Janice Hallett gives us a mystery to solve in the Twyford Code through transcribed audio recordings from an iPhone 4. Beware though, not all things in these recordings are accurate, because they are automatically transcribed, so some words are the wrong ones. These are the recordings of Steve Smith's phone, who is working to solve a mystery of where his teacher went, she disappeared some 40 years ago. He thinks it is linked to the works of Edith Twyford's novels. He sets out to solve the mystery, while revealing the story of his life.

This is an intricate and complex novel and it really took me until the explanation at the end to completely understand it all. The author creates a well thought out story with hints that lead us to its conclusion. I did find the book slow in parts, and sometimes found it hard to get into.

This book did pick up toward the end which made it a bit more of a page-turner and I found myself looking for the next clue and trying to figure out what was fact and what was fiction.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I will check out Janice Hallett's books in the future! Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hallett strikes again with another clever way to deliver a mystery! Steven found a book forty years ago that led to the disappearance of his teacher. Fresh out of prison, he is now determined to find out what happened to her and unravel the mysterious code at the center of the found children’s novel.

Told via phone recording transcripts, this fresh approach soars across the page. I was completely immersed and thoroughly entertained by the cast of characters, too. This book is a treasure trove for readers who love to solve hidden puzzles. Such a fun, interesting, and touching read.

I immediately picked this up after finishing Hallett’s ‘The Appeal’, which was a uniquely mind-blowing and super fun mystery, so i was obviously very excited to dive into this one.
unfortunately I left this book feeling so disappointed with it, it just really wasn’t to my personal taste. whereas The Appeal was told in emails, Twyford is told through audio recordings; I realized quickly that the reason this book wasn’t grabbing me as much was because here we only follow a single narrator for the entire book - The Appeal worked so well for me because we got to see emails from so many different characters in order to put the pieces together. also this one isn’t so much a murder mystery as it is an espionage/hidden codes/treasure hunt type of thriller which I also realized is something I’m just not particularly interested in personally. it felt low stakes and the characters and story just weren’t that interesting to me. Especially comparing it to how much I LOVED Hallett’s other novel, this one left a lot to be desired.

The Twyford Code, which is being released in January is one of those titles a reader just wants to devour: so many threads to the story, so many ambiguous relationships and "facts," a central character recently released from prison trying to go straight, a search for an unnamed treasure, vintage children's books, and a remedial English teacher from the central characters' past who may or may not have disappeared mysteriously on a field trip. There's always one more question the reader wants an answer to before putting the book down.

This rich content is paired with a structure that serves the novel's overall ambiguity well. Most of the novel is a transcript of recordings made on an outdated iPhone by the novel's central character, Steve Smith. He's been released from prison and has met with a biological son for the first time. That son is understandably ambivalent of his bio-father's appearance. The used iPhone is a gift the son offers, but he's not interested in ongoing contact. Steve decides to use the phone to retell the story of his life and his effort to go straight for his parole officer.

Steve rediscovers a childhood book and is reminded of his teacher's disappearance on a field trip. He seeks down the other four members of that class, convinced that the text and illustrations of the book provide a clue to—treasure? a time machine? dangerous documents? the fate of their teacher? As Steve becomes more and more obsessed with the Twyford Cord (Twyford being the author of that book) his relationships with his former classmates swing wildly.

The remaining part of the book is an email conversation between two individuals who both have access to transcriptions of Steve's recordings. They're trying to understand Steve's purpose and to assess his reliability as a narrator.

And really, that's about all I want to say. The adventure is in the reading, as I hope this review demonstrates.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

The Twyford Code, the second novel from Janice Hallett, is about Steve Smith's journey to uncovering the truth. After being released from jail, his parole officer encourages him to look more into a childhood memory that has bothered him for decades - a teacher of his going missing after a field trip. It all started with a book he found one day, a book by Edith Twyford, and the code she hid in its pages.

This book was such a fun read. While The Appeal was told using emails, the Twyford Code was also told in a unique way - transcribed audio files. This makes the reading feel even more refreshing and new. I so enjoyed reading a story where people are searching for codes in a book. Though I wanted to solve all the cyphers as well, I'm just happy that Hallett gave us sections of the children's book to see where some of the code was hidden; the reader was able to understand how the characters solved some of the code

While there are many characters involved, the story focuses on Steve, who tries to solve the code with his friends, build a relationship with his son, and tell his story to Maxine, his parole officer. Steve is a down to earth, lovable character, and I enjoyed getting to know him throughout the tale.

The ending was such a twist! Though I started to catch on a little, it was much more of a twist than I imagined! I was left a little confused on some points, but the author did well at answering most of those questions. I was still left amazed.

My only criticism is that it felt a little slow at times. Overall, it was such a fun adventure. I would recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of movies like The Imitation Game, National Treasure, or The Number 23 or for anyone who likes to solve a good puzzle.

This book was a little bit hard to follow at times because you were reading an audio transcription almost the whole time. Some parts got very lengthy and I feel like the book dragged out a bit. Overall I think the author did a decent job wrapping up the story and bringing it full circle but it wasn’t a WOW ending for me. If someone asked if they should read it and they like mystery type books, I would say give it a shot, but I am not raving about it to everyone I know.

It takes a lot for a mystery to catch my attention, but this book has it. The story was intricate, but not so much that it was hard to follow. I enjoyed the concept of having the key to the mystery residing in a children’s books. It seems to remind adult readers to never take their childish past at face value, there is always more than meets the eyes.

This was one of the most creatively written books I’ve ever read. I loved Steve’s story and journey of self-discovery, and the ending wrapped things up wonderfully to me. His love for his son was so raw and almost hurt to read. The audio recordings helped me get sucked into the story and provided an interesting format.

This book was so many things: a clever adventure story to crack a code used to fool the Nazis, a treasure hunt, an example of the effects of childhood trauma, a journey of emotional growth and self-discovery… an ultimately a father’s love story to his son.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary digital copy. I adored this book!

3.5* An interesting mystery to solve via audio transcripts and it did take me some time to get into it...quite often saying to myself I'm not going to finish. After continuing with it, I did get the hang of it..not my favorite, but it does have an interesting delivery.
When Steven Smith is released from prison after 11 years incarcerated, he continues with his hunt for his teacher that went missing after he gave her a book he found on the bus 40 years ago. The book was written by Edith Twyford and his teacher thought it to be written in code. Did someone want to stop her from revealing her newly inquired information? Is someone trying to stop Steven now looking for the same conquest.
It is not a feel good story when Steven had lived a life of crime and was abandoned by his parents when he was a child. The banned book he found as a child appears to be tied to a crime family and deciphering it could cost him his life as well as his friends helping him.
This book is not for everyone, but I enjoyed the benefit of the mystery and calculated it as a clever delivery.
Thank you NetGalley and Simon Shuster for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

a quick read designed for mystery, puzzle and espionage lovers! Told through transcripts of audio files on a dated iphone, the reader encounters the dual stories of the speaker, Steve Smith, and a code he unknowingly uncovered in children's books from the WWII era while in high school. His disjointed and somewhat tragic childhood lead him to seek solace in a crime family, and his escapades land him in prison, where he later learns he has a son. His mysterious dictations lead to his disappearance and a series of convoluted clues are found with them. It's too hard to explain without blowing the plot and the twists - but it's a fantastic read!!

Pros: I was so excited to read another book by Janice Hallett because I thought The Appeal was fantastic. Like The Appeal, this book has a unique structure—this one is told in a series of transcripts of voice recordings. This book is all about a treasure hunt, which is one of my favorite genres. I was incredibly impressed with the planning and plotting that went into this book and the clues left throughout. I loved the acknowledgements section and the author’s inspirations for different aspects of this book, including literacy rates in prisoners.

Cons: This book dragged a bit in the middle, but the payoff of reading to the end made it worth it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book.

4+ stars

This book was confusing to me. While it was about code I got lost often in the plot.
While the idea was a good one, this reader soon lost interest. I did finish the book but not one of my favorites

Janice Hallet is a genuis! From page 1 it is. clear how much thought and effort went into crafting this book. Steven Smith is an ex convict who was a part of the famous FSBC heist in London. Now he's chasing down the mystery from his childhood, what happened to Miss Isle and how did she end up missing?

Told through audio files, this was a well paced book. I appreciated how the audio transcripts were split into different sections. There were quite a few twists I did not see coming. The ending left me stunned. I do think this is one of those books that needs to be read physically. The way this is written makes it truly feel like audio transcriptions and I love how I had to solve what some words on the page meant -ie missiles = Miss Isle's. There are a couple of extra inserts, time references pauses etc that I wish I would have able to flip to the beginning and read the key again. - so read this one physically for sure.

While the final twist was not my favourite, I did enjoy this book. I just beileve I would have adored it if I had read it in a different format so I could tab clues and solve the mystery while reading. Overall this was such a fun, clever, and intriguing mystery.

This is my second book by the author and she just kills it every time. All I knew going in was that this was about a man and a son - and wow - where it went was not that simplistic. I think this book isn't for everyone, and I think some will be upset by how confusing you're left feeling, and how useless so many of the pages feel while you're reading but this is a book (and her other) that you have to stick through to the end because the ending is SO WORTH IT. To say anymore would be to take away your reading experiences.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The entire book is told via audio transcriptions and then emails. I love mixed media books. I also love when I can't guess twists! So, this book certainly accomplishes that.

My issue, if that's even the right word, lies with the entire book having me confused until the end.... and not in a fun way, like I had anticipated it would be. Honestly, it should have been fun. But feeling confused for so long honestly got me a little irritated? *sigh*

But I mean, jeez, can't rate this any lower than a 4 for the sheer EFFORT and genius this book took by the author. My goodness! Brilliant "come together" ending. Couldn't be me. Lol

[Instagram review to be posted 11/7]

A modern Agatha Christie mystery is the perfect way to describe The Twyford Code! The mystery had a great deal of detail and intrigue. It kept me guessing throughout the novel and just when I thought I had outsmarted it, it proved me wrong. This was the perfect winter read as it was very cozy and atmospheric. The characters were likable in a funny way and the pacing was perfectly done. I couldn’t picture a better deliciously written mystery to curl up with by the fire. 5/ 5 stars!

Having loved The Appeal so much, The Twyford Code is one of my most-anticipated release but sadly I did not enjoy it as much as I'd hoped...

Let me begin by saying that the reveal is actually worthy of 5 stars. The reading experience, however, was far from it. I am usually a huge fan of epistolary novels but it precisely because this book is told mostly through transcribed audiotapes that made it such a chore to read.

There are a lot of intentionally misspelled words to lend authenticity to the text, slang that often made me stop reading so that I could do a Google search, double entendres to add to the mystery, etc. As such, the book itself felt like a puzzle to work out and took away from my enjoyment.

Everything does eventually fall into place and make sense, but I still felt like I was left with a lot of unanswered questions. I thought the reveal was super impressive and clever though! It even had a bit of an emotional punch.

Sadly, the ending was ultimately underwhelming. The author even leaves us with a code to decipher. It was quite easy to solve but overall, I found this book more hard work than enjoyable fiction.

Those who enjoy mind-boggling puzzles and searching for hidden clues might enjoy this one more. That said, I would actually love to see a movie adaptation!

Favourite quote: "It's the mystery, the not knowing, that drives them, take that away and..."

I loved this aspect of the book. How often have I talked about how much I enjoyed the tension, buildup and guesswork in a thriller, only to end up feeling disappointed by the reveal? Lol! Ironically, the reveal was my favourite part of The Twyford Code!

Wow. What a phenomenal head scratcher this book was, and I just loved it.

The Twyford Code tells the story of Stephen Smith, who’s just released from prison after serving an 11 year sentence for murder. He tracks down his son, adopted by the son’s stepfather. His son wants nothing to do with him, but gives Stephen his old iPhone 4,

Stephen uses the phone to record his search for his remedial English teacher, who disappeared years ago on a school trip, and for which he blames himself. It seems that he found a copy of a childrens book by Edith Twyford, and his teacher, Miss Iles, is convinced that there’s a secret code hidden in the book, and that why the class went on the trip.

The story is told through the audio files recorded by Stephen, the files having been transcribed by software. He tells us of his life, and his attempts to crack the code. The final reveal is mind boggling, and I didn’t see it coming at all.

Fascinating and engaging, Tne Twyford Code is certainly one of the most original and entertaining mystery books of the year.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the book.

I was a big fan of the author's previous book, The Appeal, and this makes for a very interesting second book. While The Appeal was epistolary novel told from the point of view of many characters, this is essentially an audio story transcribed as a book mainly from one character's voice.

It's fascinating how well you can learn about a character and their place in the world from just that point of voice. Steve has recently been released from prison and ends up keeping an audio diary on an old mobile phone. He'snot had a lot of advantages in life and not very tech savvy, but he's earnest and endearing and you're totally on his side (or at least I was!) Most of the story is him recounting an unraveling what happened on a school trip but some also fills in the backstory for his. upbringing and how he ended up in prison.

I hesitate to get into too many details becauseI don't want to plant too many thoughts into a reader's head, but I’ll say maybe don’t take everything you read at face value and go with the flow on this adventure. Because it’s an incredibly intricate and creative story. One that I certainly recommend!

I LOVED The Appeal and was excited for this one based on the author alone. I was even more excited reading about the premise, mystery and the layout/writing style of The Twyford Code. This book was a little hard me to get into based on audio files and it was sometimes confusing to keep up with which character was Speaker 1 and who was Speaker 2. Overall, I missed the diversity of different writing formats that was in The Appeal and found this book a little less cozy. I did really enjoy the main character and found his background and personality to be refreshing. I'm excited to read more from Janice Hallett though The Appeal is still my favorite.