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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
generally enjoy Hallett's work but very very tired of "what if climate activists were ecoterrorists" as a plot device
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was excited by the beginning of this book and really liked the novel structure. It read quickly and was hard to put down initially. It slowed in the middle and the end was just too convoluted.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Starting with "The Appeal" Janice Hallett has successfully turned her whole gimmick of "a murder mystery written through text logs" into her own little subgenre and by "The Examiner" she has really gotten the hang of it. These feel so realistic because the format itself is extremely true to life: in the 21st century a lot of detective work is just sifting through mountains of emails and text logs, and the specific setting of this novel - the group chats of an MA group on a university intranet - will be familiar to anyone who's spent even a small amount of time in higher education.
It's notably stronger on characterization than "The Appeal" - all the cast are on the surface vaguely satirical "types" in the Agatha Christie school, but like Christie the novel is paced well enough that by the time the central mystery starts to ramp up they all feel like actual people who you vaguely care about. Without going into spoilers the plot ends up being significantly more far-fetched than her previous works but way this book is written, at a remove from the actual action and where events only became clear a while after the fact - means that the escalations don't feel like shocking swerves in the way they maybe ought to.
While when I read "The Appeal" I found myself thinking a lot about the potential pitfalls of this format, in this novel the advantages are very clear. The narrative sleights of hand and big twists feel real instead of like cheats, as everyone can and does make false assumptions about people and events when they are only ever described through text messages and emails. I suspect the way these twists are seeded and the way you can decode how the actual events of the novel are occurring in the background of the story we're reading will mean this novel will hold up much better on a re-read than many of its genre.
It's notably stronger on characterization than "The Appeal" - all the cast are on the surface vaguely satirical "types" in the Agatha Christie school, but like Christie the novel is paced well enough that by the time the central mystery starts to ramp up they all feel like actual people who you vaguely care about. Without going into spoilers the plot ends up being significantly more far-fetched than her previous works but way this book is written, at a remove from the actual action and where events only became clear a while after the fact - means that the escalations don't feel like shocking swerves in the way they maybe ought to.
While when I read "The Appeal" I found myself thinking a lot about the potential pitfalls of this format, in this novel the advantages are very clear. The narrative sleights of hand and big twists feel real instead of like cheats, as everyone can and does make false assumptions about people and events when they are only ever described through text messages and emails. I suspect the way these twists are seeded and the way you can decode how the actual events of the novel are occurring in the background of the story we're reading will mean this novel will hold up much better on a re-read than many of its genre.
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated