The majority of the text is a transcribed iPhone recording from a newly released prisoner, Steve Smith. In the transcript intended for his probation officer, he relays much about his past. We learn about his sad family life, illiteracy, time in Remedial English in High School, and his life of crime. Additionally, he is actively investigating the disappearance of his former English teacher, Miss Isles. This leads to the discovery of the Twyford Code, which was hidden inside a book he found on a bus as a teenager. The Twyford Code is the new National Treasure! It is a highly complex, imaginative, and clever mystery, where nothing is what it seems.

The unique format of this book makes it very original. Initially, I thought the audio files would lend itself to a fast read, but instead, i found it difficult to get through. The transcription includes many awkward breaks and frequently jumps around from topic to topic. Ultimately, the reader is led on a journey into the mind of an ex-con, whose ultimate goal may not be what it seems. I thought the style of the book was excellent, using audio recordings which are phonetically sounded out. For example, “must have” comes out as mustard. My partner bought this book for me because of my frustration with the ‘old friends meet in an isolated location and a murder happens’ trend of the moment, and it does deliver something really different. The Twyford Code offers three main mysteries – what happened to Miss Isles? What happened to Steven Smith, or what did he do, that sent him to prison? And what is the Twyford Code, and what does it lead to? The solutions to some of these puzzles are far more engaging than others, and one left me distinctly underwhelmed. While this plot leads in many directions, the reveal won me over! It is actually one of the best twists I have read in a long time! If you stay with the long journey to the truth, you will be rewarded! An ingenious novel that allows the reader to investigate the case themselves. Full of twists and credible characters, I loved every single word' - Louise Mullins, author of I Know YouThis book began a series of books that took brain power to interpret and even then the meaning remained elusive. The other books that I place with this one I have already read but not yet reviewed. Kind of serendipitous that they came one after another. Maybe the fates knew I needed to immerse myself in something,a diversion to my reality. After The Appeal, Janice Hallett once again gives us an unusual angle in the mystery genre in this wonderfully riveting, full of heart, a puzzle of a story. Here we are given transcripts of voice recordings made on a old IPhone 4, with all the fun of decyphering what is meant with some words and phrases in the narrative. Steven Smith has recently been released after a long stretch in prison, having suffered the loss of his wife and is estranged from a son who gave him the IPhone. For 40 years, Steve has been obsessed with the mystery of the disappearance of his remedial English teacher, Miss Isles. He had found a book on the bus, it was by Edith Twyford, a writer, similar to Enid Blyton, who had gone out of fashion, deemed to be xenophobic. Miss Isles reads the book to the class, but takes the book, never returning it to him, convinced it contains a puzzle and secret codes. This is the story of Steven Smith, a child who had a troubled upbringing. He found a book on the bus one morning with annotations and comments on the margins and shows it to his remedial English (RE) teacher Miss Isles. The book is is a children’s story set during or just after WWII, a bit like the Famous Five. Miss Isles reads it to the class despite telling them book is now banned because of its outdated views on sexism, racism and the like. Miss Isles seems to think there is a secret code buried in the book and takes her five RE students on a field trip to Bournemouth where Edith Twyford used to live. Miss Isles disappears on this trip and Steve can’t bring himself to remember what happened.

Then the content: the part about the Twyford code almost reads like a children's book, like in which the codes are hidden. It's a treasure hunt for adults and it is satisfyingly intriguing. It got me reading sentences again to try to decipher possible hidden acrostics - and you will too. If you like the sound of The Twyford Code, you might also enjoy Richard Osman’s The Man Who Died Twice or one of the Six Stories novels by Matt Wesolowski.

The Twyford Code

I could probably reread this book and STILL NOT follow the code inside, but when everything is revealed it was NOT AT ALL what I expected it to be, and OH SO SURPRISING!! But at the very core, it is the story of Steven, a man who came from a broken home, got into crime and only found out he had a son after a long stint in prison. And it is the love for his son, whom he has only seen once, that drives him to do everything he does. It is a story about unconditional love and friendship, about memories and the consequences of once's choices. In spite of not being necessarily blown away by the plot, I found the use of mixed media to tell the entire story impressive. I knew she was an author that I would want to read more from. I then listened to it for hours will cleaning and doing my standard Saturday errands. It's all a haze. When I tell you I fell down a rabbit hole with this one, I'm not joking. Yikes, this was enthralling.

I also loved the fact that the mystery centres on a writer and the clues hidden in her novels – a kind of Enid Blyton figure whose books have now been abandoned by the new generation as being outdated and containing some very dubious racial and gender ideas. As a life-long bookworm who was raised on Blyton’s books, there was something very relatable and vivid in this idea. This is the UK cover of the book. Why are the UK covers always better? Fish are a big part of this book!) I am sure in the minority for this one, but unfortunately, The Twyford Code didn't work for me. At all.Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Isles murdered? Was she deluded? Or was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Isles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn't just a writer of forgotten children's stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn't the only one trying to solve it... Nevertheless, due to the interest that Steven and the other four students in her remedial English class showed in studying a banned book, Miss Isles dedicated some lesson time to reading passages from Six on Goldtop Hill, and here Hallett delivers some delightfully funny pastiches of the most sexist aspects of Enid Blyton’s oeuvre. It turned out that Miss Isles was actually quite the expert on Twyford, particularly the conspiracy theory that alleged the writer had used her books to send secret coded messages to the enemy during World War II. A schoolteacher, Miss Iles, vanishes while on a field trip in 1983. Years later, one of her former pupils, Steven, an ex-convict, tries to make sense of her disappearance. This is no straightforward crime caper dredging up an unsolved mystery, however. Instead, Janice Hallett ( The Appeal) cleverly deploys clues in transcriptions of 200 audio files recorded by Steven on his phone. This innovative approach adds heartbreak to the thrill of the chase as he digresses into his life in and out of prison. The Twyford Code is a lot of fun, but Hallett also writes with care and empathy. Is This Love? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Iles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn’t just a writer of forgotten children’s stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn’t the only one trying to solve it…. My Review of the Twyford Code