by Janice Hallett
SYNOPSIS
It's time to solve the murder of the century...
Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children's book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. Wanting to know more, he took it to his English teacher Miss Iles, not realising the chain of events that he was setting in motion. Miss Iles became convinced that the book was the key to solving a puzzle, and that a message in secret code ran through all Twyford's novels. Then Miss Iles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven has no memory of what happened to her.
Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Iles 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 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...
REVIEW
When he was a child, Steven Smith found a children’s book discarded on a bus. After showing the book to his teacher Miss Iles, she tells her class the story of the disgraced author Edith Twyford. The group become obsessed with the book, (and the strange symbols and annotations scribbled throughout the pages), leading to the fateful day when Miss Iles goes missing after a class trip.
Forty years later, Steven is determined to find out what really happened, but the path he is following is a dangerous one, and there are other people involved who want the past to stay buried.
If there was ever a book that made me want to jump into the pages and help to solve the mystery, it’s this one. Unbelievably clever, the most intricate and complex plotting with so many hidden clues all coming together like a magician revealing the secrets behind an impossible trick, it was so satisfying to read as everything began to fall into place.
After reading the synopsis I thought The Twyford Code was going to be a quaint and quirky mystery, but running alongside the decades old conundrum was a story about loyalty, a story about family, and a story about resilience which was unexpected and truly heartwarming.
Getting to the end of the story and actually spotting an acrostic in the text made me feel like I had single-handedly solved the Twyford Code. This little nod to the reader, made me feel like I was part of the gang and was the perfect way to finish such an immersive and satisfying mystery.
The Twyford Code was reminiscent of the children’s mystery stories I used to read when I was younger…and of the classic mysteries I loved as I was growing up…and of the mystery and thriller books I love to read now…but somehow it was still a story told with a completely unique voice and style. A thrill and a pleasure to read.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janice Hallett studied English at UCL, and spent several years as a magazine editor, winning two awards for journalism. Her debut novel, The Appeal, was a Sunday Times bestseller, a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month. She lives in West London.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Janice Hallett - @JaniceHallett and Viper Books - @ViperBooks for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Crime / Mystery
Publisher: Viper Books
ISBN: 978-1788165310
Pages: 384pp
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