Quirky, humorous, and modern- The Verifiers by Jane Pek is a fun quick read. Claudia Lin is a smart, independent, slightly misguided heroine- sleuthing around New York on her bike while also dodging the rigid roles her Chinese-American family wants to throw on her. Claudia works for a very secretive company that verifies people’s online dating profiles, but there might be more to it then she knows. When the customer she is working for suddenly dies, she is thrown into a convoluted mystery that uncovers a darker side to the whole matchmaking business. Claudia is not only in over her head at work, but she is keeping secrets from her own family; a family that has its own set of secrets. All of this comes together in a fast-paced, funny read. Pek develops her characters with warmth and sincerity, and I could definitely see Claudia going on to sleuth in future series. The one thing that didn’t work for me was Claudia’s sexuality. It was quite a point of contention with her mother at the start of the book, but then nothing really came of it. It seemed like a thread that was left to dangle; it felt like something that was forgotten along the way. Perhaps Pek is planning more novels with Claudia and that thread will be picked up again. Either way, The Verifiers was an entertaining mystery. Random rating system- 4/5. Thanks to @NetGalley for the eArc.

Loved this! I almost decided against reading this because of multiple negative reviews I read, so I encourage you to give it a shot if you are interested because it seems to be divisive and people either love it or hate it. The writing, characters, and plot all worked for me personally.

I think part of what needs to be considered here is genre expectations. The Verifiers walks a line between a traditional mystery and literary fiction. If you go into it expecting either one extreme or the other, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Our main character throws herself into figuring out a mystery and sometimes goes to what might be considered unrealistic lengths to continue. All the while, we are also seeing her life outside of that, with a focus on her familial relationships with her mother and siblings. These stories intertwine slightly plotwise, but moreso thematically. Major focus on the dating app industry and (separately!) a look at different ways that siblings can coexist under the shadow of differing parental expectations.

I had a lot of fun with this one at the beginning and felt that it held a lot of promise, but unfortunately the story dragged and I lost interest. It was hard to keep track of the plot and pushing through didn't feel worth it.

Started off good and seems like a good premise but began to feel like a slog about a third of the way in and obviously, that's never a good thing. Plot got more and more ridiculous until this reader lost interest.

Her brother is on the fast track to a successful career in finance and has plans for his sister to follow along. But in Jane Pek’s debut novel, “The Verifiers,” Claudia Lin secretly drops out of the corporate rat race without telling her siblings or mother and takes a job at Veracity, a new start-up that uses algorithms along with good old detective techniques to determine whether online suitors are real or not.
Claudia, a queer Asian American, really isn’t a computer geek. The reason she was chosen for the job by the company’s founder is her passion for reading, particularly the works about a fictitious crime solver named Detective Yuan.
Once she is hired, the firm becomes a three-person endeavor, with Claudia spending her time cyberstalking (the modern way to dig up dirt) and real life stalking, like they do in the crime novels Claudia consumes.
When Iris Lettriste comes in wanting them to investigate the men she’s met online, it at first seems like a simple case. But, of course, they never are. Lettriste is a no-show for her last appointment, and later is found dead of what looks like an accidental overdose of a prescription drug she’s taking.
Claudia’s bosses want to move on from Iris, but she thinks there’s more, particularly after all the online accounts belonging to Iris disappear and the real Iris shows up, saying that her sister has been impersonating her.
That’s enough for Claudia to start sleuthing on her own. Soon she’s fired from her job and almost involved in a fatal bicycle accident because someone has rigged her bike. On the home front, her gorgeous older sister is having relationship problems, and Claudia takes it upon herself to do some detecting to see what’s he’s up to.
Her brother is appalled and disappointed in her when he finds out she has quit the stellar and potentially very lucrative job he arranged for her.
Pek, who has an undergraduate degree from Yale, a law degree from New York University and an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College and works as an attorney in New York for an international investment company, says she began the book by asking herself what if there was an online dating detective service, and from there began assembling the story line.
“I liked that Claudia would actually draw her detective rules from this obviously silly murder mystery series,” said Pek who is working on a sequel, “but that every now and then it would actually work out for her.”

The plot is a little bit predictable but otherwise an amazing read. I really enjoyed it! The humor is droll and the writing is excellent.

I really enjoyed this book. The premise is interesting and the end of the story definitely left things open for more of this universe. I really hope we get another book to follow up this one.

The modern-day detective story was an absolute page-turner and a must-read, especially for anyone who enjoys the mystery genre following the release of last years Only Murders in Building. The main character, Claudia Lin, an amateur sleuth for modern times. This novel, was is the debut novel for author Jane Pek, follows along with Claudia's exploits and she deciphers truth from lies while working for a dating detective agency in NYC. When a client goes missing, Claudia goes on the hunt for answers.

It's one of those books you'll pick up and you won't want to put down no matter how late you have to stay up to get to that final page.

Online dating apps are changing how we meet, but are they even changing our sense of what we want in a relationship? This clever mystery explores the philosophical conundrums of our engagement with technology and with each other, as well as the problems of whether we even know what we want or who we are. If you're looking a good mystery, the complex plot and the amusing references to Golden Age detective fiction and wuxia tropes will keep you engrossed all the way through, even though the pace is a bit slow at first. If you prefer more literary fiction, you will enjoy the frequent evocation of high and low culture, all the corners of NYC brought to life by Pek's descriptions, and the nuanced exploration of family relationships. Pek's Asian-American narrator feels like a real, complex person, without clichés or heavy-handed gestures of authenticity (such as the annoying use of italics to mark text as bilingual, along the lines of this: "My mother held her weekly *màhjéuk* game in the front parlor, because the room's *fēng shuǐ* encouraged her chances of winning.") . I highly recommend this book.

Plot summary: Claudia, the amateur detective who tells the story, is a millennial struggling with adulting. Her new job at Veracity entails tracking down the people behind online dating profiles to "verify" whether they told the truth; this helps Veracity's clients decide which of their online matches to pursue. When a client is rejected by the firm and supposedly commits suicide, Claudia cannot accept this. Inspired in part by the Inspector Yuan stories she compulsively consumes (this classic sleuth is Pek's invention), she turns her new investigative skills towards finding out what really happened. As she bikes around NYC, Claudia's search for answers soon expands to include people in her own life, the true nature of Veracity's goals, and the real identity of the client who died. All of these become increasingly intertwined as we head toward the conclusion.

The Verifiers is a fun, adorable mystery that touches on the secret worries of anyone who’s tried online dating. Is the person on the other side of computer real? What else is the information being used for? How will my friends and family react to my life choices? Claudia is a feisty young Chinese American woman shouldering the burden of being her mother’s favorite but also the family failure. Stepping out of the shadows takes Claudia on a path of self discovery and down the rabbit hole of a cozy murder mystery. The only issue I had is now I have to wait for the hopefully next installment to see what Claudia’s next adventures will take her.

I love amateur sleuths. I like the main character, Claudia Lin, she's sharp-witted, the centre of her family and loves reading murder mysteries. When, she joins a dating detective agency, Veracity, she doesn't assume her verifier work would involve any deaths under mysterious circumstances.

Veracity client, Iris Lettriste killed herself, right before she was supposed to meet them. An overdose of her medication. Her body was found in her apartment a few days later. Then, Veracity found out that Iris was an imposter. The real Iris proves that her sister, Sarah Reaves was stealing her identity on seeking for matchmaker. Okay, that's it. I was intrigued. Whodunnit. But, Sarah Reaves’s death is not as simple as it seems. Why Claudia took it upon herself to investigate is beyond thinking.😅 Until the end, we don't know whodunnit. Dang. That's why this book does not work for me. 😅😅

My personal rating 3 ⭐

Thanks to @Netgalley and the publisher for providing an earc.

📚

#donereading #TheVerifiers by #JanePek #igreads #bookstagram #goodreads # emabaca #malaysiamembaca

The Verifiers is a fun
Mystery! I love the Asian protagonist named Claudia Lin! She is spunky and very intelligent! The mystery itself was very interesting! I hope there will be future installments! I recommend this fans of mysteries that enjoy a feisty Asian amateur sleuth!

I truly enjoyed this book. I loved the build up, the plot, the characters and hope to read more by Pek.

Part whodunnit, part data privacy ethics, part family drama— I loved The Verifiers. Claudia Lin works for a referrals-only dating detective agency in New York City; she's a quirky character who keeps her sexuality closeted from her traditional Asian family. When a client goes missing, the voracious mystery reader takes matters into her own hands. If you're looking for love in the digital age, you'll love this one!

It was really good! Kept me with the storyline until the end and I really want to buy a copy since it’s out… catches my eye every time I see it in a store

Such a fun mystery novel to read. So gay, so asian. Some issues with pacing, but overall, a fun, light read. I loved it.

Jane Pek’s gorgeously-written modern murder mystery is wholly unique and beautifully, cleverly phrased. The Verifiers is for sure one of the best (and my favourite) books of the year. The way Pek created this world has made it somehow... an actual PLACE that I can take my mind to, somewhere I am still thinking about months later, and will revisit often for many years to come.

The story features fun analysis of app data management and the social tech industry —it’s also about being an immigrant, the frustration and familiar comfort of having older siblings, and the very specifically-millennial kind of ambition. It's a book that will appeal to younger fans of thrillers about a near-future, as well as older readers who love a good murder investigation with a plucky protagonist. It's thrilling! Fun! Captivating stuff!

Some of my favourite aspects of it:
♥ Lesbian Asian American protagonist who rides her bike everywhere (and yes, often arrives places late and sweaty)
♥ Meta literary hero inside the novel (Claudia emulates her favourite fictional detective)
♥ The majority of the cast is not white!!
♥ A very modern take on the locked-door murder mystery
♥ Gorgeous metaphors! Brilliantly visual!
♥ Fascinating analysis of the dating app tech industry! (And those doing research into it)
♥ Discusses the effects and ethics of dating apps —on individuals, society, and business!

content warnings: a few references to moments in the past where her mother hit them; memories of her mother suffering chronic debilitating migraines; memories of the mother being "depressed and unstable" after childbirth during their childhood;

Nice little story. It moved so slow, however, that I went for long stretches without picking this up. I ended up forgetting the plot.

Totally enjoyed this bookish whodunit/family story with an endearing main character and great supporting cast. Loved the dating app setting and related data privacy/surveillance angle (and also loved how my timing of this read coincided with this excellent Zeynep Tufekci piece covering the same: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/opinion/privacy-technology-data.html - so disturbing but also weirdly comforting that the burden of data privacy shouldn’t be/can’t feasibly be on each of us individually). I hope Jane Pek writes more Claudia capers!

As a fan of mystery and queer protagonists of color, there were a lot of factors about this story's premise that initially intrigued me. However, the progression of the story only partially held my attention up to the 30% mark. I found the plot pacing and character development a bit off - neither aspect of the story felt it received the nuance necessary.