My Review with Spoilers for The Examiner by Janice Hallett will discuss this new epistolary suspense story by British author Janice Hallett. If you liked her prior books, will you like this one? What did I think? Let’s discuss!
The Examiner by Janice Hallett: Overview
- Published on September 10, 2024 by Atria Books
- 480 pages
- More by this author: The Appeal (2021), The Twyford Code (2022), The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels (2023), The Christmas Appeal (2023)
The Examiner by Janice Hallett: Jen’s Quick Take
- Like all Hallett’s books, this is a work of epistolary fiction that is entirely comprised of emails, message board posts and more.
- Set within a master’s degree program in Multimedia Arts at Royal Hastings, University of London
- The characters are a set of examiners who are evaluating a group of grad students, the six students themselves, a tutor, and some administrators
- I always enjoy Hallett’s books, but this one might be my least favorite. It lacked the gossipy, comedic feel of The Appeal and the spooky, mysterious quality of The Twyford Code and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
- The Examiner is Hallett’s longest book, and it felt too long at times
Review with Spoilers for The Examiner by Janice Hallett
As a former PhD student, if any Janice Hallett book should be for me, it should be this one. And yes, the sometimes backstabbing world of academia is a good place to set a book. (Remember the Amanda Cross books, Wonder Boys, The Chair with Sandra Oh?)
But for some reason I struggled a little with The Examiner. I’m not a huge fan of the epistolary format, and I found the squabbling of the students a little tedious.
In the first few pages, one of the examiners thinks “something awful” happened and that it was covered up, but again, it takes a long time to get to the who and the why.
The book focuses a LOT on every single assignment, how the students feel about them, how they feel about each other’s projects, how they feel about each other, and how they feel about their grades. If you have a strong interest in multi-media art, you might feel differently.
But my main issue is that Hallett’s prior books have made me feel like a detective poring over a case file. By concealing what “awful” thing happened until near the end, the reader fumbles in the dark with the petty, squabbling students for most of the 480 pages.
Spoilers for The Examiner by Janice Hallett
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Here were the clues that finally helped me put a few things together:
- Gela, the tutor, handpicked each student for the program
- Two of the students skip assignments and disappear for long periods
- A few people are EXTREMELY concerned about the security of the art studio, which made little sense to me
- One of the students is connected to AetherGen, a climate change activist group that sounded similar to Extinction Rebellion
- The students are given an odd assignment for RD8, some kind of high-tech security firm
That made me think that the book had to have a political angle and that someone was trying to infiltrate RD8.
Yes, and the answer was complicated. If I got something wrong, please say so in comments.
- One of the students goes missing. We are meant to think it’s Alyson, but it’s actually Cameron
- Before his death, Cameron (who has a background in financial fraud) and Gela (the tutor) seem to be setting up three students who are AetherGen members trying to infiltrate RD8 and their new technology called kiss-kiss: Alyson, who is actually her sister Susie; Ludya; and Jonathan, Suzie’s husband
- I’m not sure if Gela learned of their plot and invited them on the course, or if she invited them and it was a bit of entrapment.
- On a field trip to RD8, some of the students steal an old radio and one of them is convinced the radio broadcasts a person calling for help (this is WEIRD)
More Reveals!
- We learn that Jem, a young, ambitious female student, is blind.
- Patrick, another student, is afraid for his life AND was once part of a heroin gang (okay)
- Patrick kills Cameron during the field trip, as he thought Cameron was attacking Ludya
- Cameron (before he died) and Gela were surveilling AetherGen sleeper cell members Jonathan, Susie, and Ludya.
- After Cameron dies, the AetherGen trio cuts off his finger. They encase it in in resin so they can acess biometric security on his devices. They also save his head! Then they use the finger and the head to impersonate him and hide the fact that he’s dead
- Through accessing Cameron’s devices, they discover that Cameron and Gela set them up!
Then Things Get a Little Geopolitical
- There’s some kind of a RD8 “Dead Hand” system that involves missiles and the power to destroy all mankind. It was (I think)hidden inside the radio the students stole. This was a bridge too far for me, so I zoned out a little.
- But Jem accidentally disabled the Dead Hand system. She was the one who put the disembodied voice of Cameron in the radio. (She did this as a joke, and to show off a little)
- Ben (one of the examiners) was the head of the AetherGen sleeper cell
- Suzie, Jonathan and Ludya were charged with trespassing, cyber-fraud and criminal damage. Susie and Jonathan were each sentenced to ten years and Ludya provided evidence against them so received a suspended sentence.
What is the Real Deal With Patrick?
- Patrick is feeling a little Keyser Söze to me.
- For one of his art projects, Patrick made paperweights out of resin with a dead scorpion inside, one for himself and each of his fellow students. Somehow this is also a clue? Cameron’s scorpion is dead, while Patrick’s was “about to strike.”
- Gela thinks that Patrick is dead, but he (or someone pretending to be him) texts Jem
- The is a LONG backstory on Patrick, the heroin gang and fleeing Ireland that I will not go into. Patrick confesses to Gela that he actually killed his friend Finn as a diversion so he could escape Ireland and start a new life. Now that he killed Cameron, he’s worried about being exposed.
- So (I guess) he uses all the chaos of the AetherGen/RD8 to make his escape again? Is that what YOU thought? Or did I miss something?
Please let me know in comments.