the same time trying to figure out what was happening.
Six students signed up for a multimedia arts course tutored by Gela. She is desperate to keep her funding for the class. The group of students is from very diverse backgrounds and different age groups. Matter of fact, their individual personalities are quickly clashing, and something doesn’t seem quite right. The external Examiner is supposed to make sure that the students’ grades are fair and unbiased but soon he suspects that one or more students may be in danger.
I’m truly amazed how gripping and suspenseful this book is especially when considering that there is no real ‘narrative’. It’s impressive how the characters develop, and some of the twists simply blew me away. I couldn’t put the book down and liked that it was a fast read with short ‘chapters’ The end was jaw dropping. I’m a thriller and mystery reader, and this book was exactly along my line. A solid 5⭐️ for me. I’ll be looking for more of the author’s books written in this style.
I’d like to thank NetGalley, Atria Books and the author for the opportunity to read this advance copy. I consider it an honor, a pleasure and quite an experience. The above is my honest review and my own opinion.

Another solid read by Hallett. She’s really come to nail her trademark style of telling an entire twisty story through electronic correspondence. The characters in this one were well crafted and Hallett does an excellent job with their characterization just through the casual exchanges between course mates.

This was a fairy long book and definitely more of a slow burn. There’s very little action on the pages (just a few recollections here and there) so some may struggle to stay invested, but as usual there’s an awesome payday if you can stick with Hallett to the end.

I enjoyed all of the characters. Jemisha was awesome and I loved her tenacity. All of the other characters felt solid and there’s some of Hallett’s typical wit mixed in throughout the novel. I wonder if those diversity forms ever did get submitted?

I always enjoy reading Hallett’s books, especially in between heavier reads. Her books are captivating and don’t rely on a ton of action and gore to tell their tales. This is one that would be fun to go back and reread once you’ve finished and are able to pick up on more in the early half of the book. Highly recommend to those that enjoy this method of storytelling.

The Examiner is the first Janice Hallett book I've read, and I'm so happy that I enjoyed it. I love the unique writing style. Everything is written in emails, notes, and chat messages. It's definitely a page turner. I can't wait to read the author's backlist. I highly recommend this book to everyone. Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for the arc. I'll share my full review closer to the publication date.