The Twyford Code

by Janice Hallett

[pamela]

The beginning of The Twyford Code was as boring as the end was riveting, which makes this an incredibly difficult book to rate. The structure (transcriptions of audio logs), and a meandering first third meant I very nearly DNF'd this one. But I'm glad I persevered because the last two-thirds more than made up for the lacklustre beginning with a delightfully twisty narrative that, while not entirely impossible to guess, still left me with a few surprises along the way.

The Twyford Code's 'found footage' style narrative is what let it down the most. While the reason for it became clear toward the end, the reading experience definitely wasn't served by it. Because of the structure, the (albeit deliberate) inconsistencies in tone stood out, the characters were difficult to connect with, and the constant jumps in narrative theme took me out of the book. It makes reading this book a commitment, and you'll either want to stick with it or you won't. I obviously recommend that you do, because I personally think the payoff is worth it, but it definitely isn't the most engaging way to present information. The entire time I was reading, I just keep thinking, why wasn't this a podcast?

The Twyford Code is a delightfully twisty story that brings a lot of different threads together in a satisfying way. Every time I thought the story was going to just be a boring version of X, it introduced something else that made me curious enough to keep reading. If you're a fan of puzzle books like Byron Priess' The Secret or Kit Williams' Masquerade, then you'll probably love this book. While it may have a three-star beginning, it has a four-star end.