Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an ARC of this book! The Rivals by Jane Pek is the sequel to The Verifiers, which came out in 2022. The Rivals picks up shortly after the events in The Verifiers, and takes place over about a 4-6 month period.

I enjoyed The Verifiers when I first read it, so much so that I would occasionally check in with the author to see when the sequel would be released. I was very happy to get an ARC of this book to continue reading about Claudia and what adventures she gets up to.

The Rivals is as good, or even better, than The Verifiers. Claudia is now a partner at Veracity and as such is more involved in the decision making. The work is in a moral gray area and honestly illegal in some ways, and in this book I believe Claudia is struggling with this and how it is changing her moral standards, specifically with her family relationships.

A mysterious death leads Veracity on another chase, resulting in corporate espionage. But can they trust their source? At the same time, they are tasked with verifying someone who Claudia ends up becoming friends with! But something isn’t adding up.

I would highly recommend this series and look forward to the next book!

I really enjoyed book one in this series but this one did not hit the same for me. Claudia is a quirky little detective girl who could be annoying but instead is very fun and sweet. I think that I may not have resonated with this book as much because it’s more spy thriller than mystery novel. That’s just not a type of book I seek out and I think Claudia is at her best when she is in plucky girl detective mode. I also did not care for the Amalia romance/plot. We’ve spent two books building up Claudia and Beck so there was no way I was going to care about this new girl. I was hoping that this would be a fun little one off mystery series but with the interconnected synths plot, I don’t think book two is gonna give me much cooky detective Claudia.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This followup to the Verifiers lost some of the charm of the first book and went deeper down the rabbit hole on a complicated plot involving synths (I know, it's not explained in the novel either). Claudia and her partners Becks and Squirrel are in the business of verifying the backgrounds of romantic interests and do so by skimming info off internet dating sites (and other extralegal ways). Claudia is more interested in solving the mystery of a murder that happened in the first book but she's also tracking Amalia and dealing with the death of a client whose prior love interest becomes her asset. And she's worried about her older brother who is working himself silly. Pek almost lost me more than once because I found I didn't care about the issue but then I'd be pulled back by the human connections. I wish we had seen more of her family (what's really wrong with Coraline?). I liked that Claudia bikes all over town, that she eats (and drinks) and that she feels very real. And I liked getting a few more glimpses of Becks' backstory. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. While I was frustrated by the technology issue, I did enjoy the writing and the smart turns of phrase. And I'll definitely pick up the next one.

Giving this follow up novel a 4 out of 5. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

An awesome sophomore novel in The Verifiers series! In some ways, The Rivals can stand on its own as a standalone novel, but there are just enough references back to plot points from The Verifiers to keep the series cohesive.

Claudia continues to explore her identity as a queer, Asian-American with a family that seems absolutely inept at communicating with each other. She does toe the line with her at times lackadaisical professional ethics, but that's where her character foil and potential love interest come in to reel her back in.

I love how the overarching plot delves more into AI and the dating synths. The author does a really nice job of taking complex computer science theories and concepts and has applied them to dating sites, something many of us are familiar with. I cannot wait to see where this story goes next!

Once again, Claudia investigates mysterious cases as her family dynamics get more awkward. In this book, she seems to be learning more about her siblings and how she doesn't know them as well as she thought she did. Hopefully, they can work through their issues and develop a better relationship. Claudia is also discovering more about herself. I recommend this book to people interested in a story that involves the inner workings of dating sites/apps and how honest or dishonest people can be on those sites/apps.

Thanks to the KDPG Influencer program and Net Galley for the e-arc copy!

I'll admit that while I read the first in the series, I didn't remember much. There were a lot of references back, but the story in Rivals was enough on its own to draw me in and through any confusion I had about the plot of Verifiers. Enjoyed this one and really think the concept is so unique.

“The Rivals” by Jane Pek is a fun and creative mystery. I like how the author incorporates current trends such as AI, online dating and bots (or synths). I also appreciate the diversity of characters and how New York City, particularly parts of Brooklyn, are like a character in the story. The pared down dialogue also does a good job of capturing a lot of character and emotion with sparse words. At times, I wasn’t sure where the story threads where going but they all came together very creatively at the end. I look forward to reading the third novel in this trilogy. Jane Pek’s writing offers an entertaining and deep commentary on our times. Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the eARC.

Claudia is sort of a secret agent. She works for a dating detective agency and uses skills from detective novels. When she and her coworkers discover an AI conspiracy taking place through the dating apps, they are in more danger than they could have imagined. This follow-up to The Verifiers delves deeper into the conspiracy taking place and what parties are involved. Claudia's relationships are also at the forefront of this novel as she manages family issues and new crushes. The mystery was good and I liked how it called itself out on certain expected plot points.

Claudia and team are back at it again when a few odd clients make them look deeper at the situations. While I really enjoyed the weaving of the fictional Chinese detective series in the first book, the combination of it and now a fictional film series and then a play got to be overwhelming. There were too many distractions from the main story line, so much so that at one point I wasn't even sure what the actual ongoing story was! I liked delving more into Claudia, her family, friends, and coworkers lives. They are an interesting collection of people. I hope future books (because I do hope there are future books) are a bit more focused.

I enjoyed The Verifiers, but The Rivals was not quite as much fun. Claudia is still fun to follow, but the story is heavy on the tech-side. There are a lot of characters and threads to keep track, and I'm not sure the resolution matches the buildup. It almost could have been two separate stories. Still, I will continue with this series; Claudia Lin is a great character!

Thank you, Vintage and Netgalley, for an advance ebook in exchange for a fair review.

I really enjoyed Jane Pek’s The Verifiers but I found this sequel to be much less compelling apart from the last few chapters when the plot suddenly simplified.

Claudia is still working at Veracity, along with her crush Becks Rittel and tech genius Squirrel, a company that verifies the reality of dating profiles for suspicious matches. After they discovered, in the last book, that Soulmate, one of the big three matchmaker companies, was using “synths” (bot profiles) for dubious purposes, Veracity now has a new challenge: Let’s Meet, another matchmaker, is apparently cloning profiles of existing clients. When one of these clients dies in a questionable cycling accident, Claudia is once again on the detective trail.

I have to admit i got completely bogged down in the cloning plot as well as a secondary plot in which Claudia is verifying a very attractive woman and accidentally goes on a date with her. I found the whole thing a bit of a trudge and while things were resolved by the end - at least I think they were, I was sort of past caring by then - there’s still plenty of open questions for another book which I will probably pass on.

There’s plenty of enjoyment to be had as Claudia brings in the detective skills she has learned from the novels of Inspector Yuan (an Asian Hercule Poirot) and his hapless sidekick Constable Zhang. This time she adds spycraft to her repertoire as she gets sucked into the fictional world of the Cold War Somnang Files and arranges to meet a mole on the High Line.

I felt that this go round there was less exploration of what it means to be human and more just rather confusing tech stuff. It is only toward the end, where Claudia (and I) finally understand what’s going on that I felt the ripple of pleasure I’d got from the first book. I was still engaged by Claudia and her family's dynamics and find Claudia a captivating protagonist, but I just wanted less plot.

Thanks to Vintage and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Claudia Lin is co-owner of Veracity, a digital detective agency of sorts that verifies that dating site users are who they say they are. I really enjoyed the first book of this series, The Verifiers; however, this one felt pretty flat and forced. The mystery never really took off and the book mainly focused on the tension between Claudia and the other co-owner which became repetitive . Thank you to Netgalley for a chance to read and review this book.

I feel like this series is seriously under-appreciated. Even though it's not 100% a Jen book (too much technology I don't really understand) how can anyone not love conflicted Gen Z detective Claudia Lin.

Claudia works for a company that specializes in romantic background checks, and she and the team are hired by a guy to check out his new girlfriend. But Claudia and her co-workers also suspect that the major dating apps are up to no good!

Claudia's romantic life took a surprising turn in this and I am obsessed with her literary musings. I think I enjoyed this more than the first book, The Verifiers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Vintage for the ARC.

This is an interesting and relevant look into the online dating world but more specifically the AI involved to match people together for compatibility. Claudia works for a company that people hire to make sure that the online dater is legit in how they have presented themselves until she finds herself involved in a corporate espionage between the match companies and one of their clients ends up dead. I loved the mystery involved and Claudia’s quirkiness but admittedly am maybe too Type A reader and got lost in the technology details of the coding and synths.

Thank you Vintage for my advance copy via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

We pick up with Claudia Lin after the events of The Verifiers, as she now co-runs Veracity with Becks. Their team is a sort of online detective agency to whom dating New Yorkers are referred by word of mouth when they need to find out if their prospective partners are telling the truth. But along the way, they uncovered an AI plot that they are only starting to understand, and it seems that it may have taken another victim. Now Claudia has to branch out from her detective work to engage in some espionage--recruiting an agent undercover in one of the suspicious dating services, and making sure that her older brother doesn't get sucked down the same hole as one of the previous victims.

I definitely needed reminders of what happened in the Verifiers since it's been about two years since I read it. I was grateful that Pek unspools them slowly through the first 20% or so of the story (hint: this is not a stand-alone book. Read the first one!). I was reminded of why I loved the first one: realistic family drama, LGBTQ+ positivity, and a desire for romantic connection despite past trauma that gets in the way. This one delves more into the ethical and philosophical questions around choice, what people do with it, and what power can be held by influencing it at varying degrees (and the ethics of all that). In an increasingly AI world, what is sentience and what is humanity? This gave a futuristic and science fiction-y bent to the spy tropes and the distrust, and I am totally here for it!

2SLGBTQIA+ Mystery which features an online dating detective who turns to corporate espionage after a client's suspicious death and to stop corrupt matchmakers from using AI profiles.

4/5 stars: This is the second entry in Pek's Verifiers series, which is 2SLGBTQIA+ Mystery that takes place at New York and follows the co-owner of an online dating detective agency who finds herself taking part in corporate espionage after a former client's suspicious death which she believes may be connected to corrupt corporate matchmakers using AI to mine client data. Things get even more complicated when she learns her brother might have unwittingly fallen into the corporation's deadly web through his consulting work and she gets distracted by the romantic tension building between both her work partner and a flirtatious and charming target. She'll have to use all her skills if she's going to figure this out before anyone else is killed. Watch out for the twists and turns, Pek has deftly crafted a mystery that balances the suspects, clues and red herrings and will leave you pondering until the final reveal. With biting humor, Pek's writing and character work are excellent; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. Claudia's a great character and I love catching up with her Veracity colleagues, Becks and Squirrel, and learning more about her family. I really appreciate how Pek looks at how technology is reshaping who we think we are and the ethical issues of companies using AI and more to probe into their customers personal wants and needs. Pek touches on some serious subjects; so take care and check the CWs. While you could read this as a stand-alone, you'll gain so much more by reading the series from the beginning; so be sure to pick up book one, The Verifiers.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Vintage in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

In this second book of the series, Claudia still works for Verifiers, a company that can be hired to verify details of someone's online dating profile. When a potential client that they turned away ends up dead under mysterious circumstances, Claudia and her two co-workers work to uncover it is was part of a bigger scandal involving online dating companies. Claudia is also dealing with her cold and overbearing mother and two siblings who have problems of their own.

I really liked the first book, but this one was slow paced and had lots of tech details that I didn't understand or care about. The last twenty percent of the book was action packed and ended on a cliff hanger (of course, so you have to read the next book). I really like the main character Claudia, her work and family problems, the themes of cultural identity, and the unique world of online dating tech. I think I will read the next one, but it might not be as high on my priority list.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

This is the second book in the Claudia Lin novels. Claudia continues to work for Verity as a match verifier with the abrasive Becks and elusive Squirrel, navigate the rapids that constitute Lin family dynamics, and use her detective skills to uncover crime. In this novel, the verifiers turn away a client who has found that his matching profile has been cloned, only to hear that he died in a cycling accident. Where most people would take the news as a sad coincidence, Claudia Lin is suspicious. Knowing what she knows about the shady ethics of the matchmaking industry around client privacy, she's convinced that they have moved from making synthetic profiles to boost client numbers, collect user data and potentially sway users' minds to something worse.

I love the way Jane Pek's characters are layered. None are bit roles, NPCs. It helps that Claudia is the quintessential observer, making note of idiosyncrasies and aberrations as well as the surprising ways humans can care for one another. The reader also learns the same about Claudia, a goofy, charming person who recognizes that sometimes you have to be a bad person to be a good person.

I highly recommend the Claudia Lin novels, especially for readers who are interested in how tech companies use your data. You must begin with The Verifiers! There are so many great mystery novels coming out these days, and Jane Pek rates up there with the best of them.

Thanks to Vintage and NetGalley for access to the ARC. Views expressed here are my own, and I am not compensated for my reviews.

I've been looking forward to Jane Pek's next Claudia Lin mystery since I finished the first, The Verifiers. First off, Claudia Lin is an engaging character: a lively, rash, awkward lesbian who has started working for an investigation business that checks the accuracy of individuals' presentation of themselves on dating sites. The people who can afford these investigations can discover what's being hidden and what untruths have been presented before moving to a new level of commitment with a met-online potential partner. Claudia's family is also part of the series: a beautiful sister, a workaholic brother, and their ever-combative mother.

The reason that I gave this volume three stars is as much about me as it is about the book itself. My technology IQ is limited—and the plot this time revolves around the efforts of dating sites to create "synths," non-existent people based on profiles of their existing clients. The long-range goal of these efforts is profit. Are there ways to use the synths to predict client behavior? Might the synths be useful tools for businesses or governments to use? Can we begin to understand/predict human behavior through the use of a sort of "bush-like" understanding of identity (bush-like in the sense of Darwin's evolutionary bush that continually branches out along constantly increasing pathways). The more synths that are created and effectively programmed to resemble a single person, the more businesses can begin to learn an individual's choices along multiple trajectories, not just the one path the actual human will choose.

This is interesting stuff; it also teeters on the edge of my, admittedly, limited tech knowledge. So, I enjoyed the book, but had to do a lot of accepting things without fully understanding them. I get what a synth is, but the profit-making opportunities synths prevent get into complexities I can't get my head fully around. (I confess that I also grow befuddled at times when reading time-travel fiction: too many possible realities blossoming off of existing ones.)

If you enjoy contemporary mysteries, especially those with diverse casts, and have the tech savvy to get a richer understanding of the potential of synths, you're going to love this book. I genuinely enjoyed it, even when I felt unsure of the full implications of events. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

As sequels go, this was pretty good! I don’t think it hooked its claws in me as much as the first book did but I still had a good time and enjoyed another ride withour girl Claudia!