The Twyford Code

Starred review from November 7, 2022
Framed as transcripts of 200 audio files recorded on an iPhone, this ingenious novel from British author Hallett (The Appeal) consists of recovered memories (perhaps false) told in the voice (perhaps unreliable) of Steven “Smithy” Smith, a recently released, now missing ex-con. Forty years earlier, Smithy came across a book by WWII-era children’s author Edith Twyford filled with handwritten notes. He showed the book to his remedial English teacher, Miss Alice Isles, who believed the notations were some sort of code. Indeed, Twyford may have hidden treasonous secrets in her books. Miss Isles (often transcribed as Missiles) subsequently disappeared on a school field trip to Bournemouth. Smithy tracks down a handful of other classmates to retrieve their “vanished youth” and solve more than one “explosive secret” from the past. Rumors of the audacious Operation Fish meant to move British gold bullion across the Atlantic during WWII blend with an account of one of Smithy’s most daunting heists and converge on a mind-boggling resolution that contains several bombshell revelations. Filled with numerous clues, acrostics, and red herrings, this thrilling scavenger hunt for the truth is delightfully deceptive and thoroughly immersive. Agent: Markus Hoffmann, Regal Hoffmann & Assoc.

March 3, 2023

Listeners who loved the twisty mystery and unique structure of Hallett's best-selling debut, The Appeal, are in for another treat with her second work. Upon release from prison, Steven "Smithy" Smith is encouraged by Maxine, his parole officer, to look into a childhood mystery that haunts him, in order to provide closure and give him something productive (aka, not illegal) to do outside of work. As he only learned to read and write in prison, Smithy decides, for efficiency's sake, to chronicle his research as audio recordings to Maxine on his hand-me-down iPhone, and transcripts of these 200 audio files serve as the framing device for the novel's rollicking adventure. Narrator Thomas Judd's performance of the transcripts, complete with glitches, is an utter delight, as is the Cockney rhyming slang peppered throughout. Judd convincingly delivers Smithy's sometimes melancholy, sometimes hilarious musings on a life mostly misspent, as well as his madcap investigations into his teacher's disappearance and possible connection to a stash of gold. VERDICT Puzzle fans will undoubtedly enjoy Hallett's bighearted thriller. While listeners' opportunity to solve the code is somewhat lost in the audio version, Judd's exhilarating performance more than makes up for it.--Beth Farrell

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.