Review: The Examiner by Janice Hallett

Summary:

Gela Nathaniel, head of Royal Hastings University’s new Multimedia Art course, must find six students from all walks of life across the United Kingdom for her new master’s program before the university cuts her funding. The students are nothing but trouble from day one.

There’s Jem, a talented sculptor recently graduated from her university program and eager to make her mark as an artist at any cost. Jonathan, who has little experience in art practice aside from running his family’s gallery. Patrick runs an art supply store, but can barely operate his phone, much less design software. Ludya is a single mother and graphic designer more interested in a paycheck than homework. Cameron is a marketing executive in search of a hobby or a career change. And Alyson, already a successful artist, seems to be overqualified. Finally, there is the examiner, the man hired to grade students’ final works—an art installation for a local cloud-based solutions company that may have an ulterior agenda—and who, in sifting through final essays, texts, and message boards, warns that someone is in danger…or already dead. And nothing about this course has been left up to chance.

Review:

I’ve heard Hallett referred to as the “modern Agatha Christie”, and I can easily believe that.  Hallett is one of those authors who, although she hasn’t written many books as of yet, makes me keep an eye out for her novels so that I can pounce on them as soon as possible.  And when I saw this one, I immediately downloaded it and moved it to the top of my “to be read” list.  As with her other novels, once I started reading it, I almost couldn’t put it down.  I say “almost” because I hit the 40% point at around 1am and had to put the book down to sleep.

My only issue with reviewing her books is that it’s hard to talk about them without giving things away.  Hallett’s plotting is intricate and involved, all the more amazing because according to her editor, the author mostly writes by the seat of her pants without much advance thought.  If that’s the case, then holy cow, this woman’s mind is a frightening place (but in the best possible way).

I give props to Hallett for the format she works in: I’d call it a modern epistolary novel.  For those unfamiliar with the term, that’s a novel in letters.  Recent books have played with the format by utilizing emails, blog posts, newspaper columns, and other similar items to mimic the older plot form.  The Examiner uses mostly chat logs from various platforms, along with online diary entries, emails, and academic communications to tell the story.  It’s a format that I love, because it not only allows the reader to “eavesdrop” on the characters in what are supposedly unguarded moments, it also introduces the possibility of characters being unreliable to each other and to the reader at the same time.

Hallett’s stories never go where you expect them to go.  Yes, you know there’s a murder in there somewhere, but why it happens and what the circumstances around it might be are nothing like what you’ll expect.  Everything does come together well at the end, to the point that you’re likely going to want to re-read the book to check out all the clues salted through the narrative with the knowledge of where it’s all going.

Expect the unexpected with anything that Hallett writes, and prepare to say “WHAT???” out loud a few times.  The Examiner is a roller coaster ride that doesn’t let up until the very last pages.

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