This is the third book I've read by Janice Hallett, but it's the one that resonated the least with me.

The story is about a master's level course teaching students how their art and business/the career force work together. Throughout the course, a student comes to suspect that another student has gone missing, though the other students and the teacher disagree. The external examiner of the course is brought in to assess the course and ensure that the grading is fair and accurate and becomes convinced that a student has indeed gone missing.

I understand the main point of the book is the art program, but I felt like we were given way too many details about the art and the different projects that the students worked on. It took forever to get to the mystery portion of the story, and when we did, I found I didn't care that much about the backstory and just wanted a linear, clear explanation. Maybe my brain just isn't programmed to do well with these sort of stories.

I also felt like there were too many plot ideas smooshed together into one story. We had the stories and perspectives of six students, a teacher, an admin, an art school tech, the examiner, the head of RD8, etc., and by the time we got back to someone's story, I had received so much additional information that I forgot what I had read about before. I also didn't find any of the characters to be compelling or likeable and wasn't rooting for any of them.

I will say that I was excited to have guessed one plot point, though not entirely correctly, and what actually happened was even more bizarre than I could have imagined. But overall, I felt let down by the story.

I received an ARC copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Angela ‘Gela’ Nathaniel is the tutor (or professor to this American reader) of a new master’s art program at the Royal Hastings University. It’s a trial; if it goes well, it’ll be a new course. Given how much the arts program has been cut recently, Gela is anxious for it to be a success.

To help stack the odds, she carefully selects the students for this initial course. There’s the older, successful artist, who’s prestige should rub off on the course. There’s a business man, taking a break from his his stress job on the advice of his therapist. There’s the recently graduated artist, hoping to launch her career. There’s the art gallery owner, and the freelance graphic designer, both presumable hoping to improve their position. Finally there’s the owner of an art supply shop who’s looking to retire. While Vela’s the one responsible for giving the grades, there’s also an outside examiner, someone who’ll review everything and verify that the grades are reasonable, the course has merit, etc.

The story opens with the examiner reviewing the course; he’s been reviewing all the digital records associated with the course (including chat messages, reports, grades, etc) and thinks there’s something wrong. He presents this information to a couple of admins associated the Royal Hastings, to help justify his feelings. It’s this information that the reader gets. It’s soon clear that everyone has a secret and ulterior motive.

I felt the first three-quarters of this book was brilliant. I loved the format of only being able to see the digital artifacts, making it easier to hide motives. Where it starts to break down is when the author starts wrapping up the book. Characters reveal their hidden agendas in what should be final essays, confessing to various crimes. One character has a unique physical characteristic; it’s never mentioned until the examiner does, and then seems like every other conversation mentions it which feels a bit off. Characters text each other when it seems like they’d simply call each other instead. There’s a subplot involving a phone which feels like would be easy to resolve in real life. Conversations are included which were obtained from outside sources. From a Doylist perspective, it make sense - it’s the best way to wrap up the story without breaking the conceit of using only written communication, but from a Watsonian perspective, they don’t always make sense. It’s still an enjoyable book; just be prepared to ignore some slight cheats.

Highly recommended. I received a copy of this from NetGalley.com that I voluntarily chose to review.

I think I say the same thing every time I read one of Janice Hallett's books - they are so original and fun and creative. THE EXAMINER is another epistolary novel that combines texts, message board posts, essays and more to slowly reveal an unusual mystery set at a small master's art program in the UK. The characters are quirky and everyone has a secret or a mysterious back story. There are quite a few twists that are revealed when the story changes point of view about 2/3rds of the way through the novel. Highly recommend all of Janice Hallett's novels (even though I still need to read THE TWYFORD CODE).

Since reading the book THE APPEAL by Janice Hallett, I have read and loved every book of hers.

The Examiner is a fantastic story told in the epistolary style told in email messages, texts, and student essays.

The story follows a group of six students enrolled in Royal Hastings University's Multimedia Art course.

The characters are perfectly crafted. The author is a master of storytelling.

What starts as an innocent small MA class becomes anything but that.

The secrets that are revealed are perfectly paced and literally left me with my jaw open.

Highly recommend this well written story.

Janice Hallet has yet again earned the status of auto buy author. The unique construct of her books continues to entertain and stretch the bounds of how an author can tell a story.

In her latest novel she somehow blends an art class, a handful of eccentric students, and questionable teacher and a mystery of missing people, possible technology that speaks to the dead, and scary corporation people who may or may not be threatening and murderous. The entire novel is told using a combo of emails/texts, diary entries, and other non traditional media. A definite page turner that landed completely different than expected.

I am always excited to read a Janice Hallett novel. She has such a unique way of telling a story. This one, unfortunately left me quite underwhelmed. There wasn't enough of the mystery, or even enough of a story in the first 60-65% of the book to keep me interested. It was all descriptions of the art components or what their assignments were. I honestly felt like I was reading a course syllabus instead of a novel. Even the reveals at the end seemed a little lackluster. I had a hard time even caring about any of the characters because they lacked depth, but I could tell you a lot about resin and the dangers of fire in an art studio. This one just wasn't for me. 2.75 rounded up to 3.

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

I think this book has a really great concept. I just feel like the characters weren’t fleshed out enough and that the author didn’t do enough to make the reader care about the characters prior to the big reveal.

For example::
—Johnathan still having the radio even though Cameron apparently took it? (I understand this is evened out but for 30% of the book I was rightly confused)
—Patrick’s backstory— didn’t feel relevant at all? I think it missed the mark for what the author was trying to do.
—Jem taking photos of Alyson’s desk? But she’s blind?

I liked the design of the novel and the fact that the entire book is written through chat messages and assignments. However, there should be more character development in order to make the reader invested in the persons involved.

Gela Nathaniel is teaching a new multimedia art class at a university, and needs to find six students for her new course before the university cuts her funding. The students she finds are all as different from each other as can be, but Gela is determined to make the course successful. However, at the end of the course the examiner comes in to grade the students final work, and as he looks through their projects, essays, emails and text messages, he starts to wonder if one of the students is in danger, or may already be dead.

Straight off the bat, I want to say that I don’t think this book will work for everyone. The plot twist, and final answer of what is going on is the most out there plot I’ve seen in any of this authors books, and I feel like some people might not be a fan. I very much enjoyed the plot twist however, and found it really unique and interesting. I quite liked the book as a whole. The mixed media style is so fun, and really lets you inside the characters heads. It’s interesting to see the same situation from different points of view, and see how a persons perception changes so much. This book flew by, and I had to keep reading to find out what was really going on. I recommend this one if you’re looking for a mystery with a unique plot twist.

Written in the form of emails, text messages, and essays, Janice Hallett has produced her best mystery to date. Six adult students are recruited into a college MFA Multimedia Arts program. Each of them, including the recruiter, has a secret reason for their participation. The characters were distinctly individual and made the plot easy to follow. This book is so cleverly written. As the story progresses, little clues are dropped, and often they lead in the wrong direction. I kept turning pages and was guessing until the end.

I love Janice Hallett's books and am looking forward to her next one. Thank you, Atria Books and Net Galley, for the advanced copy of this interesting book.

This was a really good mystery. I’m glad I got to review this one. I’ve never read anything by this author before, but I hope it won’t be my last.

Six students are recruited into a college MA course in fine art. The program director, Gela, knows her job and the entire program are at risk of being cut, so she needs this group to be successful. The six students are a bit of a puzzle. The three women are all unlikeable. Alyson is an established artist who can't be bothered to attend scheduled class meetings. Ludya is also working in the art field as a graphic artist. She's a single mother and often can't come to class due to childcare or "personal" issues. Jem is the youngest student. At only 21 she has recently completed her bachelor's degree. She is self-confident and critical of everyone else to the point of being obnoxious. The men are all a bit harder to pin down. Patrick is the oldest of the group and is completely out of his depth whenever anything involving technology crops up. Cameron is from the Alyson-and-Ludya school of class attendance, since he is also working while on the course and too busy to attend. Jonathan is somewhat bland so it's not easy to get a handle on his personality.

The book is presented in text messages, message board discussions, private messages between students, and so on. Thrown in are messages between the "Examiners," three individuals who will review the project and approve the final grades. Ben is the outside examiner and he tells the other two he has reviewed all the coursework (at the end of the term) and he thinks "something awful" has happened. He asks the others to go through the messages and see if they agree. So as the story unfolds from the start of the term, Ben and co often drop in to discuss what has happened so far (because of course everyone is reading along at the same pace and not skipping ahead or anything).

The students are working on a large final project (which sounds hideous) throughout the course but are also given periodic assignments. These assignments and the discussion of the final project and its progress and mind-numbingly tedious. Over and over extremely detailed descriptions of the assignments and the students' work is explained. This takes up about 2/3 of the book. Also, the assignments are repeated when the students turn in their work, so we can see Gela's comments on what the students achieved. While Gela is trying to save her job, her grading practices of frequently giving the absent students "A" grades, based on "quality of past work," while nearly failing those who show up and do the work, is completely inexplicable and frustrating.

I nearly stopped reading many times but since I was so far in, I decided to push through. It was in no way worth the effort. Boring beyond belief and no characters you care about. Such a mess. Also, the author has used the "I have access to everything, you all read it and tell me what you think" idea in a previous book. Why the other characters don't simply ask, "What is it I'm looking for?" in either instance remains the biggest mystery of all.

Janice Hallet is literally a master of her craft. I've read every single one of her uniquely plotted books and I will continue to read them forever.
The covers are always what draws me in first. I love how consistent they are.
Then there's the actual storyline and the waybshe plays it out. Each novel is its own unique story and it's own telling...and honestly, just how does she do it? Her brain must work differently. In the best ways.
No matter what I think I know and how smart I feel, reading these has really upped ny thinking. I'm glad to figure out the victim in this one quite early on. But the why? And all the reasons backing it? ZERO clue.

I was really fond of Jem and Patrick the whole time. I think they were the most real. The most believable. Even finding out their individual twists...just ... what can I say to the level of brilliance of this author and her books?

Gela Nathaniel has created a small group masters-level art course at Royal Hastings College and personally selected her inaugural class. Six students from all walks of life are thrown together to learn more about themselves as artists and create a unique art installation for a company. Told completely through emails, diary entries, texts, class essays, message group entries, this story had me riveted from the beginning. This is the type of mystery I love- every time I thought I had things figured out, I realized that it wasn't at all what I thought. Janice Hallett certainly knows how to deliver a compelling story through found documents. I can't wait to read more from her!

This was my first Janet Hallett book. It took me about a quarter of the way to get into the reading style and settle in to the characters. I enjoyed the mystery and it was very unique. I felt like a lot of the art descriptors had me in the weeds. Overall good!

A new Janice Hallett novel is cause for celebration and THE EXAMINER is easily my favorite of hers yet! Six adults are doing a Master's course in multimedia art. Something Happens that results in an outside group doing an investigation and the book is the collected emails, group messages, journal entries, essays, texts between the students and instructor.

While I had such a great time reading this one, I do feel this is a mystery where the reader can't play along. Later on the the book there's a big reveal regarding the youngest character -- at no point in the novel prior to then was this mentioned -- but once the reader is finally let in on it, then months of texts and emails come out where this was also discussed and a known fact between the other characters. There's also a LOT going on behind the motivations of the other characters (and it's so difficult to even hint at without getting spoiler-y!), but this was a blast to read and the vibes were vibin'.

I'll read anything Hallett writes and can't wait to see what she does next!

I have read all of Janice Hallett's previous novels and have always found her puzzling stories engaging to follow along with. Her intricate plots and clever twists have consistently kept me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning pages to uncover the next surprise. However, that is not the case with her latest work.

It took me quite a while to finish this book, as I didn't feel engaged with the storyline. Unlike her previous novels, which hooked me from the beginning, this one seemed very drawn out. The pacing felt slow and the plot meandered without much direction for a significant portion of the book. There wasn't any real excitement or twists until well over 70% of the way through, which made it challenging to stay invested in the story.

Despite the familiar elements of Hallett's writing style, such as her attention to detail and well-developed characters, the narrative lacked the gripping tension and clever surprises that I have come to expect from her work. It was disappointing to find myself struggling to maintain interest, waiting for the plot to pick up and deliver the engaging experience I anticipated.

While I still appreciate Hallett's talent and look forward to her future novels, this particular book didn't meet the high expectations set by her previous works. I hope her next story returns to the captivating form that has made her one of my favorite authors.

This was riveting and unpredictable, as expected! Janice Hallett became my favorite mystery author after The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, and nothing will top that book for me. That was the perfect mystery-thriller, with an insidious atmosphere and sinister developments. This one is the perfect inquisitive mystery, and is voyeuristic schadenfreude in a neat little package. Not to say that insidious or sinister things won't make an appearance. I don't want to say anything about the characters or the plot so I don't give anything away, I just know that this book has some of the best reveals I've read, is unputdownable, and fun to read.

An absolute triumph of a book. Thanks to Janice Hallett for writing true 21st century mystery in her masterful and unconventional way - truly this generation's Agatha Christie.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to Net Galley for the digital ARC!

I blazed through this novel like a middle schooler on summer vacation, staying up til one am to finish it in a day. It was pretty brilliantly plotted with multiple twists, reveals, and reversals that made me reluctant to put it down.

I haven't read any of Hallet's other works but apparently she is known for her modern epistolary style-- here employed to build a novel in the form of emails, online forum posts/essays, and texts.

This murder mystery (one of the mysteries being if there even was a murder) takes place throughout the course of a UK degree program in Multimedia Arts. Six students approach their studies with different motivations and backgrounds, and almost everyone has some kind of secret. The very format of the book also limits the information readers have access to, forcing us to play the role of "course examiner" along with the ostensible third party reviewers of student work.

Under scrutiny, some moments felt too unbelievable or created distracting plot holes-- but most can be ignored in the name of a good story.

Would recommend for mystery lovers on a long plane ride or otherwise looking for an engrossing, addictive read.

Review also posted on goodreads.

I'm a huge JH fan, but I had no idea she had a new book coming out. When I saw it was a 'read now' on NetGalley I was so excited! I really like this book. First, I like that Hallett uses the epistolary format, using emails, message platforms and 'reports' to tell the story. Second, like her other books, there's an interesting cast of characters that are easy to tell apart, even without the devices used in traditional storytelling. Third, there's something untoward happening but it's hard to figure out exactly what it is, until the twists start happening. AND THERE ARE TWISTS GALORE! They all make sense and it's such a fun ride. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

3.5 stars

an interesting and complex thriller- i love how janice hallett's books always surprise me and how i can never guess the twists. her plots are always so fun to dissect both during and after the book that can't be understated! as with all her books, the examiner uses mostly dms and emails to communicate how a 6-person M.A. program at a university goes all sorts of wrong. i loved how compulsively readable this was, her thrillers always have me glued to the screen. i imagine that the twist will be divisive, and i'm also mixed on it, but i thought it was better than what happened in the mysterious case of the alperton angels. i do wonder what this would've been like if there were only college students, not adults, enrolled in the class- to me, the youth/naivety/ambition is what makes dark academia interesting, and truly, these adults all need therapy.

my main issues with this were the length and the characterizations. the main event started at the 65% mark, which made getting through the last half of the book feel a bit like a slog. there were also a few character "types" repeated from hallett's previous books, and i understand why she has to have an annoying character in there but whew this one made me want to chuck my kindle across the room.

thank you to atria for the advanced copy of this book!