I love the writing style of Janice Hallett. She has changed the epistolary genre and brought it to a exciting, modern format which works wonders for this story. I won't go into details, as you have to go in blind to fully appreciate this story. However, I can say that it starts with the chats of a very divers group of art students who have enrolled in a new MA. The ambition is to bridge the world of arts and creativity with that of corporate image.
And if I have one criticism, it is that the first quarter of the book reads like the internal notes of a project team - which it is of course - but for me personally it was too close to home. It made me feel like I was involved in yet another project at work in which I needed to be invested, which is also a compliment for the author for succeeding in making me feel this way.

But don't be fooled, because the story takes a few very sharp turns and becomes something else completely! People are everything but who they say they are, and almost everyone is fooled - including the reader.

I will never tire of Mrs. Hallett writing, and I will happily devour every book she writes. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long for the next one.

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

Like many Janice Hallett books, the mixed media nature of the book is a key component. It amazes me how she manages to change it up with each release. This one focuses on private group chats, emails, reports, diaries and essays. These elements make the book very easy and fast.
The mystery in this was a little slow, there were drops of hints in the middle portion but as the reader we don’t really know what is the mystery. This can either be fun for the reader or annoying. For me, I didn’t mind. The downside, that most of the reveal was done in the last part of the book. Out of all her books, this had the weakest mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A group of students start on am ART course. It is an odd selection, ranging from an established artist to a young girl who has just completed her degree.
The book is written in the form of messages and from the point of view of the final examiner. The relationship between the students is strained and doesn't seem to settle. The youngest student feels that the tutor is favouring people who are not attending the sessions and when they are given their end of year assignment which requires them to work as a team, she bemoans that people are missing and not pulling their weight.
As time goes on, things get stranger and stranger and it all comes to a head on the night of the presentation.
I really enjoyed reading this.

Absolutely mesmerising. So many twists and turns that it was impossible to guess the denouement.
As usual, by combining the narrative with communications, Hallett deepens the mystery and allows the reader a perspective that the characters don’t have.

The characters are a motley crew who are the Guinea pigs on a new art course. Although not entirely likeable, in fact some are wholly unlikeable, their behaviour creates some comedy in amongst all of the intrigue and drama.

Janice Hallett has absolutely nailed it with ‘The Examiner’.

Please don't let this different, yet innovative and unique format of storytelling - messages, texts and essays - put you off reading this book. You will do yourself a disservice! I found The Examiner to be a riveting page turner that keeps the reader engaged and guessing throughout. Hallett has created an eclectic cast of characters, the majority quite unlikable, and a very intriguing and plausible storyline.

Janice Hallett is definitely an author whose books will appear on my shelves in the future. 

Thank you NetGalley and Viper Books for an eARC of this book to read and review. Expected publication date is August 29th, 2024.

The Examiner follows this authors marvellously unique storytelling style, using emails, WhatsApp messages, and diary entries to weave a complex mystery.

The novel is set at the University of Royal Hastings, where six diverse students are selected for a new MA art course led by the mysterious Gela. The story plays out through their communications as they work on their final project.

As always, the format keeps you engaged as you try to piece together the story - I don’t think I’ve figured one of them out correctly yet! 🤣.

Overall, The Examiner offers another intriguing and inventive mystery. it’s a good read for those of us who enjoy her style and mixed-media narratives. I eagerly await her next book.

If you are a fan of Janice Hallett you will find yourself in familiar territory with The Examiner. A strong cast of characters and unusual story telling that leaves the reader to try to see beyond what they are reading.
This time we are with a new MA art course at the University of Royal Hastings. The 6 participants have been personally selected by the course leader Gela and seem a rather unusual group. Diverse in age and ability- it doesn’t seem clear to us, or them , why they have been chosen. They quickly become combative and as the whole point of the course is to work together towards a final project, sparks begins to fly. The entire novel is made up of internal messages and WhatsApp’s between them and we soon get to know the characters - at least what they tell us and others see.
The joy of a Janice Hallett novel is trying to find out what is being hidden and as the reveals come thick and fast it all comes together like a jigsaw puzzle. As always, very clever with some brilliant characters and sleight of hand.

The Examiner by Janice Hallett is an academic thriller in her signature mixed media style which uses a mixture of text messages, emails and online diary entries to gradually reveal a complicated plot. Set on a Masters art course with just six students, the cast of characters and therefore potential suspects is relatively small. The initial pacing feels slow as it takes a little time to get the characters and their quirks and traits straight , but it does pick up steam as the story unfolds and by the end I was frantically turning the pages as reveal after reveal brought the story to a perhaps slightly overly complicated close. I was happy to stick with it despite the slow start because of my enjoyment of previous books by this author, but new readers might find it a little off putting. I wish the ending had been slightly easier to believe, it was just a little too far fetched for my liking. That being said I enjoyed the journey if not the destination.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

The Examiner is an ambitious crime novel with a reach that exceeds its grasp, however it's well worth reading for its clever plotting and complex characters. Told in the form of online messages, diary entries and essays it sometimes has the feel of a play with a cast of characters whose distinctive voices and personalities burst through the text - warts and all.
Where this book falls short, in my opinion, is in the convoluted and far-fetched plot twists which stretch the believability factor. There is way too much going on and this often overwhelms what is otherwise good confident story telling.
The Examiner is the first novel that I've read by Janice Hallett but on the strength of her entertaining writing style I would be happy to go back and try one of her earlier works.
Thanks to Serpent's Tail/Viper and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. 3.5 stars.

As always, Ms. Hallet has delivered an intriguing and complex story using her trademark narrative style. Although I enjoyed the way we gradually found out more about the characters, I missed the sly comedy of some of her other books and wasn't fully engaged with the plot which seemed a bit too far fetched.
Thank you to netgalley and serpent's tail for an advance copy of this book.

I love Janice Hallett’s books and this one is no exception! I just love the format. There is something so gripping about being able to get a full plot and amazing characterisation from emails, messages and notes!

I was hooked from start to finish and the surprises kept on coming. I love how things you thought you knew proved entirely wrong and things you haven’t even considered suddenly become clear.

Brilliantly written, absolutely captivating. A fun story with a dark heart!

The Examiner is the story of a Masters art course got wrong, told in a very unique way. It is Janice Hallett's trademark style of creating a story out of emails, texts, essays, anything but bog standard prose. It slowly builds up as more is revealed, and not always in a linear fashion, sometimes shining light on what the reader may have previously perceived to be an innocuous comment. It is clever and full of twists I didn't see coming.

Unfortunately for me, having very much enjoyed many of the previous works, this one took a bit too long to get going. The slow build up feels even slower, with barely any mystery hinted at for quite some time. At the beginning it felt like I was reading the messages between students, their work, comments from their tutor etc... but without any intrigue. The stakes do build dramatically by the end but the first quarter, if not more, didn't hook me in.

Recommended for fans of mixed-media. If you have read the author's other works and are looking for something in the same style, then this is another fun mystery in that slow-building, clever format. If you are new to Janice Hallett's writing, I wouldn't recommend this be your first one. Pick up the much more instantly engaging options of The Appeal or The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels.

I found this quite an odd book.

I do really enjoy books that have an interesting and unusual structure like this - it was told in emails, texts, assignments and diary entries. I felt like some of it worked well and some bits felt quite dull. It took quite a long time for the plot to get moving.

All the many descriptions and discussions about the art, assignments, technology and companies, whilst relevant, could be quite dull and repetitive at times.

Once the plot picked up a bit, I was intrigued and there were some really cool twists and turns that I didn’t see coming! Particularly enjoyed the reveal about Jem which was very clever!!

Quite enjoyed how the end left a few things up to interpretation as well. I like it when thrillers aren’t just tied up in a neat little ending.

So, pretty mixed feelings. However, I have really enjoyed books from this author before and I’d definitely try more in the future.

2.5* --> 3

I have a sneaking suspicion this will be a wildly unpopular opinion, but I’m afraid “ The Examiner” didn’t at all work for me. Multiple times I considered throwing in the towel, but this is Janice Hallett and I couldn’t not give her the benefit of the doubt.

For the first time, I felt the original concept of merely using messages and transcripts just wasn’t working. The assignments the students were working on brought little to nothing to the story and I found it all slightly tedious. Few of these characters are particularly likeable and there was one who annoyed me so fiercely from the very first sentence they uttered that I was about ready to throw my kindle out the window. 

It’s obvious there’s something going on that a few of the characters, and the reader, are unaware of. But if there were clues along the way that I should have picked up on to figure out what that was, I missed all of them. Heck, I couldn’t even understand why any of the students were there in the first place as I’m pretty sure I would have left after a day or two. The toxic environment was really getting to me.

Normally I would race through these chapters but somehow the pace seemed entirely off. It didn’t really seem like much at all was happening, but in hindsight I’m wondering if it wasn’t some kind of distraction. That said, it wasn’t until the 70% mark where something finally got me buzzing. That last quarter, where the pieces of the puzzle start to come together is why I read this author’s books. However, by then I had nearly lost all interest in the storyline, which went from slow and lacking excitement to being rather convoluted. Still, somehow ‘The Examiner’ did redeem itself in the end as Hallett was once again able to take me entirely by surprise.

I’m extremely surprised that I ended up feeling somewhat underwhelmed about it all. I normally really enjoy Janice Hallett’s books. This time around though, the concept just didn’t click with me. As I said at the beginning, I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority so don’t let my opinion put you off. And I will undoubtedly be reading Hallett’s next offering when it arrives.

Having not read anything by Janice Hallet before, it was certainly a revelation to be introduced to this writing style.
The story is told purely through text, direct messages, and group messages. There are also reports from examiners, support staff and tutors.
The premise revolves around six students enrolled on a Mixed Media Masters Degree at Royal Hastings College. The story is told principally from their interactions plus their tutor, Gela, {short for Angela, but with a hard G). In the background, we are told that three examiners are auditing the course. One examiner believes some harm has befallen or is about to occur to one of the students and asks the other two examiners to peruse all the messages and documentation. So, in other words, we are reading what these examiners are reading.
This approach is very different and I liked Hallett’s skill in that even though we only have dry messages and reports, you find yourself having an affinity with some students and thoroughly disliking others. There are a lot of layers to go through and surprise after surprise emerges about the students and their reasons for being there.
I did enjoy this unique way of storytelling, but with two minor problems. Firstly, about halfway through the book, we were getting lots of repeats of messages, but the pace had slowed so much, that there was a danger of it becoming boring. Secondly, in contrast to the messages, the conclusion and revelation were so fanciful, it was hard to get my head around.
So, it’s a jury out 3 star from me, but will probably pick up an earlier book from this author to improve my perspective.
As ever, sincere thanks to NetGalley, Janice Hallett and Serpent’s Tail, Viper, Profile books for the much-appreciated ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

‘ Be aware that if my worst fears are true, then one of the students on this course is dead.’
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JANICE HALLETT DOES IT AGAIN! I would truly love to sit down and look at how she plots through these books, the intricate details that are dropped like breadcrumbs throughout the whole novel that suddenly hit you in the face with the big reveals, she truly is creating a sub genre of it’s own with her unique style of writing mysteries and I feel beyond fortunate to have had an early read of this one!
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The plot is gripping, the characters infuriating yet loveable, the story telling second to none. I cannot begin to explain how quickly i raced through this, as the minute I stepped foot into the world Janice Hallett had created, that was it, I was sucked in, there was no leaving! My big piece of advice for any mystery lover, is to just do yourself a favour, purchase all of her back list and this new title also, pour a cup of coffee, and just binge read these intricate, fascinating and oh so clever books!
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Cannot thank Viper Books for the arc more! I adored it!

The latest Janice Hallett book follows a similar style to her previous ones. It is told through various mediums, in this case a messaging service, essays, and Whatsapp.
Set in a university a diverse group are brought together on a MA art degree: Jem, Suzie, Jonathan, Patrick, Cameron and Ludya along with Gela their tutor.
The reader becomes the sleuth with the course Examiner reading the various communications and assignments to try and find out what happened on the course over the year. Did someone go missing on the course and what happened?
This is a fast paced addictive story which is hard to put down.
I highly recommend this Janice Hallett title which will appeal to previous readers and new ones!

I haven't read this book because it expired on Net Galley before I had a chance to read it. It is a shame as I was looking forward to reading this book.

The queen of the epistolary novel, and the modern day Agatha Christie, is back with my most anticipated novel of the year.

The Examiner focuses on course leader, Angela Nathaniel, and her attempt to pilot a new Multimedia Art course at the Royal Hastings University designed to bridge the gap between creatives art education and the job market. On the course is Alyson who is a renowned artist to bring credibility to the course; Patrick, the people-pleaser who wants to be everyone’s friend; Ludya, who can’t seem to balance the course workload with her family commitments; Cameron, a burnt out corporate professional whose idea of therapy is to complete a masters degree; Jonathan, who has management experience running a gallery but no creative experience; and Jemisha who’s ruthless ambition you should cross at your own peril.

Then there is the external examiner who is there to ratify the students grades but fears for the safety of one student who may, or may not, be missing. Therefore, they have access to the group chats, e-mails, tutor reports, essays, journal entries and Doodle (the university’s intranet) to solve what happened to them. In typical Janice Hallett fashion, the reader fills the role of the examiner in order to solve the mystery with the readers own point of view creating a unique reading experience. Nothing should be taken at face value and one of the early plot twists was incredibly satisfying both in terms of deceiving the reader as well as providing a jab at our own unconscious biases and assumptions we hold.

Unlike Janice’s prior novels, this was the first novel where the delivery of the main mystery didn’t seem equitably paced throughout. Janice Hallett chose to spend more time during the first third of the novel on petty correspondences between the main players and on the progress of their assignments. Whilst she succeeded in finding humour in the mundane and extrapolating that to extreme situations, utilising well developed characters to do so, this consequently meant that the main mysteries felt underdeveloped and less satisfying than it could have been. For the first time reading a Janice Hallett novel, I anticipated the plot twists and the plots consequent direction of travel which meant that the conclusion was not as shocking as I had hoped. Nevertheless, I had to pace myself as otherwise I would have feverishly finished this novel in one sitting.

Irrespective of my gripes, Janice Hallett is the most innovative author in the mystery-thriller genre and I will continue to wax lyrical about each release. Therefore, I am now setting my sights on her explosive introduction into the children’s literature genre next year in a Box Full of Murders.

If you thought your time at university was stressful, you should read The Examiner, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

This is the latest in Janice Hallett's twisty novels in which the reader is invited to be a detective, I have read, enjoyed and become familiar with her style that incorporates texts, emails, essays, Doodle chat group, instructors reports, and more to deliver the story. The University of Royal Hastings, not real, has set up a Multimedia MA with a tutor, Gela (Angela) Nathaniel has the threat of funding pressure, leaving her with the concerns of trying to ensure it succeeds, her future employment may depend on it. She must have six students from diverse backgrounds from across the nation on the course, which there is, none of whom are likeable, whilst you are left wondering what some of them doing on the course.

The course examiner comes from the outside, with the task of assessing and judging performance in a group project in deciding whether to award the degree to the students, and he has worries, something definitely feels wrong, could a murder possibly have occurred? He reviews the coursework, group interactions and relationships, and assessments. There is friction, cheating, secrets and more amongst the students, which consist of a wide age range, we learn of their backgrounds, from the irritatingly ambitious Jem, Patrick, an arts supplies store owner, Jonathan, owner of a gallery, single mother Ludya with financial issues and 2 children, Cameron, who is treating the course as a hobby, and the more established Alyson.

Gela herself struggles mightily when it comes to engendering group cohesion. Little is as it appears in this, at times aggravating, well plotted, puzzle of detective fiction, but I have to say that I was far from convinced by the conclusions. However, i did enjoy the entertaining journey, and look forward to Hallett's next book! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.