The Examiner by Janice Hallett

The Examiner is the fifth novel by Janice Hallett, which was published on 29th August. I didn’t even know it was coming out, so I was very pleased when I saw it for half price in Sainsbury’s. I love Janice Hallett’s books. She specialises in humorous crime novels, which the reader always pieces together from things like emails, voicemails and WhatsApp messages. My favourite novels of hers are The Appeal and The Christmas Appeal. And I’m pleased to say The Examiner is right up there with them. I binged it in two days.

The Multimedia Art MA is a new course at Hastings University, with just six students. It is designed to bridge the gap between the world of art and the commercial world – giving experienced artists the skills they need to sell themselves and their work. The six students on the course range in age from 21 to almost retirement age. They include an award-winning artist, a freelance artist juggling her work with two young children and a man who never get the chance to keep up his art studies, due to a series of family tragedies.

It isn’t long before conflict and discord breaks out between the students.

There are allegations that something bad has happened and been covered up. But has it really happened and is it really possible to cover up something that bad?

The examiner is trying to piece together what really happened from a series of messages between the students and their course leader, Gela. The messages, and even some of the assignments, are fairly unprofessional and defamatory, with students blaming each other for problems on the course and trying to outdo each other. Above all, 21-year-old Jem, who still relies heavily on her dad to transport her everywhere, suspects other course members aren’t being truthful. But she is young, annoying and naive. Will anyone listen to her?

The Examiner has lots of twists and is a brilliant, entertaining read. If you’re looking for a fun, dark read, I can’t recommend it highly enough.