The Twyford Code: Winner of the Crime and Thriller British Book of the Year

Hugely impressed by Janice Hallett's The Appeal, I had to buy her second novel, The Twyford Code and was equally pleased, though for slightly different reasons.Once again, what we have here is an ingenious mystery novel, constructed in an unusual fashion - where The Appeal was primarily made up of emails, the bulk of The Twyford Code comprises 200 voice notes, left by one-time career criminal Steve Smith. Transcriptions of these (supposedly made by software, and so containing a series of transcription errors) have been sent by a police inspector to a professor to ask if he can throw any light on them.At the heart of the story are a series of books by a variant of Enid Blyton called Edith Twyford. The equivalent to the Famous Five is the Secret Six, and a Secret Six book that Smith encounters while at school seems to both contain mysterious coded messages and to be linked to the disappearance of his school teacher, an event that still haunts him from many years in the past. Smith ends up meeting up with some old school friends who act as sort of anti-Secret Six in trying to work out the mystery.Incidentally, I have no idea why the tagline says 'It's time to solve the murder of the century' - there is a murder in the story, but it isn't really what the story is about at all... and it certainly isn't the murder of the century in any identifiable sense.As was the case with The Appeal, what makes this book work so well is the multi-layered mechanism of the the medium - in this case those voice messages, with occasional recorded conversations. Hallett incorporates all kinds of deception, some of which you might be able to predict if you've read the previous novel, but most of which take the reader by surprise. In the final section of the book, the professor uncovers what really happened - it's all there to see, but pretty well impossible to predict.One of the quotes on the back says this is 'even better than The Appeal' - I don't think this is true. Because the storytelling here is mostly a monologue, rather than a series of interactions between different characters, it didn't engage me as much as The Appeal did (though it was certainly still un-put-down-able). However, it makes up for that by setting a far more complex puzzle, with a wonderfully convoluted relationship between what you read and what it's actually about. It's rather like one of those beautiful, jewel-like Japanese puzzle boxes: it's so intricate and beautifully constructed. Even though I did spot one of the coded messages that eventually would give everything away, I didn't interpret what it meant correctly at the time. The plot is, admittedly, far-fetched - but this genuinely doesn't matter.Overall another brilliant triumph for Hallett. Can't wait to read book number three.

I enjoyed this story but at times it was confusing as it jumped about. It would maybe be worth reading again.

For those that enjoy conspiracy tales and hidden clues in coded messages this could be the book to read sitting on a beach or by the pool this summer. I found it rather boring to the point that one third into the story, I started wondering whether I should skip the rest of the chapters and go to the end just to satisfy my curiosity, and then move to another book.Like "The Appeal", there is a "clever construct" around which the story is built. With the Appeal it was the emails, here we have transcripts of audio messages. The main premise of an old gangster, recently released from a long stint in prison, who can barely read/write, and hence records audio messages, is dodgy .... The interwoven stories of his life and a war-time conspiracy hidden as coded messages in children's books even more so. Without much of any character build up, even the main one, there is VERY little to sustain interest almost to the very end. I did read the whole book but it felt like background music that you have on while doing something else. It was mindless reading before going to bed. Without giving too much away, I could have indeed skipped most of the middle bit without missing out much.Umberto Eco with Foucault's Pendulum, Pascal Mercier with Night Train to Lisbon did it many years ago with style and deep knowledge of the real history behind the mysteries unfolding. Dan Brown popularised the genre with the Da Vinci Code but, whether it was the characters' evolution, the recount of relatively unknown historical events or the action driven plot, there was something engaging and interesting there.i thought the Twyford Code did not have much to offer. There were some "clever" twists and a "go-back-and-check" explanation, all thrown into the last couple of chapters, that I found a bit more entertaining and made me give this book 3 stars, but just about.

As this is written from a transcript perspective, it was very slightly difficult to get in to when first started. Some words are confusing until you understand that it's being 'written' as though from transcripts of a recording.The plot is gripping, and once you get in to the swing of understanding the way words are 'transcribed' it is (and I hate this phrase) difficult to put down.What a great twist in store for you, a great book!

I love it! It's such an incredible story, like this authorìs previous book (The Appeal). She's certainly a talented writer and storyteller. I can't wait for the next one.

I absolutely loved The Appeal so I thought I would try her second novel. The Appeal was such a change and the format was refreshing and innovating but it does not work the second time round. I must admit that I never thought she would try the same format again. The Twyford code is not interesting, with always the same person relating his audio recordings and it goes..... nowhere. It is extremely rare for me to write a negative book review and even rarer to not even finish a book. I gave up halfway through ..... I was thoroughly bored. What a shame !

No me lo he podido ni acabar. Que la novela esté escrita a base de audios grabados en el teléfono ya me hizo desconfiar y con razón. Solo hay una voz protagonista bastante monocorde y todo pasa a través de ella. Por si fuera poco, el protagonista no es interesante y la trama se vuelve cada vez más inverosímil, hasta que llegó a un punto en que decidí dejarlo por imposible. No lo recomiendo. No tiene nada que ver con LA APELACIÓN.

The Appeal war sehr gut, The Twyford Code ist exzellent.An der Oberfläche die spannende und rührende Geschichte eines alternden Exsträflings von ihm erzählt, tatsächlich aber eine der raffiniertesten Irreführungen, die ich in den letzten 20 Jahren gelesen habe.Think „ The Usual Suspects“Dringende Empfehlung!

At last a different kind of mystery book. Tightly plotted and written in an innovative way. It's really different and really good. So much better than the usual run of mill books.