Glad I had a change to read this. Heard a lot about it. It was unique. I found it a bit irritating and I didn't like being 'tricked', but I know many others love it. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This was an interesting book to say the least. This was a compilation of audio files from one man and his take on some possible hidden clues in a book that was read to him as an adolescent by his remedial reading teacher. He seems to follow these clues and is keeping audio files of his adventures for what seems like his probation officer. He recently got out of prison after 11 years, he has no relationship with his son, and he is trying to solve these clues from a book written by Edith Twyford, hence the Twyford Code. This book is intriguing, and I can definitely appreciate the writing and the planning that went into this book, but I'm not sure it was my type of read. I loved the Appeal by the same author, and I like that the Janice Hallett writes outside the normal order of things, but this one was a little harder for me to follow.

If you are confused while reading this and wondering what to believe, what it all means, why it matters, and how it all comes together...keep reading until the end. It will all make sense (and leave a few more questions). It is worth it though. So worth it.

Twyford Code left me feeling I didn’t really have a complete experience. The format was an interesting take on this kind of story, but I think it took away from the decoding and solving of the mystery. I really liked the different format the author chose in her last book. I think that worked far better than this one. Still, the entire thing was intriguing and there is no way I could put it down until I got to the conclusion.

I was excited to receive this ARC from netgalley and Atria. I have not read Hallett's previous book but heard so many rave about it. Although I have not discounted reading The Appeal, this book, unfortunately, did not work for me. The protagonist, Steve Smith, is a middle aged man recently out of a stint in prison. We learn that "Smithy", as he's referred to, had a troubled childhood, learning disabilities, missing parents, a neglectful older brother, that led him to a group of low level criminals. We learn that Smithy finds a children's book on the bus, brings it to his reading teacher, who takes the class on a field trip to the author's hometown, and then the disappears. Now as an adult Smithy is trying to solve the disappearance of his old English teacher and the secret to her disappearance may just be in the children's books written by this author. The story is told in a series of 200 transcripts audio files. Steve can't read so he records everything. I found the telling of this story difficult to read, overly complex and convoluted, and the payoff at the end was not worth the read for me. 2.5 stars rounded up because I dislike rating authors so poorly.

Read if you like:
🧩 Puzzles
📼 Audio Files
🖋️ Thriller/Mysteries
🖤 Robust Character list

This book has such a unique format and truly has be wanting to go back and read this authors backlog! This was definitely a breath of fresh air for me in the genre and I truly enjoy the way this book was weaved together and how the twists and turns were handled so well.

This is definitely a book to take slow and truly soak in and read with time and thought, if done so, I’m sure anyone that does will enjoy it as much as I did, because the ending truly is worth the patience of the reader!

Thank you to the publisher for my ARC of this one!

This book, similar to the authors other book was written in an interesting and different way that I personally find to be exciting. We learn that the audio transcripts are being transcribed by a machine letting us know some of the technicalities that the machine might run into during the transcription process. The protagonist Steve is trying to solve the twyford code and also find out what had happened to his old teacher back from primary school. We follow Steve's story recounting it during the audio files. Whilst I found it a little hard to get into during the middle, the ending was something that I find this author does particularly well. I enjoyed seeing the twists and turns that Hallett brought in this book similarly to her last book. The middle did drag on a little bit for me, and it seemed a little to out there which I struggled with. Overall I really enjoyed the book and the writing style

When Steve Smith was just a kid in school, in remedial English with four other kids, he had a teacher who helped change his life. He couldn’t read very well, and when he found a copy of a children’s book on the bus, he took it in to Miss Iles, to see if she would want to buy it from him so he could buy himself a snack after school. Instead, she told the class that the book had been banned in the school. And then she read it to them.

The book was Six on Goldtop Hill, written by Edith Twyford, the first in a series of books about the Super Six, 3 boys and 3 girls who go on adventures together. When they asked why the book had been banned, she explained that it was considered racist, sexist, xenophobic, and overly simplistic. But she started to think that there was something more to the book. She thought she had found a code.

Shortly after that, she went missing.

Steve hadn’t had a good home life, so it wasn’t a surprise that he fell in with a bad crowd. He was in and out of jail for years, when he was finally sentenced for a long stint in prison. It was there that he finally learned to read. Some college kids came in with a new system to teach them how to read, and it finally stuck with him. He was finally able to understand the world of books. And when he finally got out, he wanted to find out what had happened to Miss Iles after finding that code in the children’s book he found on the bus.

He tries to reconnect with the others in the class, to try to get them to talk about that time in school. He remembered that Miss Iles had taken them out of school, from London to Bournemouth, because of something she had read in the book. Steve remembers running around on a beach and later in an abandoned airfield, but he can’t remember much else. Clearly, something happened, because Miss Iles disappeared there. But what happened?

He starts with Paul, who didn’t want to talk about it, denied he was there that day. But Steve knew that he was—Miss Iles had had trouble getting the minibus started, and Paul figured it out since his dad was a mechanic. Next, he finds Shell on social media, Michelle now, the wife of a plastic surgeon with a big house and posh tea. But she refuses to get involved. Then he tries Nathan, who hadn’t spoken back then. He makes up for it now, but he doesn’t seem to know what happened that day. Donna wants to talk to him, was waiting for his call, but she doesn’t want to investigate alone. He thinks she’s scared.

Finally, Steve decides he needs to investigate himself. He goes to the library and tries to find books by Edith Twyford. They don’t have any of her books, but a young librarian helps him order one from eBay. And she looks up information on the writer and her husband. Edith Twyford wrote a lot of children’s books between 1939-1963. Her husband did the illustrations for her books as a hobby; he worked in the Home Office, a government job.

The more Steve investigates, the more he finds out about a government operation during World War II where they were going to take two billion dollars worth of gold bullion and store it in Canada until after the war. It was called Operation Fish, and one of the conspiracy theories around the Twyford Code is that it tells the location of all that gold. Steve wonders if this is true, as he is finding fish illustrations in different locations as he investigates. But there is no proof, and he finds no gold. And then he disappears.

Steve’s story is told in transcriptions from audio files on an iPhone 4. A copy of the files were sent to his son, a math professor at Brunel University, from a police investigator. Investigator Waliso asks him to read over the files and see if he can figure out what happened to his father. Professor Mansfield wasn’t raised by Steve. He hadn’t been a part of his life at all, until Steve had gotten out of prison. It was the professor’s old phone that Steve had been using for his audio recording, and he left his son a host of stories about Miss Iles and his time in remedial English, about his parents and brother, about his attempt to figure out the Twyford Code, and about his time in prison and the series of events that lead him there.

In the months that the professor reads and re-reads the transcription files, he discovers that the stories his father tells has a deeper meaning, and that the mystery of the Twyford Code may be something far different than everyone thought it was.

The Twyford Code is a complex mystery, told in fits and starts of audio recordings, with layers of truths and secrets that make the reader wonder what the real story is. There are so many twists and turns that the suspense never drops, the reveals just bringing you deeper into the story, making you think that you can finally wrap your head around what’s happening just before the rug is pulled out from under you again.

The Twyford Code, like Janice Hallet’s first novel The Appeal, is a masterful story told in unique ways, with bread crumbs dropped throughout that you can’t even see until the end. Hallet is a sort of plotting genius, creating puzzles within puzzles, and it’s up to the reader to figure out where the real truth is. I loved reading this book, but I think to truly appreciate it, I’ll need to read it all over again, just to see how she managed to put it all together so seamlessly. This book will sweep you up in a series of mysteries, and you will not believe where you end up. It’s pure magic!

Egalleys for The Twyford Code were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This has to be, without a doubt, the cleverest puzzle ever constructed in literary form. I was sucked into the book after only a few pages and completely ignored all responsibilities until I finished it. My mind is officially blown. I'm off to read her other novel now. HOLY CRAP.

When NetGalley offered this, I checked the reviews before being willing to read and write my own review. Apparently, I didn't see this many negative ones at that time, because the ones I read made it sound like something I would really enjoy.

Well, it should have. The premise was a good one and should have kept me running to pick up the book whenever I had a few free minutes. But, alas, it did not. Not to say that there were no good parts and no enjoyment, but, for the most part, it left me flat (and rather confused).

Still, I do appreciate NetGalley for the opportunity to try these books that some readers seem to love, even when I'm not crazy about them.

After falling in love with the unique storytelling of The Appeal by Janice Hallett I was really excited to read The Twyford Code. Hallett did not disappoint. Back again with a mystery told in voice memo transcripts, the reader is immediately drawn in as the most incredible story unfolds. Adding a touch of whimsy is the transcription itself. The book begins by explaining some of the “mistranslated” words such as “mustard” for “must have” etc. This will keep you on your toes while reading.

The Twyford Code centres around “Smithy”, recently out of prison who leave behind a phone filled with voice memos. Entwined in the story is his troubled youth, but also his inspiring teacher, Miss Isles (aka. missiles) who impacted him greatly. As a child, Smithy finds a book by children’s author Edith Twyford, and though he never was a strong reader, his teacher seems to believe that it contains a secret code, likely leading to treasure. On a class field trip, the teacher disappears and no one seems to remember exactly what happened that day, and how they all got back to the school. Let the mystery begin.

After years have passed and Smithy’s life leads him to prison, he wants to tell his story. He enlists help from his old classmates, a librarian, and his voice memos addressed to his parole officer. Why? What happens to Smithy? Is there really a hidden code in Twyford’s books. This book explores the power of storytelling, literacy, and the impact one teacher can have all while spinning a creative mystery that is always entertaining but never predictable. This book is perfect for those who love mysteries but also are looking for a new voice and exploration of an unconventional storytelling style. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Hallett's The Appeal, and here again, Hallett has given us a smart, complex mystery to solve in a uniquely presented style. Where The Appeal is told in epistolary form from email/text/chat group, The Twyford Code is told in transcripts of audio recordings.

Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a children's book by disgraced author Edith Twyford with notes and annotations in the margins. He shows it to his remedial English teacher, who tells him she believes it's part of a secret code that runs through Twyford's books. When his teacher goes missing on a field trip, Steven suspects she must've been right and knew too much. After a stint in prison and having this haunt him for years, Steven looks up four of his old classmates and sets out to crack the Twyford Code, recording everything on his estranged son's old iPhone.
I love that Hallett writes in such unconventional formats, as her books become intriguing and immersive once you get into them, and they require your attention to pick up clues. And this one takes several twists and turns, with detours, bad guys, and misdirections along the way. Add to that some intentional transcription errors, mostly phonetic, i.e., Miss Isles becomes "missiles," etc., and you find yourself challenged by an intricate and layered plot chasing down anagrams and symbols of what may be hidden code or a conspiracy theory. This story has a large cast of characters, flashbacks of Steve's life, multiple red herrings, and the puzzle of the code, so it was a lot to track while getting into the rhythm of the format. However, once I did, Hallett surprised me with a clever payoff that was so worth it!


Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to review this ARC. I enjoyed it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Atria Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest book by Janice Hallett - 5 stars!

Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a children's book, written by Edith Twyford, that he showed to his remedial English teacher. His teacher, Miss Iles, thought it contained a secret code and took the children in the class on a field trip to a relevant location for Twyford. When Miss Iles didn't come back from the trip, Steven believed the code was real. After being released from prison, and with the help of an old iPhone from his son, Steven decides to investigate the mystery. He tracks down his old classmates, has help from a librarian, and documents all his conversations and thoughts about his past on the phone.

Janice Hallett has done it again. In The Appeal, the book was told through a series of text messages. This one is done through a transcription app of Steven's conversations. So it's written as a phonetic interpretation, complete with redacted swear words and funny spellings (missiles instead of Miss Iles, for example). Such a creative way to tell this mystery story and I loved it! It will take some time to settle into the way the story is told, but it is well worth it. It's sad, funny, exceptionally clever, and full of heart - and that ending - perfection!

I really enjoyed The Appeal by this author so I was looking forward to reading The Twyford Code. What worked well for that book though unfortunately didn't work as well for this book. The format with the transcribed audio recordings was less compelling as was the mystery. 3 stars

I loved Janice Hallett's previous book, The Appeal, so much I ordered this one from England. It's both similar and different. There's an inventive format again, but it didn't grab me from the start. Most of the book is deliberately slow, mysterious, and a bit confusing. I loved the payoff, it's just hard to tell if it was worth it. I will say that months later I remember it fondly.

When I read Janice Hallett’s first novel, The Appeal, I couldn’t imagine her second novel could be able to top its mastery. Boy, was I wrong! The Twyford Code is a magnificent, skillfully, shrewdly crafted puzzle.

Steven “Smithy” Smith had a very difficult childhood. His parents left and his brother who was only a bit older had to try and take care of him. Left on his own accord, one day over 40 years ago he found a copy of a book by an author named Edith Twyford on a bus. Unable to read, he shows the book to his teacher. She decides to read the story to the class. But in the process, she is convinced there is something more going on in the story than just the story. She is sure the book is some sort of code for something. She decides to take the class on a field trip to Twyfold’s home and she disappears.

Flash forward to the present where Smithy has just gotten out of prison after 11 years and is finally able to read. Never having gotten over what could possibly have caused his teacher’s mysterious disappearance, curiosity about the book that led them on that field trip and the guilt he still feels that he was the cause of all this because be brought the book to her attention, he decides to try and investigate the mystery.

Through a series of voice recordings on his son’s old phone, Smithy sets out to find some of his friends from that class who were on that fateful fieldtrip many years ago. He wants to see if they are able to fill the blanks in his memory of what actually happened that day.

As he investigates, he focuses on this code his teacher seems to have discovered. What could the code possibly be for? Perhaps treasure? More importantly, how does one go about finding a code in a story? As he pieces together clues with the help of his childhood friends he also begins to reminisce about his life as a child as well as what led up to him going to prison.

He decides to leave his recordings to his parole officer, Maxine and is helped by a local librarian named Lucy who becomes his sidekick. But as they delve deeper into the Twyford stories and begin to put the code together, some of his past problems begin to haunt his present. You see, not everybody is happy he is out of jail. He feels he must solve this problem quickly before something happens to him. He worries about endangering what is left of his family. His brother is living in squalor and entertains very shifty characters, his son, now grown is estranged from him and refuses to take his calls.

But he and his friends and Lucy persevere in the hopes that he can somehow crack the code in order to find out what really happened all those years ago, and where, if there is a treasure could it possibly be. Or has it already vanished, taken by someone who has already broken the code and found it.

Hopefully all this hard work will not be for nothing.

In classic Hallett style, The Twyford Code is unlike any novel you will have ever read. And the ending? Perfection! The book is a wonderfully imaginative narration!

Thank you #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #TheTwyfordCode #JaniceHallett for the advanced copy.

Something has bothered Steven Smith for decades. What happened to Miss Isles on their school trip all those years ago and why can't he seem to remember that day? After finding a book on the bus on his way to school, Steven had handed it over to his reading teacher, having no idea what the strange markings in the margins meant. Miss Isles began reading the story to their class and fell deep into the belief that the author left behind a secret code in her words that unlocks a puzzle. Deciding a class trip to see the sites that are mentioned in the book was a good idea, Miss Isles piled the small group into a school van but when the class returned Miss Isles was nowhere to be found. Now years later, fresh out of prison from a lengthy stay, Steven is determined to figure out the question that has been nagging at his brain since he was a boy. What happened to Miss Isles? What would cause her to abandon her class? Was she running from something? Someone? Was Miss Isles actually on to something with the code or are there other factors at play? Convinced the answer lies somewhere in that book, Steven sets off to decipher a long ago mystery. This is the second creatively written book I've read by Janice Hallett. The first book, "The Appeal" was crafted out of emails and this one is primarily transcripts of voice memos. Placing you in the detective chair Hallett has written another great mystery that you won't be able to put down. If you have yet to read Hallett's work I highly recommend both titles for your TBR list. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed The Appeal and thought the format itself there was almost a character. But in this case, it felt tedious. The story is smart and interesting, but there's just not much meat to it and it felt like a lot of work to get there.

The Twyford Code is certainly a creative book. However, I lost interest for a while and didn’t reengage fully until 75% in. People who like puzzles and acrostics will like this book more than I did.

Thank you to Janice Hallet, NetGalley and Atria Press for the opportunity to read and review The Twyford Code in advance of the release.

The author, whose debut, The Appeal, was written using messages between characters in the form of emails, notes and letters, adopts another unusual narration in the form of software transcripts from audio files found on an old Iphone. The transcripts include “errors” lending to imperfect yet decipherable content.

The narrator, Steven “Smithy” Smith, now out of prison decides to investigate the mystery he stumbled on as a child, when his teacher disappears. Prepare to follow the word games and puzzles to a satifying conclusion! If you appreciate a clever narrative, this book will not disappoint.