The Twyford Code was a wild ride with tons of twist and turns. The writing style of this author is always so gripping. Her use of mixed media and storytelling is why she is an auto buy author for me.

I really enjoyed this one. I had a fun time trying to figure out the ending. I did feel it to be a bit slow. The beginning kicked off and then it got slow in the middle for me. But I really loved the characters.

I will definitely be reading more from this author. She has such unique ideas. I would highly recommend this one to anyone looking for a fun reading experience.
3/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book wasn't working properly on my Kindle so I don't think I got the full experience of the story. I did like it overall but, again, I think I missed some things due to usability error.

Sadly this book missed the mark for me. I was so excited to read it, as many people raved about it. The story line was intriguing, which is what brought me to choose the book in the first place. I was hopeful that I would be able to get used to the writing style, but it ended up really impeding my ability to truly invest in the story and made it difficult for me to follow.

I devoured this author’s first book, The Appeal. It was told in a series of documents, had a wide cast of characters and a terrific plot. I am happy to say that The Twyford Code is a most worthy successor to that title.

Once again, the author takes an idiosyncratic approach. This time much of the story is told through a series of audio tape transcripts. Some transcribed well, others less so, giving room for questions and ambiguity.

The book’s narrator has had a hard life, including time in prison. Understanding events from the past motivate the (unreliable?) narrator.

When he was younger, he was in a remedial reading class with some other students (who will be met in these pages). One day, Steve took a book that he found on the bus \, rather than turning it in. His teacher recognizes it and feels a connection, a strong one, to it. And so, things go from here.

Who was the author of this book? What was its significance? What happened to the teacher? Settle in for a satisfying read with this title as the story unfolds.

On another level, this book points to the glories of literacy. Reading opens worlds and nothing can replace that in my opinion.

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly observes: Filled with numerous clues, acrostics, and red herrings, this thrilling scavenger hunt for the truth is delightfully deceptive and thoroughly immersive.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for this title. All opinions are my own.

“It’s time to solve the murder of the century” is such a fun little catchphrase to put on the cover of a novel. And that’s where the positive things I have to say about this book end.

The Twyford Code follows Steven Smith as he tries to find his teacher who went missing when he was a child. One day Steven gave his English teacher a book by the controversial children’s author Edith Twyford. Suddenly she became obsessed with Edith Twyford and her novels. She was convinced that Edith’s books were filled with secret codes. But one day while on her quest to crack the Twyford code Miss Isles went missing. Steven, who has recently been released from prison, sets out to crack the code himself in hopes that doing so will lead him to discover what happened to Miss Isles.

Well… as you can see from my rating I hated this book. I really did hate it. Most of my criticism stems from the fact that the majority of this book was told through transcribed audio files. That was a terrible format to use for this story. In the end the format played a big role in the plot twist, but I still believe that the author’s choice to write The Twyford Code this way did more harm than good. A lot of words are intentionally misspelled because it’s meant to have been transcribed by some sort of electronic system that makes mistakes. For example, whenever Steven said “Miss Isles” the system transcribed it as “missiles.” It was annoying trying to adjust to all of the misspellings and typos in the book in spite of the fact that they are intentional.

Because it is told through audio files, The Twyford Code is almost exclusively dialogue. I don’t think this particular story can be told well strictly through dialogue. It didn’t feel like the story was communicated as clearly or effectively as it could’ve been to me as a reader. Like I said, to an extent this is intentional on the author’s part, and when the mystery is solved it makes sense why things sometimes seem vague and unclear. But I still think it was much worse than Janice Hallett intended it to be all because of the format.

Another issue is that with a book like this the characters need to be interesting and the main character needs to be likable. Steven does most of the talking in the voice recordings and the entire story is told through his perspective. He’s the kind of protagonist that readers are supposed to root for. But I didn’t. He wasn’t fleshed out enough for me to care about him, and neither were any of the side characters. I had no desire to read about any of these characters. I feel like I was stuck with these barely formed people and forced to spend time with them.

Here’s yet another reason I don’t think the format worked: Steven and his friends spend a lot of time in this book talking through the process of cracking the codes they’ve found in Edith Twyford’s books. But because the story is told through audio files the reader is unable to see the codes the characters are discussing. Many of the codes are in illustrations or in the physical formatting of Edith Twyford’s books. Had this book been written in a more traditional style Janice Hallett could’ve included excerpts from Edith Twyford’s books for readers to see the codes and puzzles for ourselves. But instead we have to settle for reading only Steven’s descriptions of the codes.

These next few complaints are based entirely on my own personal taste: I don’t like stories that spend a lot of time on World War II, spies, or any sort of political intrigue. The Twyford Code has all of those things. I didn’t know that. If I had I would never have picked it up.

Lastly when everything was revealed at the end it felt like a MASSIVE info dump in very few pages. I don’t think the ending was well paced at all.

All in all this wasn’t a good reading experience for me. I definitely don’t recommend this book.

Way too complicated of a plot to hold my interest. Some of it felt off and I was confused quite a bit til I basically gave up and skim finished it. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this review copy

Thank you to Janice Hallet, Atria Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of a digital advanced reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review!

DNF'd at 40 percent

I could not get into this story because of the format that it was presented in. The book is presented in the form of audio recording for reach chapter. While this is an interesting concept in narrating a novel, this wasn't for me. I even tried picking up the audiobook to read it in the same form as the intended narration, but I still could not get into the storyline. I am clearly part of the minority when it comes to my opinion about this book, but it seems like I and other readers that DNF'd this book all have the same opinion... the novel was just annoying and messy.

This was a MIND BENDER.

I love the formatting used in Hallett’s books - it adds another layer to them that I think really makes the stories. The audio transcription was ✨chefs kiss✨ and I loved how convoluted and truly bewildering everything got along the way.

Also, once again, I truly did not see the plot twist coming.

This was HEFTY - I have no idea how many pages it actually is in print but I swear I was reading for like 3 weeks and every time I looked at how far I was I was still at like 42%. Then the last 10% or so just zipped past. So if you’re wanting to get those substantial twisty reads in, here’s your book. Bunker down and see if you can solve it!

This just wasn't for me. The premise is very interesting, but I struggled with the format, and I didn't find the story or the characters engaging enough to push through. I ended up skimming the middle and reading the end, and while the twist is clever, it's also not enough to convince me that I really missed out by not completely reading the whole thing.

I liked The Appeal but I’m giving up on this one. It’s the code to learn what the pauses or intakes of breath were that bugged me. I’m sure the book is cool once you get used to it but I kept finding that I didn’t want to pick it up after reading because if it.

At times I had a hard time following the plot of this book - especially when compared to The Appeal. While this was a bit harder to follow, I still enjoyed it. I love how Janice Hallett incorporates different medias into her books, which helps feel as though the book is so quick to read

I inhaled The Appeal by Janice Hallett, and while I wanted to say I inhaled The Twyford Code, I'm sad to say I didn't. I started and stopped this so many times, and finally checked out a physical copy. Like the Appeal, this novel is written in a creative format: audio files. However as we all know, voice transcription is not the most accurate, and while the author's intent was to keep it as true to form as possible, it made this book really hard for me to read. An example of what I mean: Frequently we would see "mustard" in the text, which was actually "must have" when spoken.

Now, this book is clever, do not get me wrong. The book is about solving a puzzle and there are tons of word games, that the main character, detective, and professor are trying to solve to explain a crime. However, while I appreciated that, I just felt like I lost so much of the story and fun of puzzle solving because I was trying to figure out the transcriptions...which also ended up serving as part of the code.

I will also say that the puzzle, when solved just felt a bit out there. Whereas the Appeal felt rooted in reality, I just did not buy this one as much and the interweaving "truth's" at the end just did not do it for me.

This was a super good time. I didn't love it as much as The Appeal, but it was still a great read. I will continue to pick up work from this author.

eARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher for reviewing purposes!
First of all, I really enjoyed Janice Hallett's The Appeal- I'm a big fan of books that are written unconventionally, made up of documents, letters, transcripts, etc. so I was super excited for the Twyford Code, hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately, this one was a lot tougher for me to get into. It took awhile for me to get used to the transcription style (though it paid off in the end) and for most of the book I thought it would be better as an audiobook. It took me months to get through the first quarter of the book because I just was not feeling the style. Ultimately, I got sucked in about 25% of the way through and it was worth it in the end- I do also love a twisty mystery and I'm looking forward to seeing what Hallett's mind comes up with next!

Janice Hallett has such an unusual writing style, and I love it! What a fun terrific story! Great characters, charming setting and a fun mystery!

I loved The Appeal by this author and really excited to read The Twyford Code. Sadly, this book didn't work as well for me. It is told in audio recordings, which I really like the concept, but the transcribing really through me out of the story. I spent more time trying to figure out what word was meant to be used. The ending fell kind of flat for me. I do look forward to see what the author will do next.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the digital arc.

Out now! [Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Steve “Smithy” Smith has recently been released from prison and is hunting for a mysterious code in the children’s books of author Edith Twyford, which may be tied to the decades-old disappearance of his teacher.

I love a good mystery/puzzle and heard really great things about this one, which is told in a series of transcribed audio files, a truly unique format (I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it). I was able to read this as part of a buddy read, which absolutely added to the fun, as we were able to put our detective hats on and discuss.

That said, while I was definitely intrigued the whole time, THE TWYFORD CODE ultimately didn’t land in quite the way I hoped—I found myself confused and a bit frustrated with the way the mystery played out, and while that may be the point, it isn’t my preferred style at all. I felt like I never knew what the actual questions were, so I couldn’t really focus on solving them, and it made the reveal(s) at the end feel a bit out of left field. I also felt like there were a bunch of unanswered questions in the end, and as someone who really likes closure in a book the lack of resolution wasn’t my favorite.

All of that said, I truly know people who ADORE this book, and if it sounds intriguing to you I would absolutely say to give it a shot! It will easily go down as the most original thing I’ve read this year (and maybe ever) and I think if you are the type of person who will enjoy this one you’ll REALLY enjoy it.

Recommended if you like: puzzle books; unconventional/epistolary(ish) formats; multiple plot threads

CW: Violence/injury/blood (all mild); death/loss of parents (off-page); mentions of domestic abuse

I loved The Appeal but found this one hard to get into. Maybe it was the format? It felt like a slog and I think perhaps may have been helped by print or audio rather than digital. I will still pick up Janice Hallet’s work but this one didn’t do it for me.

The Twyford Code tells the tale of ex-con Steven and his recorded thoughts/interviews about a decades old mystery surrounding lost gold and war secrets. Told in audio snippets, this book requires the reader to piece together the storyline. If you read The Appeal...it's a similar reading experience. The ending was a HUGE surprise and that saved this one for me. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.

This is my first book by this author and I really wanted to love it. The story is really interesting. Steve is quite the character, but by the end, I just didn't know which version to believe, who to believe, and then the ending is just nuts.

The story is written in the form of audio files, which I had no problem with, apart from the transcription codes that were very distracting. I didn't even mind the actual misspellings like "mustard" for "must have". I did find parts of it confusing. and in all honesty, kept checking to see how much left I had to read. It seemed to take me forever to get one-third of the way through and then even longer to halfway through.

So I don't think this book is for everybody. I feel like the author bit off more than she could chew and then wrapped it up in a way I was unhappy with.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are mine and freely given.