The Twyford Code

The Twyford Code is an odd standalone literary mystery full of wordplay and misdirection written by Janice Hallett. Released 24th Jan 2023 by Simon & Schuster on their Atria imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out from the same publisher in mid-third quarter 2023. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

The pacing here is very very odd. The first third of the book is a mish-mash of transcribed audio files, interviews, and snippets. It seems to get under its own feet and it's not before about a third of the way through that the narrative sorts itself out and seems to become more linear and readable. The author is both experienced and prolific, so it's clearly a completely intentional choice, but seems to be of limited effectiveness in this case.

The mystery is very well constructed; a very cold case disappearance, a literary mystery and a treasure hunt wrapped in one. The setup of the puzzle, the painstaking clue-gathering, the climax and denouement, are all satisfying but off-kilter throughout. 

Four stars. A pleasantly confusing and intellectual puzzle. It's quite cleverly constructed and worth the effort to get to the solution.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.