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.

November 4, 2022

Steven Smith (Smithy), recently released from a long stint in prison, has goals: never go back to jail, connect with his son, Max, and find out what happened to his teacher, Miss Iles, who disappeared decades ago. Using a phone from Max, Smithy records conversations and his own musings. Smithy warns readers early on that the recordings have been transcribed utilizing software that often misinterprets the audio. Forty years prior, he found a children's book written by banned author Edith Twyford on a bus and shared it with his teacher and class. Miss Iles read the book out loud, hinting that there could be a secret code in it that might solve a World War II-era mystery. Though she doesn't return the book, she takes the class on a visit to the author's hometown, but by Smithy's recollection, she disappears on the trip. Smithy interviews his former classmates, who all remember the day's events through their own lens; none agree as to what happened. VERDICT Hallett (The Appeal) creates a unique and imaginative mystery utilizing both an unreliable narrator and mainly epistolary format. The tale spins wildly, and readers are never certain regarding the facts. It's tough going at first but worth sticking with for Smithy.--Susan Santa

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2022
Through a series of audio recordings, a former felon recounts his attempts to solve a literary code that may lead to stolen gold...or maybe that's all a red herring. The novel begins with a letter written in 2021 from a police inspector to a professor, asking him to listen to a set of audio files that were found on an iPhone belonging to a man who's gone missing. What follows is a novel made up almost entirely of recordings and letters: recordings created by Steven Smith, who has recently been released from prison, wishes to connect with a son he never knew he had, and is haunted by a strange experience from his childhood that he only semi-remembers; and letters shared between Inspector Waliso and professor Mansfield in response to them. When Steven was a child, his teacher read the class a book by an author named Edith Twyford and then took them on a field trip that seems to have ended in tragedy. Trying to figure out what happened that day, he reaches out to the other children who were there and discovers that each of them has become fascinated with the "Twyford Code" that the author seems to have threaded through her novels. Twyford may have been a secret British agent during World War II involved in Operation Fish, a secret mission to move all of Britain's gold stores to Canada for safekeeping. As he is drawn deeper into the intrigue of the code, Steven also records the story of his life--the deaths of his parents, his rough upbringing, and how he fell in with a family of criminals and eventually went to prison for theft. In a book with this many twists and turns, of course, there's no way of knowing what's true and what's not, and Hallett continues to pull the rug out from under the reader every time we think we understand what's going on. The good: It's complicated, in the best way, and the reveals over the last section of the book are truly gaspworthy. The bad: The recording gimmick does begin to feel a bit gimmicky, and this structure makes up 90% of the novel. Code lovers rejoice! This one's for you.

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Starred review from January 1, 2023
Steven Smith has led a desperate life. He was raised by a neglectful older brother after his parents died. Steve never learned to read properly, but his much-adored remedial English teacher, Miss Iles, opened his eyes to the power of books, especially a series written by children's author Edith Twyford. As Steve grows up, he never forgets Miss Iles, who believes that Twyford embedded an elaborate code in her books. Years later, after being recruited by one of London's most notorious gangs and spending 11 years in prison, he returns to his fascination with Twyford's books but discovers that Miss Iles has disappeared. Using an old iPhone, Smith records his theories about the code, which he believes, if correctly deciphered, will lead to a vast treasure. Hallett's novel, which takes the form of Steve's transcribed musings recorded on his phone, is a peculiar, complex labyrinth where reality and fantasy overlap, and the reader is never sure what's really happening. Sad, funny, weird, and truly original, this is a hypnotic tale with an extraordinary ending.

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