The Verifiers by Jane Pek

Mystery. Murder. Realistic Fiction. Queer Representation. 

Rating: 4/5

Pages: 368

Started: 15 August 2024

Finished: 24 August 2024

Summary:

    Claudia loves a good murder mystery--which is why she was so excited to start her job at Veracity, a company who charges clients for researching people met on dating sites. It's exciting to treat strangers like puzzles, and although Claudia's bosses are intense, she is very invested in her work. Especially coming from a fragmented family where marriage and dating are topics of contention, spending time in the world of dating platforms is endlessly intriguing. But when an already mysterious client is found dead, Claudia finds herself investigating the murder--for the mystery, for the dead woman and her devastated sister, and for Claudia's own dogged sense of justice.

Thoughts:    

    This was a great mystery, with a clever set-up and a very three-dimensional protagonist. The exploration of data privacy and dating apps through a murder mystery was brilliant, and it was a good mystery, too: complex, clever, and laden with false leads and white rabbits. I liked the way Pek balanced character dynamics (Claudia's family, her dating life, and her relationship with her bosses) with the mystery itself; it felt even and neither side of story was boring or overrepresented. The narration was also very personable and chatty; it hooked me in the first few pages and I felt very quickly like I knew Claudia well. The one issue I had? I couldn't stand her. Claudia deeply annoyed and frustrated me at parts, with how flippant she was about serious things and with how willing she was to make mistakes and dig deeper into mysteries without taking into account her personal safety. She was clever; she was realistic and referred to many older mysteries in a way that was cool; she was cheeky and tenacious. I do not think i could read another book with her as the protagonist, though. That being said, I think this was a well-done book and (so long as we're working with a new protagonist) I will keep an eye out for more of Pek's novels in the future.