I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it didn't have the same feel as her others. It is still told in that mixed media format that I adore, but I had more difficulty connecting with the story and the characters as I did with her previous books. I don't know if it's just because the academia/art history setting or topic is usually just not for me or if the writing wasn't the same but this one just wasn't for me. I do hope to continue reading anything she comes out with, this one just didn't hit for me. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Janice Hallett truly is the queen of mysteries. The way she tells stories is truly unique and this book is no exception.
My second favorite book by her (after The Appeal), The Examiner followers the examiner of a university art masters program who is inspecting the class after it has ended and it noticing strange things about the documents and transcripts he has been given. What follows is a stressful telling of the semester from hell and all the twists and turns that came with it.
The characters are a mix of insane and convoluted in a way that combines to make the perfect storm. You spend the entire novel second guessing everything that you have been told and trying to guess what happens next. You know that SOMETHING is going to happen, but you're left speculating as to what.
My only big critique is that the plot goes off the rails a bit at the end. While Hallett was able to tell it with just the right amount of absurdity and seriousness to make it work, when I told the plot to my roommates later, they were thoroughly confused as to how we got to the end.
I already knew that I will be a lifelong fan of Janice Hallett but this book has just cemented that fact.

I was very excited to see Hallett’s new book on Net Galley and it didn’t disappoint. Hallett has again created an extremely clever multi-media mystery/thriller with many twists and turns I didn’t see coming. The participants in a MA graduate cohort are slowly revealed through their what’s app messages, university chat system and course assignments but it isn’t until the end of the book that all of their roles and motivations are clear.
Halley’s creativity and skill are evident in her latest thriller! Thank you to Janice Hallett and Viper for the advanced reader copy!

Read this if you enjoy : a mystery in a mixed media format set in academia with some unforgettable characters. I cannot wait to read more of Janice Hallett as I love the way she writes and the twists! With these books, the reader quite literally is put in the driver's seat as the lead detective and solves the mystery! THANK YOU to Atria Books and NetGalley !!

Review will go live Sept 2: https://www.mwgerard.com/review-the-examiner/

At this point it is safe to say that author Janice Hallett is the queen of the modern epistolary novel. This outing centers around a multimedia art masters degree program and its disparate students. Their messages, essays, thoughts, and ramblings are helpfully contained on the school's centralized communication system, with the occasional off-platform text chain or email.

The one-year course is headed by Gela Nathaniel, a professor desperate to keep her department funded and relevant to the bean counters. She has retooled the program to teach students how to take their artistic abilities and make them a commodity for the corporate world. Sketches can become logos, soundscapes can become atmosphere, installations can become industry reveal events.

It's all well and good until the students become more interested in their own agendas than the coursework. When a corporate client with a sketchy past "hires" the the team for a launch party a crosscurrent of morals turns into a whirlpool of chaos.[spacer height="20px"]

Something strange happened this morning. Dad had a meeting, so he dropped me off early. When I tried the studio door it was unlocked. That usually means Alyson has been there overnight and is clearing up, but I didn't hear her music. She always has her phone blasting out old tunes. I was making a cup of tea when there was a noise from the stockroom corridor. Someone moving, but secretly, like they didn't want me to hear. It wasn't Alyson -- she always thunders out to say hello. This was someone else." ~ Loc. 585

[spacer height="20px"]Hallett is adept at not only telling the story through the 'documents' but she gives such personality to the characters. The reader genuinely finds themselves disliking or rooting for different people. In this book in particular, Hallett manages to turn one character from zero to hero just by revealing one detail late in the book. Of course, the clues were all there to be found from the beginning...

As always, Hallett's books are compulsively readable. I think The Twyford Code is still my favorite, but The Examiner is a close second.

I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Parts of this felt a little over-the-top but as usual, I was completely along for the ride. The framing device was great, as always, the mystery was solvable but not TOO solvable, and the experience of reading everyone's correspondence (which is always the best part for me) was delicious. The characters had such strong personalities in this one, it reminded me of the Appeal all over again (in a good way), these clashing, dramatic personalities playing out on page in front of you. Another smash hit from Janice Hallett! Now I go back to patiently waiting for her next release....

As always, thanks to Atria books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an arc of this. Janice Hallett is a writer in her own league. Her ability to weave in so many details that all tie together in the end is incredible. This is another fantastic work and I would absolutely recommend to any mystery reader. Twists galore that made me want to reread to see where I had missed the first clues. The joy of Hallett’s work is that it is always interesting no matter how many times you read it. The characters here were all complex and while interesting it was occasionally a struggle to like them as people. But I will say that didn’t ruin the work for me. I’ll read anything by Janice Hallett for as long as she is writing!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Examiner is the newest book by the author of The Appeal. Using similar devices to tell the story, The Examiner focuses on a group of people who are part of a master's art program, but there of course there is more going on than just a group of people doing some art.

I wish I could have liked this more. I found it tedious and long in places. The story seemed to drag on and then all of a sudden the author would drop a *gasp* moment to keep you reading. I'm sure if I went back to re-read it, then I'd be able to see how she laid the groundwork for each surprise, but during the initial read it felt like she was dropping twists in for the sheer amusement of it and not to tell a good story.

If you enjoyed The Appeal, then I would say give this one a try. I could be in the minority on this one!

Janice Hallett has the most incredible mind - I don't understand how she comes up with such clever, well crafted mysteries. I was completely enthralled from Page 1!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy

This was a fun read! A lot to take in here.

The story is told through messages, emails, and assignments sent by students of an art degree and the people around them. While reviewing course documents for grading at the end of the degree, the examiner believes he has discovered that one of the students has disappeared, and the others are covering it up. It's a fun format, but it's also a lot of content to get through, much longer than your typical suspense novel.

There were times when I thought, these people are not acting like human beings...and then I realized I probably know someone similar to every character. This class is full of that annoying coworker you sit near or that relentless overachiever you went to school with. There are times when you may need to suspend your disbelief, but it's not that serious and would make for a great beach or rainy day read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’m not quite a Janice Hallett completist with one book left to read, but I think it’s safe to say that this is her most banana-pants one yet. In the best way, of course.The premise is simple: six students begin a course at a prestigious university for a Multimedia Arts degree. By the end of the course, one student is dead… or missing… or perfectly fine? Maybe not so simple.

This book has several strengths and a couple of weaknesses. The pros: it’s definitely a page-turner. Janice Hallett is a master of mixed media format and uses it to build suspense in a way most authors wouldn’t be able to handle. It’s also well-researched, delving into some… let’s call it ‘interesting’ territory. (When you know, you can’t unknow.) Finally, her characterization is excellent. Who are the ‘good guys’ and who are the ‘bad guys’? I’m still only about eight-five percent sure, but I know each of the main characters well.

Now the cons: while the book was carefully plotted, the author made it just a little too complicated and the story got bogged down about two-thirds of the way through. Also, she should’ve started revealing snippets of the characters’ back stories sooner. The ending was a bit of an information dump, with too much to process in too short a time, which took away from the suspense that she had so carefully built. Obviously, holding back certain things was integral to the story, but concealing as much as she did canceled out much of the shock value the author was aiming for by revealing these details at the last.

These were by no means deal-breakers and The Examiner was a fun, if not perfect, ride. I rate it 3.75 stars and highly recommend it.

Thank you Atria Books for the gifted digital ARC!

Janice Hallett is a master of mixed media storytelling. I absolutely love how every time you read one of her novels you, the reader, are invited to try to solve the mystery. It's such a fun and unique reading experience.

There were some big twists in this one that I didn't see coming, and kudos to Hallett for such a clever reveal that really made everything click into place. It would be interesting to re-read this knowing that vital piece of information. Sorry that is so vague but, alas, it's a huge spoiler!

I definitely cannot wait to see what Hallett comes up with next! The Examiner is out in the US on September 10.

I'm not sure this book was for me. However, I think it will hit with a lot of people. If you love complex mysteries that invite the reader to play detective, it's for you. You'll love it if you love novels told in emails, transcripts, and texts.

I feel a bit conflicted with this one. The way Hallett writes her stories are incredible and creative. Also, it's the best option for me to get out of a reading slump.

The sad thing is... I was disappointed. I did not enjoy the background for the characters that connected to the "mystery" of this story. I tend to love academia vibes in mystery but this one didn't work much for me.

I do believe it'll be a well reviewed book. It was just wrong for me, specially after reading the Alperton Angels one (which was a favorite).

This story is told all in emails, texts and essays. It can be very annoying to read as there are no descriptions of people and emotions are unreadable in this type of storytelling. But you can still very much dislike characters through their chat rooms! Six students are doing a master’s program that crosses art with marketing. The students are all very different, with 5 of them being “mature” students. Of course, art projects are not the heart of this book, but what else is really going on? Is one, or two, of the students missing, or dead? Why is Jen so annoying? Does Ludya really have so many personal issues? Whose voice is on the radio? Does Gela, the head of the program, really ever do anything? It’s a frustrating book, with great twists and double twists, and annoyingly unputdownable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this DRC.
#TheExaminer #NetGalley

I *loved* this book.
I have enjoyed other books by the author, I really like the format of stories told through documents/correspondence, but this was by far the best. I've just finished it and I feel like starting over from the beginning, to see how it all looks knowing the twists and turns.
This was fascinating and engaging and the pacing was perfect.

I’ve really come to enjoy how this author tells a story. The Examiner tells is about a group of students enrolled in a multimedia art course. A very eclectic mix was chosen to participate, and through emails and texts, we will discover why.
We know that something happened early on, and I did not expect it to be anything good. As the story progressed, I realized everything I thought I knew was incorrect. An enjoyable mystery if you like this style of writing.

I have loved every book that Janice Hallett has written and this book is no exception. The writing is crisp, the clues are clever, and the topic is sensational. I am sad that the book ended and I have to wait another year or more to read her other work. This book also taught me about what an art program looks like and different mediums of art. Wowow!

I always love Hallett’s writing and this is no exception. While the end felt a bit far fetched the fun twists and messy characters felt real and fun to read! Always a pleasure to see how she weaves the story together.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you've been looking at my Goodreads at all you've probably noticed I'm on a Hallett kick— I've scurried through reading most of her stuff over the last week or so, so getting to read this before it came out was a little treat.

In all honesty, I still think I love The Appeal more. It still feels like the strongest of her books from what I've read. That being said, this was a delight. She's got a way of writing reveals that make past discrepancies slot into place so beautifully and leave me pacing around the house. I think the main issue for me was the limited scope of the epistolary writing, compared to The Appeal, but also I get why the choices made were made. This is probably closer to a 4.5 in rating, but it didn't take me over in the way that book did, so that's why I'm putting it there.

Anyway, as someone who did a one years masters in the UK and felt a little insane by the end of it, this hit home while being a delightful mystery. I am still pacing around the house because of parts of it! A perfect little beach read imo.