The Twyford Code: A Novel

This is a very well plotted and highly original thriller. Quite weighted to the end where everything finally unravels, so takes a while to get going.And simply not in the same league as The Appeal, which is staggeringly well written.

When making a list of my most eagerly anticipated books of the year, it was no secret that The Twyford Code was at the very top, the very pinnacle, of that list. Hallett’s debut, The Appeal, completely blew me away with its clever plotting, completely original format and captivating mystery when I read it twelve or so months ago. I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on more of this talented authors work. Would the story and characters be as absorbing? Would the format be as interesting and unique? Would the mystery be as satisfying? Yes, yes and yes! The Twyford Code was an absolute ‘must-read’ for me and what a complete and utter joy it was from start to finish.Schoolboy Steven Smith finds a battered copy of an old book on the bus one day which he takes into his remedial English class only for it to be confiscated by his teacher, Miss Isles. Despite it being outdated and officially banned, Miss Isles begins to read aloud the story written by disgraced children’s author Edith Twyford. The class are enraptured by the tale. But then Miss Isles notices annotations and strange markings in the margins, which she believes is secret code. It becomes somewhat of an obsession for the group, ending in an ill-fated trip to the coast and Twyford’s old stomping ground. Fast forward many years and Steven is fresh out of prison. Having recently met his son for the first time and armed with his son’s old mobile phone, Steven sets out to solve the mystery of the Twyford Code and finish what Miss Isles started all those years ago…There is so much I want to say about this book, so much TO say about The Twyford Code. The author has absolutely gone and done it again with another beautifully crafted and intricate mystery which I fell head over heels in love with. First of all, the characters are sublime. Hallett is an expert at getting under the skin of people and making her creations feel incredibly lifelike. They have flaws, they have weaknesses but you can’t help but feel fondness towards them. This was my experience of Steven Smith. He’s not a bad bloke but he made a few dodgy decisions along the way, probably not helped by a tough upbringing. But my heart went out to him. A thoroughly intriguing character with hidden depths. I was glad he was my guide throughout the twists and the turns of the Twyford Code.If you’ve read The Appeal then you will be aware that this author likes to spice things up for her readers by throwing away tradition and taking a completely different approach to her storytelling. In The Appeal the story was told through emails, texts and WhatsApp messages. In The Twyford Code we have audio files which have been converted to text via transcription software. Sometimes it’s spot on. Other times…it’s not. Which makes for thoroughly entertaining reading. I was a little worried initially that I would be slow to make the connections needed, work out what was being said. But I shouldn’t have worried as I was in very safe hands. Before long the words were flowing and the misinterpretations and notations in the text were as normal as normal can be. What a skill to come up with something so clever and then make sure it works across the board. Absolutely marvellous!Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. Janice Hallett has once again engaged, amazed and enthralled this reader and I cannot (CANNOT) wait to see what she comes up with next. Beautifully complex, utterly absorbing and an experience from start to finish. I loved the mystery, I loved the characters and I loved the way the book swept me away to another world. There is something very special about this author’s books and I urge you, if you’re a fan of a well-written mystery, to do everything you can to get hold of copies. Highly recommended.

I absolutely loved The Appeal and was excited for the chance to read The Twyford Code, which also features Hallett's skill in telling a story in a unique way. The main character in The Twyford Code is narrating a story into an old iPhone and the reader is given transcripts from those recordings to read. Steven, the main character, begins working to solve a code and describes that adventure, as well as events from his past.While I couldn't turn the pages fast enough when reading The Appeal, this one seemed to go around in circles during large portions of the book. The transcription discrepancies that turned phrases such as "must have" into "mustard" were amusing but took time to get used to. There were also a lot of slang terms I was unfamiliar with. In addition, although Steve's backstory is important, I think some of it could have been streamlined and the reader would have still gotten the details they needed. I'm usually a fast reader, but it took me a while to get through the first portion of the book.I'm so glad I stuck with it, though! The last part is fantastic and things start coming together that show how clever the whole book really is. The ending is wonderful and very surprising and will keep me thinking about this story for a long time.I received this ebook through the courtesy of Viper Books. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

I approached ‘The Twyford Code’ with high expectations. Janice Hallett’s ‘The Appeal’ was my favourite book of 2021, and I was desperate to see if she could equal its brilliance. I was not disappointed.‘The Twyford Code’ is a stunningly clever mystery; a mixture of crime and old world charm. Steven Smith is an ex-con trying to piece together events from his troubled childhood. Finding a strange book , full of markings and handwritten notes changed his life back then. Showing it to an inspirational teacher led to an investigation into clues apparently hidden within the book. The author of that book, now sidelined for old-fashioned and offensive views, was a firm favourite with children for decades. Could she have left clues within the pages of her books? As we become privy to the investigation, the readers join in this mind-bending and exciting mystery.The story is teased out bit by bit and there are some ‘oh my god!’ moments. The author mixes Smithy’s past life tales of crime with the present. It is clever, with a myriad of twists and turns. At times it is shocking, mysterious and thrilling, and went places I didn’t see coming. It is beyond me how someone can craft such an astounding story. Highly recommended.I was given this ARC for review.

The Appeal was one of my favourite books from last year, so I was eager to read this, and I was not disappointed.  I was slowly drawn into the story, wanting to find out what actually happened & what the Twyford Code lead to, and once I was in I struggled to put the book down.  The story is told through audio transcripts, and it takes a bit to get used to the way some words come out.  It's such a smart mystery, with many different layers - I really enjoyed it & can't wait to see what Janice Hallett does next!Thanks to Viper Books & NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

A great deal of hype around this book and it proved to me beyond all doubt that I should know better than to believe it! I found this very strange: it confirmed for me that I much prefer my literature with at least a smidgeon of exactly that- some degree of style and well-chosen words. I accept that the idiosyncratic nature of “transcribed” phone records is not literary in any way and that this was a large part of the purpose of the novel but for me it quickly grated. I found myself speed reading through a great deal as I was not at all caught up in solving the code, such as it was and the transcriptions were tedious. Throughout, the only element that held my interest was the life story of the main protagonist and I would have much rather had that expanded as there seemed the basis of some genuine insights into how people make the choices in life that they do. I did read to the end, hence two rather than one stars in my rating and I do concede that the ending was interesting. Unfortunately, I felt its method of getting there did not engage me in the slightest. I realise that so many others have thoroughly enjoyed this and found it very clever. I do enjoy crime fiction as a form of escapism(very useful over the past two years!) but I think I will give “mysteries” a miss. When I saw a review mentioning Agatha Christie meeting Enid Blyton, I should have known; neither would be my choice. I also find the concept of the unreliable narrator somewhat overdone currently; it seems a bit of a fad and I hope it doesn’t last. I will not bother with this author’s other book.

‘The Twyford Code’ by Janice Hallett is a remarkable novel, unlike anything I have ever read before. So, just a taste of the plot as I feel that this is a novel best read ‘cold’.Forty years ago, Steven Smith had found a discarded copy of a book written by disgraced children’s author, Edith Twyford. Steven is unable to understand the strange markings and annotations in the book’s margins. So he shows it to his Remedial English teacher, Miss Isles. This sets off a chain of events that reverberates down to the present day.Miss Isles becomes convinced that the book contains messages that form a secret code that has been scattered throughout Twyford’s novels. She eventually takes her small class of five, including Steven, on an outing to visit Twyford’s seaside home. During the trip home Miss Isles disappears and Steven has no memory of how.Her disappearance has haunted Steven. Following his release from a prison sentence, he is determined to discover the truth. His quest is recorded as a series of audio files created on his estranged son’s smartphone.This story is primarily presented via transcripts of these files, complete with amusing transcription blips. Steven has a unique take on life, the universe, and everything and proved a delightful protagonist.It’s fairly obvious that Edith Twyford and her Super Six books were inspired by Enid Blyton. The extracts included from Twyford’s stories were spot on with respect to the style of Blyton’s adventure books for children.I found ‘The Twyford Code’ an intriguing and wickedly complex mystery. There is also plenty of humour scattered throughout the transcripts along with references to other books.‘The Twyford Code’ was an instant hit with me.Very highly recommended.

I really enjoyed The Appeal and looking forward to Janice Hallett's second book. I finished it but it was a relief to do so, more than anything else. The story wasn't very interesting and just seemed to get more ridiculous as it went on. I found the whole thing to be really disappointing.

Rating: 4.6/5I really enjoyed Janice Hallett's innovative debut novel, "The Appeal", but this second book is even better.On the face of it, "The Twyford Code" is about a former prisoner, Steven Smith, looking back on a significant moment from his childhood: Steven comes across a book by the famous writer of children's fiction, Edith Twyford (based very obviously on Enid Blyton). The teacher of Steven's remedial English class, Miss Isles, is convinced that there is a secret code that runs through this and other books by the same author. She even takes the class on a trip to Dorset to visit the home of Edith Twyford. During the trip, Miss Isles disappears, but Steven's memory won't allow him to remember the details surrounding that day. Having been released from prison many years later, Steven starts to look into his teacher's disappearance and also the veracity of the mysterious Twyford Code.As she did in her debut, Janice Hallett takes an unconventional and original approach to constructing this novel. This time around she makes use of the medium of voice recordings as the vehicle for the narrative. If you are the kind of person who likes your reading material to be full of flowing prose, then this will probably not be the book for you, as you are likely to find it irritating. However, for those who enjoy seeing a writer trying something fresh and different that both challenges and engages the reader in an unorthodox way, this will be a welcome breath of fresh air. Yes, it is likely to take you a little while to become accustomed to following the format relatively fluently, but once you have, you can really begin to appreciate the degree of craft, and also the wit, that has gone into the structure of the content.There is something very satisfying about a complicated mystery that (ultimately) actually makes sense. "The Twyford Code" has been so cleverly assembled and the eventual unravelling of the mystery is an absolute joy. This may not be one for conservative traditionalists, but that aside, if you are a keen reader of the mystery genre, then I would urge you to add this to your reading list. I don't give out many 5-star ratings for book reviews, but "The Twyford Code" absolutely deserves that mark and I am already looking forward to book three from Janice Hallett.

I’ve spent the majority of today reading this and just finished the last page and all I can say is wow!I enjoyed the Appeal so I was looking forward to reading this and it didn’t disappoint.I can relate to Steve on a few levels and I was hoping for him to get his happy ending and he did in a way but THAT ENDING I still don’t think I understand what everything really means tbh so I think I’ll have to read it all again and maybe understand things a little better the second time around!I hope we get a third book from Janice HallettI really enjoy her style of writing.