The Examiner: A Novel

by Janice Hallett

Overview

Told in emails, text messages, and essays, this innovative page-turner follows a group of students in an art master’s program that goes dangerously awry, from the internationally bestselling “new queen of crime” (Electric Literature) Janice Hallett.

University professor Gela Nathaniel must make her new master’s program in multimedia art succeed. If it doesn’t, then Royal Hastings University will cut her funding and she’ll be out of the job she loves. The six students in this inaugural course will be key to that success...but how well has she selected the team?

The students include a talented young sculptor who is determined to graduate with top grades, a former gallery owner with limited artistic skills, a single mother more interested in a paycheck than homework, a people pleaser who struggles with technology, a marketing executive suffering from burnout, and a successful artist who seems rather overqualified for the program.

At the end of the academic year, when the examiner arrives to grade the students’ final project, he finds himself asking what happened. Because if someone in that course isn’t in mortal danger, then they are already dead. But who, and why?

He wants us to read through the students’ coursework, texts, message boards, and final essays to see if we can find the answers. Only one thing is certain: nothing about this course has been left to chance, and each of these students has their own very different agenda.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668023426
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	09/10/2024
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	10,885
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. She wrote articles and speeches for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times, from Madagascar to the Galapagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. A playwright and screenwriter, she penned the feminist Shakespearean stage comedy NetherBard and cowrote the feature film Retreat. She lives in London and is the author of The Examiner, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, The Appeal, The Christmas Appeal, and The Twyford Code.

Editorial Reviews

07/29/2024

Combing through emails, essays, texts, and chatroom messages, a mysterious “examiner” uncovers the hidden motives of six graduate students enrolled in a multimedia art course at London’s Royal Hastings University, in the convoluted latest epistolary mystery from Hallett (after The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels). With varying degrees of skill, the students—established artists Ludya and Alyson; gallery owner Jonathan; bored executive Cameron; art supply store owner Patrick; and emerging audio artist Jem—create elaborate art installations while forming friendships and rivalries that mask their true reasons for taking the class. As the communications wear on, it becomes clear that there’s been a murder among the group, and that many of the students are concealing secret identities. With her colleague’s help, class instructor Gela Nathaniel attempts to follow the clues to uncover the killer, but her efforts only propel the narrative to a tangled, unsatisfying conclusion. The initial novelty of the format collapses under the plot’s increasingly intricate mix of climate activism, nuclear threats, and latent Cold War intrigue. This is likely to leave readers lost. Agent: Markus Hoffmann, Regal Hoffmann & Assoc. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Were I twice as clever as I am now, I'd still be only half as clever as Janice Hallett. Everything she writes, almost impossibly, is original; think Agatha Christie, only more daring. In a century of photocopied crime novels, of been-there characters and done-that plot twists, her books feel urgently necessary; they sharpen the blunted brain like whetstones. If you want your fiction bold, witty, sophisticated, and fun, then stop reading this sentence and start reading Janice Hallett.”
—AJ Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

"A remarkable book from a talented author and a good choice for readers who like the quirky and unusual."
—Booklist

"Hallett’s unconventional novel proves both creative and astute. Dare we say it? A tour de force.”
—Kirkus Reviews

"Gripping... Hallett builds intrigue with a cast of unreliable (though consistently intriguing) characters, which means the twists keep coming. Recommended for fans of academic mysteries and those who enjoy puzzle-within-a-puzzle mysteries such as Cara Hunter's Murder in the Family and Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders."
—Library Journal

“This utterly clever page turning novel will keep you reading until the very last page—this might be my favorite Janice Hallett book so far!”
—C.L. Miller, author of The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder

“Insanely readable. Hallett is an absolute original, a complete one-off.”
—Mick Herron, author of Slow Horses

“Another compulsive page-turner from Janice Hallett. Excellent fun! And at least three twists I didn't see coming.”
—Alex Pavesi, author of The Eighth Detective

“Cleverer and twistier than ever! This is Janice Hallett at her very best.”
—Elly Griffiths, author of The Locked Room

“Janice Hallett has done it again. The Examiner is a witty and clever whodunnit that will keep you gripped and guessing until the end. With a wonderful cast of memorable characters, and lots of unexpected twists, I couldn't put it down. Absolutely brilliant.”
—Alice Feeney, author of Daisy Darker

From the Publisher

08/01/2024

Hallett's (The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels) latest again utilizes an epistolary style, incorporating texts, message board postings, emails, and student essays to tell a gripping story. Readers enter the lives of six art students who are beginning a one-year master's program. The program is led by Gela Nathaniel, who is facing the loss of the art program altogether if she can't show that students in the program will make connections to real-world (i.e., commercial) entities. When the six students of disparate backgrounds start the program, they find that the biggest challenge they'll face is not the coursework but the personality conflicts among them. As the infighting and competition gets worse, these conflicts lead to a toxic environment that could prove deadly as well. VERDICT Where some suspense novels rely on one unreliable narrator to flesh out the mystery, Hallett builds intrigue with a cast of unreliable (though consistently intriguing) characters, which means the twists keep coming. Recommended for fans of academic mysteries and those who enjoy puzzle-within-a-puzzle mysteries such as Cara Hunter's Murder in the Family and Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders. —Jane Jorgenson

Library Journal

2024-07-04
A mystery unfolds through email, letters, essays, and online correspondence.

Six students begin a one-year master’s degree program in multimedia art at a British university that has recently been forced to cut many of its fine art programs and redesign the degree with an eye toward art’s business relevancy. They come together as strangers, representing an eclectic mix of ages and backgrounds. Some are artists, while others have more tangential connections to the art world. But over the course of the year, strange things happen. Someone appears to go missing, or maybe is even dead. Something is stolen. Almost everyone has secrets, including the leader of the program. The novel actually begins at the end, when an external examiner brought in to assign grades instead gets drawn into anomalies in the documented online conversations and some additional emails and materials that have been made available to him. He prepares to confront the students as they unveil their final project, an installation designed for RD8 Systems Ltd., a tech and communication business. Novels structured like a series of message-board postings almost inevitably feel gimmicky and all too clever. This one surprisingly breaks that mold. Though we spend nearly 500 pages primarily in the online company of only a few characters, Hallett skillfully introduces twists as much as halfway along. The secret to the success lies in the realistic, somber tone that only grows darker as truths are revealed. Played for comedy, the whole thing would have seemed superficial, but as a commentary on art’s current role in academia and business, as well as the darker side of human ambition and gullibility, Hallett’s unconventional novel proves both creative and astute.

Dare we say it? A tour de force.

Kirkus Reviews