I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Chinese-American New Yorker Claudia Lin is a bit of a mess. In a relatable way. She’s close with her mom and siblings, but her mom is demanding and kind of mean, her brother is too driven and her sister too beautiful for any of them to really get her. Claudia recently left a secure, if boring, office job procured for her by her brother to work at a small company that recruited her due to her success at a murder mystery videogame. Her coworker explains that her new job is definitely NOT in the detective field, but collecting information on strangers to verify their dating profiles definitely seems like a job made for a fan of the mystery novels featuring Inspector Yuan. She’s also used to keeping secrets. She’s a lesbian, which she has yet to break to her mother who still wants her to find “a nice Chinese boy,” to settle down with.
Despite the noir-ish premise (a client of the firm dies in a suspicious manner and Claudia just can’t let it go), this is not a straightforward locked room mystery. The tone is light and the narrative voice casual. The book gets meta- several times, as Claudia thinks, “oh, this is like the part in a detective story where x happens,” as well as noting several times that she can use her studious and innocent stereotype (due to her race and petite size) to her advantage.
It also takes place in a near-future version of our world, where online dating services have really taken over. It is mentioned early on in the book that some of the sites we’d recognize today have gone under and the industry has greatly expanded, to the point where most people use at least one of the services. Claudia is definitely an outlier for not having a profile.
In spite of this almost-speculative premise, the world was self-contained and well depicted. I had no problem suspending disbelief for the premise. Instead, there were moments where the characters took big, reckless chances that did strain credulity a bit. However, the characterization was strong and the characters came across as both round and in-progress/evolving. I actually would have liked to have had a few more characters just for the sake of having more suspects, but I didn’t predict the ending. The mystery is solid, with urgency, and you can understand why Claudia feels she has to solve it.
I would recommend this book to people who feel like they haven’t quite found their place in life, or people who like reading about characters who feel that way. The mystery portion is a very classic detective-style story with twists at the end. Recommended as a pleasant read that didn’t quite blow me away.

Oh I wanted to like this one... I really like how it started. It was a cool premise and I really enjoyed the heroine and her bizarre job. Her family and friend dynamics, as well as the strange relationship with her co-workers, were the high points of the book for me. But the story rather quickly devolved into a convoluted and yet surprisingly monotonous and repetitive series of interactions, quests, and non sequiturs that left me wondering what was going on and why I was supposed to care.

It felt like I just kept reading chapters and yet nothing was happening and I wasn't getting any further - either into the story or through the book. That's when it lost me. I see that I'm in the minority here among other reviewers, so it's most likely just a case of the wrong book for the wrong reader...

This book was mysteriously wonderful! I'm delighted I got the chance to read this early. Despite it taking me a while to get used to the writing style I found myself hooked after I did. The characters were fun to read about and their development is done very well.

This is a very contemporary story with what I would call “snappy” writing to go along with it. For me, the mystery was less a focus of the book than the family relationships, cultural stereotypes, and learning a bit about the internet dating industry and the negatives encountered in our online world (algorithms bots, data mining etc). Pek has a good sense of humor and although I thought it did drag a bit around the half way point, it was an easy, enjoyable read. I also thought it a bit of a stretch that Claudia’s two siblings’ work was so closely related to the companies with which she was involved.

I wonder if this is the beginning of a series? I would enjoy reading more stories with these characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an early read of The Verifiers by Jane Pek.

Claudia Lin has quit the safe desk job that her brother got for her and has started working at a company called Veracity, which is a referrals-only online-dating detective agency. Seemingly, Claudia is perfect for this job – she grew up reading mystery novels and was recruited when she solved a difficult online mystery game created by the owner of Veracity. But her work life is not all she expected – she thought she would be doing more sleuthing and less spreadsheet creating. But their next customer Sarah changes all that. She asks Veracity to verify the identity of someone she has been chatting with online. She is suspicious of his motives and hesitant to meet him in real life. Then she comes back and asks them to verify someone she met online and has been dating – is he too good to be true? When she misses an appointment, they think she is trying to skip out on the double billing. They learn from her sister that she committed suicide, and that she was not entirely upfront with them – in fact, she had been using her sister’s name (Iris) and profession (a lawyer) because she was actually a journalist chasing a story. Claudia is eager to figure out what happened to Sarah, but the owner of Veracity shuts down the account and fires Claudia for breaching company policy. She continues to think about the case, and with the help of her former coworkers, uncovers the secret of what Sarah was working on, which has ramifications far beyond a few dating profiles and into the big business of online dating itself.

This is a fun and clever read. Claudia is an excellent character, a gay Chinese woman with a family that she both loves and who drives her crazy, a supportive best friend and roommate, and a penchant for detective stories. She bikes around New York City, which makes her pretty daring in my book, and she loves her work at Veracity. It will also make you think about online data and privacy and trust me, it will make you a bit uneasy. I sincerely hope this is the start of a series and we will see more of her. If you are in the mood for a lighter mystery, then give The Verifiers a try!

ARC kindly provided by the publishers and NetGalley! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this!

So, I had a bit of an uneven experience with this book. The way it's written is very charming and I found myself enjoying the time I spent in the main character's head, but also I feel like the main plot and mystery was very convoluted and lackluster. If you find yourself put off and confused by lots of tech talk, this won't be the one for you. It also has an issue where it drags in the middle with too many red herrings, and by the time we're winding down for the conclusion it's just extremely anti-climatic. What a shame.

I also found the coworkers and clients, as well as the suspects, very boring and flat.

HOWEVER. I think the strength of this book is in how raw and realistic the family bits of this book are. Claudia is an Asian American from an immigrant family, and her family's struggles are embedded in that. There's a depiction of emotional abuse and emotional neglect that's just... incredibly raw, as is the way the siblings are aware of how their mother is pitting them against each other but play into it anyways and take it out on each other. In particular, Claudia vs her two older siblings who see her as their mother's favorite who always has it easy. As we can see from staying in Claudia's head the whole book, that's not the case— and if anything, Claudia's treatment is hand waved by the family more than anything else.

This feels like it's being set up for a sequel, and while I don't think I'll pick it up, I am open for reading other books by this author, should they be more character-driven! :)

I really wanted to like this book. A modern day Agatha Christie for the digital age with a strong female character. I did enjoy the social commentary of the ethics of data and big tech, but found the book focused too much on that, and not enough on plot points or character development. I found the pacing to be a little off. The book is very smart and has a lot of depth to it which I can appreciate and it is something that most modern day mysteries are missing. The book is meta and intelligent, but can be hard to follow with all of the tech talks and at times felt jargony. I needed more mystery for this mystery novel. The payoff at the end felt more like an after thought.

I put this book down a few chapters in. I didn’t think the mystery was anything too hyped up and I couldn’t relate to the main character.
I really liked the dynamics between the main character and her family though.

This was a pretty rollicking read; a mystery with a familiar protagonist with a twist. Claudia isn’t a detective, but she’s a big fan of Inspector Yuan, an old-time movie character. Claudia, an Asian gay woman who travels largely by bicycle through New York, often channels him and literary characters as she solves a who dunnit placed in the very contemporary setting of online matchmaking services. It’s very on trend and a fast read.

The inevitable moments with Claudia’s family featuring the usual characters like an overbearing mom (“why don’t you find a nice Chinese boy?”), the very successful brother and much more beautiful sister don’t really detract from the story but do read as somewhat trite or cartoonish at times.

This was a fun read, and I could definitely see Claudia tripping over and solving more mysteries in the future.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE VERIFIERS
Claudia, the main character, was great. She’s a Gen Z New Yorker, an amateur detective and lifelong mystery fan who was obsessed with books her mom used to read her before bed about a detective called Inspector Yuan. She’s also a former English major and lifelong reader who is constantly referencing Chaucer, Auden, and Austen. She works for a “dating detective agency,” a very niche, boutique PI firm that helps people investigate their online dates and matches.

The Verifiers is set in New York and the author is obviously someone who knows the city well. Claudia rides her bike everywhere and is hanging out all over the place, from Gowanus to the Upper East Side to Flushing.

The mystery was really well-crafted, and I suspect that, like Claudia, the author reads a lot of classic mysteries. To me, the Verifiers felt a lot like a modern day noir, like an updated version of Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler or James Cain with a woman walking into a detective agency.

WHAT WASN’T AS MUCH FOR ME:
The Verifiers IS a book that focuses a lot on technology, stuff like apps and algorithms. I’m somewhat interested in things like that, but the last third of the book really got into the weeds of all the tech stuff. If you work in that world, or find the nitty gritty of algorithms and stuff fascinating, you’ll love the book even more!

I am terrible at mysteries. I fall for every red herring every time. Despite all of this I thoroughly enjoyed this book anyway. Claudia Lin is the baby of the Lin family, she works for a dating company verifying potential partners' truths and lies by actually checking on the IRL. When one of their clients is potentially murdered Claudia challenges herself to find the murderer. There are many potential suspects and when nothing is like what it seems and there are many lies to uncover where is that going to lead Claudia? I thoroughly enjoyed this book Claudia is interesting, her family is as well and if this becomes a series it's definitely got room to grow.

The Verifier's by Jane Pek is a mysterious journey into a near future, where dating apps are even more powerful--and prone to abuse--than today.

I was really drawn in by the cover of this book, and so I was super excited for the grittiness of a mystery. I also picked it up for its queer rep because I am always hunting for more sapphic books.

However, this book was not for me, so I had to stop reading at about half way through.

I think there were a couple of reasons why I didn't enjoy this book. First, I did not feel like the stakes of the mystery were high enough, so I did not find myself caring much about what happened. Second, the main character was not who I thought she would be. I was expected a powerful sleuth, but in reality, she was just obsessed with detective novels. So, there was not much that really excited me.

That being said, there were a lot of highlights to this book that other readers could definitely enjoy. The main character's relationship with her family is super well developed, so readers that appreciate well thought out family dynamics would definitely enjoy this book. While its setting was not for me, I think other readers would find it really interesting. Not only is it set in New York, but it also deals with dating apps in the kind of near future and all of the technology that comes with.

Overall, while I didn't enjoy this book, I think other people might, so if it sounds like something you would like, definitely check it out!

I really wanted to like this one! I loved the idea of dating app verifiers and was interested in that aspect. But I found my mind wandering and could not get invested in the mystery. Maybe the cozy mystery vibe just isn’t for me but I kept waiting for some action to happen.

A detective agency that focuses on online-dating cases is definitely something new. Add in the quirky and dedicated-ish (absolutely to her job and not so much to her families expectations) Claudia Lin and this was a fun mystery. The plot was interesting and creative. And a great debut. Can't wait to see more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A funny quirky main character, an aspiring detective dealing with family and cultural issues as well as larger ethical issues of how we are being spied on and "controlled" by a i. All within a mystery of why this woman died and if it was murder or suicide

The Verifiers by Jane Pek is billed as a mystery with murder and intrigue. Claudia Lin starts her new job at Veracity, a firm that specializes in scoping out your potential dating matches to make sure they're telling the truth. Though the book had lots of mystery elements, it was really a look into the technology that has taken over our world and how it applies to matching with dating apps. I love murder mysteries and the occasional thriller, but I very much enjoyed the social commentary on technology that Jane Pek wove into her story. By mixing the technology and murder, she created a story that make you second guess and think on how technology controls our lives today. Claudia, the main character, struggles to find her place in her family and in NYC. By working at Veracity, she is able to fuse her love of Jane Austen and romance with investigating and mystery. Pek does a great job with building this character and Claudia's NYC. It is a great debut novel and I look forward to seeing more of the Veracity crew.

Shelf Awareness PRO:

Jane Pek's The Verifiers imagines a not-too-distant future in which romance is housed entirely within the world of online matchmaking sites, promising perfect matches in exchange for the inexpensive price of telling big tech companies every little detail about oneself. It's not a system Claudia Lin subscribes to--but her disinterest in matchmaking makes her a perfect verifier, working for a kind of "dating detective agency" that helps clients figure out whether their matches have been completely truthful--which, usually, they have not. "People lie.... This means dating algorithms are predicting compatibility on the basis of faulty data and exposing users to potential deception by their matches. Enter the verifiers."

Claudia fancies herself something of a modern-day spy or 21st-century sleuth, "being paid to investigate romantic mysteries like some latter-day love child of Jane Austen and Sherlock Holmes." But when a client comes to her team with a stranger-than-fiction case, she gets caught up in an increasingly complicated--and potentially dangerous--whodunit of her own.

Claudia's desire to untangle this particular case--and even her work as a verifier in the first place--is tied up in her family's legacy and her desire to reject the model minority role repeatedly placed upon her. Instead of a Chinese boy her mother approves of, or the job her brother secured for her upon college graduation, Claudia wants to build her own life, one in which she can be the heroine of her own story. But she quickly discovers that "a lifetime spent in the company of Holmes, Poirot, Maigret, and Yuan" is not adequate training for figuring out how someone may have gotten herself killed (or preventing the same from happening to her), pushing The Verifiers from slow-burning literary mystery into literary suspense as it progresses.

The Verifiers is as delightful as it is insightful, clipping along at a pace reminiscent of the mystery novels Claudia herself loves so much. As Claudia starts to make sense of the smudges of clues and details in her brain, readers are treated to the same process of figuring it all out--often delivered, it feels, with a wink and a nod from Pek, for those readers keen enough to catch the clues hidden along the way. Within this, Pek poses deep and thoughtful questions about romance, privacy, family, data, corporate greed and big tech--to name just a few. It's a lot for a debut novelist, but Pek delivers, and The Verifiers is sure to leave readers looking for more from this new voice in the genre. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

Shelf Talker: This literary mystery asks big questions about tech and privacy, couched in a perfectly paced whodunit, imbued with hints of great mystery novels from the past.

This is a book about Claudia, a dating app verifier . She checks into people’s stories to make sure they are true. And of course a mystery ensues. This was a really creative story, that occasionally got bogged down by too many details and background. It was promoted as a Veronica Mars like books, but it really didn’t give me those vibes. But I thought Claudia was a great character and I liked reading her adventures!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy!

Also a woman of color who spent my life in the company of such literary sleuthing greats like Holmes, Poirot, Drew, and Marple, I identified with Claudia's character so much! She was written to be so relatable and relevant.

The story was gripping, and while the genre of murder mystery could be called a 'tale as old as time,' Pek reinvigorated it for a new audience. She paid homage to authors like Christie who came before her, while making the style and the story totally unique. I will certainly recommend to many readers and friends who enjoy good characters AND good plots with their mysteries. Well done!

This was an interesting read that excelled with a fresh new plot idea but failed with its narrative structure and lack of character development.

Every single character in this book was an unironic stereotype. Gay artsy roommate? Check. Quirky tech guy? Check. Mean Chinese mother? Check. "Model minority" (as stated in the book) Asian brother? Check. Moody artsy writer boyfriend? Check. And as much as our protagonist Claudia likes to tell the reader she isn't weak, she shows repeatedly that she is.

Cons: The Lionel/Coraline side story was completely unnecessary. It could be cut from the book and the reader wouldn't be missing out on anything. The author used outdated and offensive language to refer to suicide, and at one point says a mother is babysitting her own child (that is just called parenting). The mystery was interesting, but the storyline and resolution need more flushing out. The denouement fell really flat and was unsatisfactory. Lastly, the writing is VERY pretentious. It is the literary version of the Harvard bro with his Harvard sweatshirt and personalized Harvard license plate.

Pros: A protagonist that isn't a straight white man. An interesting plot and motive, if a bit convoluted and confusing. Realistic family interactions and relationships. Red herrings that keep the plot moving and keep the reader interested.

I think a lot of readers will enjoy this, but for many the intricacies of the tech will be too involved or too mundane.