Janice Hallett is one of the smartest mystery authors writing today. All of her books are told through a variety of secondary sources that leave the reader guessing what and who should be trusted. Hallett sticks with this unconventional structure in The Examiner, which tells the story of a small British graduate arts program gone awry using texts, message boards, and coursework. I’m continually blown away by Hallett’s creativity and ability to use seemingly benign source material, like final essays, as legitimate, suspenseful clues in a mystery. The use of sources removed from traditional narration also ensures that the reader is always unsure of what to believe because it is never clear if Hallett has presented all of the relevant information or not (spoiler, she does not). I still think that Hallett’s best book to date is The Appeal, but the fact that I’ve read three of her four books in this year alone confirms that I’m game for whatever unique mystery she writes.

DNFed at 30%. I wanted to love this book but I just found it to be a slog full of mundane details I couldn’t make myself care about.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an early copy of The Examiner in exchange for an honest review! The was my first book by the author and I was very intrigued by the premise. My favorite books are written through mixed media and I was very excited to dive in! While I liked this book, I was overwhelmed by the scientific aspect of it. It was a little long, and could've been shorter in my opinion. The characters were insufferable, but not in a way that made me want to keep reading about them. Overall I gave this book two stars, and would be willing to try other books by the author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - If you haven't picked this one up yet, you absolutely should! It's perfect if you like fun, fast, mixed-media thrillers.
💚 Standout characters that I loved and laughed with for all their quirks.
🤯 Genius plotting with shocking twists and brilliant reveals.
🏫 The perfect university setting that made me reminisce on my own grad school days.

As soon as I learned that author Janice Hallet's new book, The Examiner, was told through emails, messages, and class assignments, I knew I was going to like it. But I had no idea how absolutely brilliant this mystery would prove to be. I can honestly say I was stunned when I stepped back and saw all the very cleverly placed clues and elements of this mystery. It was impressive, and once I got hooked, I didn't want to do anything but read and see how this mystery resolved.
The story starts with an external examiner looking at all the documentation and presentations from a recently completed Master's program in Mixed Media Arts at the Royal Hastings College. Through online messages, emails, and tutor's notes we get to know the six students in the inaugural program. All the "evidence" is presented chronologically, with periodic breaks where the Examiner himself tries to recruit help in unraveling what he suspects is a coverup of potential foul play.
This format was fantastic. Such an interesting way to get to know the characters, through their personal messages and classroom assignments. It was hard to get my bearings at first, so used to a traditional mystery format and something happening to a character in the early chapters, but it was also fun to form my own theories of what I thought might be going on behind the messages. I was wrong. A lot. But I did key on to some important clues, so while I wouldn't say I figured things out by the reveal, I'll say I had some decent suspicions. But I'm a terrible detective.
Hallett, however, is a fantastic schemer. As the story itself came together and resolved, it became apparent just how intricate this story and its planning were. Details I'd dismissed as establishing character traits were actually vital clues, and clues I thought I had spotted turned out to be hiding bigger clues. It was genius and I know I gasped at least twice at important reveals. Genius, and so much fun.
If you're a reader who enjoys plot twist after plot twist, and surprising reveals, this is most definitely a book for you!
This was my first novel by the author, but if her other mysteries are half as clever as this, I know I'll enjoy the heck out of them too.

Thank you to Atria books, NetGalley and Janice Hallett for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Examiner is written completely in mixed media format which I knew going in. Unfortunately, I found it to be a cumbersome reading format. I've read other books that are written as blog posts or contain mixed media, but this was on a whole other level and not in a good way. I didn't connect with any of the characters and found them all annoying and/or unlikable. I was forcing myself to continue reading and finally decided to dnf at 21%.

I have heard so many glowing reviews of Janice Hallett books and was hoping to love this but sadly it just wasn't for me.

The Examiner was just alright for me. While it had some interesting moments and a few engaging characters, overall, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The plot felt a bit predictable, and I found myself longing for deeper character development and more compelling stakes.

There were certainly some highlights—like a few clever twists and some witty dialogue—but they weren’t enough to elevate the story as a whole. I appreciated the effort and the writing style, but in the end, it felt like it was missing that special something to make it truly memorable. If you’re curious, it might still be worth a look, but I wouldn’t rush to recommend it.

Another great read by Janice Hallet! She continues to write excellent stories using mixed media. The plot is layered with twists I did not see coming (although at times seems a bit far fetched). I was guessing until the end. The characters are realistic, nuanced and infuriatingly unlikeable at times which made them very intriguing to follow. As someone who has gone to quite a lot of school (although definitely not for art) the setting of an MA course seemed very true to reality and was a great setting for this story to be told. It looks at both the benefits and toxicity of teamwork in these (and more) situations. I highly recommend!

Not my favorite book from this author. I think the plot meandered quite a bit. The characters were pretty insufferable. So far this is a very uneven author for me, but because of how much I loved Alperton Angels, I’ll continue to pick up her books.

I think this is a case of it’s not you it’s me.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. I found the way the author told the story with messages & journal entries interesting but I just did not like the characters. There was not a single character that I could connect with.

Rating: 3.8

When I saw this story on NetGalley's Read Now section, I immediately snagged it up as I had just finished reading "The Twyford Code" also by Janice Hallett and loved the unique way in which the story was told so I was excited to get my hands on a copy. Told through unique Canvas/Doodle postings (from college), text messages, transcripts, emails etc. Hallett is able to tell the story uniquely and I appreciate the connections that are woven through that you can miss and end up shocked with how it's all tied together.

Gela Nathaniel, is determined to make her new Art course a success for the first year and make it a standing course to come at Royal Hastings University. For her first year, she's hand selected 6 students with different, diverse backgrounds, each with a different level of art experience too. But this uniqueness with her students, immediately divides how they communicate, plan and work through their year end project. When the external year-end examiner begins reviewing the course work, he begins to suspect something bad has happened - a student may be dead.

With multiple projects throughout the year, multiple specialties, self reflections, etc. the students
seem to live in different realities. Working together to submit their final project for an external company, we learn that something happened during the trip and nothing has been the same since. Who's been killed? What's the link with all of these students? Will Gela be able to host this class again next year?

While I enjoyed this book and the way it was told, and trying to avoid spoilers, this story got a little far-fetched for me and honestly slightly confused me in the wrap-up. I enjoyed the overall story in its entirety, I especially like how Hallett continues to find ways to tell stories in a unique method and by incorporating text messages, emails, essays, doodle boards etc. it hit the nail on the head. One other thing to do before reading this, understand what 'soundscapes' are! They are crucial to the story and it can get extra confusing if you don't have an understanding of them to begin with.

Thanks to NetGalley and Janice Hallett in collaboration with Atria Books, for providing me with a copy so that I could provide an honest review prior to the publish date (despite my inability to publish this review prior to release I did in fact read it before hand!)

I love the format of these books! It’s so fun to read the story through “evidence” and try to figure out whodunit as you go. I will never pass up a Janice Hallett book!

Another fun mystery from Janice Hallett!! It follows six students on an art master's program and is told through a mixed-media format that keeps the reader guessing and trying to figure out what's going on alongside this story's "detectives" - the exam board. The characters' personalities really shined through their messages on the school's online forum, Doodle, and even though there are 7+ main characters to keep track of, their unique voices made it easy. The plot was engaging throughout, and as a reader you don't quite know what the mystery even is until the end when it is solved, which is a unique and fun format. I enjoyed the reading experience of the majority this book tremendously, though some of the twists at the end lost me a little.

You know you're in for a good time when you pick up a Janice Hallett book. The queen of epistolary novels has outdone herself once again, delivering a brilliant and explosive read that will entertain and stun in equal measure 🤯🤯👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I was glued to this propulsive page-turner and didn't want to put it down, not even when my eyes were closing at 2am. The multi-layered storyline and colourful cast intrigued me to no end, while the social commentary on a wide range of topics was clever and cutting.

The buildup of suspense and tension was wonderfully executed, along with twist after genius twist that I never saw coming. Everything about this book was so incredibly satisfying, including each character arc.

Interesting how the way I felt about each character kept changing over time e.g. Gela was my least favourite at first. I also initially found Jem insufferable but ended up loving her spirit and doggedness so much that I was firmly rooting for her by the end.

Truly a compelling and whip-smart work of art that further cements Hallett as a master of her craft!

✨ "I'm young, I'm here and I want it all. Everything it's possible to get out of life - the most, the max, everything."

Yes, you tell them young Jem!

My goal is to be a Janice Hallett completist, I’ve enjoyed every book I’ve read of hers so far and this one was no exception. If you are a fan of mixed media books, you need to read this.

Well that wasn’t what I expected.

I really enjoyed the text conversation style of writing. Like reading a conversation a friend is sharing with you. Some twisted friends.
Overall it was a fun read! Thanks to NetGalley for the e-arc!

As the story unfolds, we meet six students as they begin a one-year master’s program in multimedia art at a British university. The Examiner is assigned to audit the course and fears that something has gone wrong and a student may be missing or dead.

I love a good mystery and this one kept me guessing throughout. There were a lot of unlikable characters which means that any or all could be suspects. What I appreciate most about Hallet’s writing is that all of the clues are there if you are paying attention. Too often, I find myself going back in the book to refresh my memory around plot points given in a certain interview or conversation as I tried to guess where the story was headed.

The pacing of the story was slower than previous books and the books length did feel noticeable at times it still made a a fun discussion with some of my bookish friends.

Janice Hallett writes books like no one else. Her use of mixed media is truly unmatched. I was so excited for her new release The Examiner. Unfortunately this one fell a little flat for me. As always I enjoyed her writing style throughout the book but the first 70% was so slow. It took me forever to get into this one. By the time the action kicks off at the end I really didn’t care.
3/5 Stars

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Examiner follows six students as they complete a new MA arts program meant to encourage students to create art in ways that have practical application in the business world. The story is told through class assignments, text messages, and other multimedia material.

This is the second Janice Hallett book I have read, and unfortunately I did not enjoy this one as much as the other. For a large part of the book, I felt like I was in school with these six characters. Reading assignments and feedback and grades for assignments as well as the drama that goes along with working within a group felt like work at times. I felt like I was back in school having to do these assignments and engage with these students. In that way, I think Hallett nailed what is sometimes the reality of working with a group in an academic setting: people of all different personalities coming to work together can sometimes be incohesive and chaotic.

I also didn't particularly like any of the characters, so it was tough to have anyone to route for. While the last portion of the book does pick up as the mystery starts to come together, I felt as though I was too disconnected from the characters to care.

I'm sad this one didn't work for me like it did for others, but I'm happy to give other Janice Hallett books a try. If you love multimedia stories and academic settings, definitely give this one a try!

I liked this book, It was a bit slow for me though and took me a while to get through it. I liked the idea and the plot. The book and plot was told through text messages and emails. It was really interesting, the whole layout and the writing really reminded me of Murder In The Family but a bit more slower paced.

I thought the characters were okay, I could not really relate to them in anyway and they didn’t click with me. 1 or 2 of them almost felt a bit lacking in personality compared to the others, but it was still enjoyable to read.