Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

7 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

TLDR: A fun mystery with a message. 

 

Written in the first person by the male main character with a few additions by others this novel delves deeply into his background. I was impressed by how believable Steve was and a little disappointed that some of the secondary characters, for instance Lucy, were not as well defined. In fact I was quite worried about Lucy, feeling like she was getting in over her head.I also had a few problems with believing the main plot line. In the end it all makes sense though. 

 

To me the really exciting part was that I totally missed all the plot twists. Usually when reading a mystery I may not figure out who did it, but I do usually see at least some of the twists before they are spelled out for me. Maybe I’m dense but I only started getting a clue when I was over 80% of the way through the book. I did not feel one bit guilty reading this one and will definitely check out more of Ms Hallett’s writing. 

 

This may be a harder read for some people. The story is told as a collection of audio files and calls that have been transcribed. So some dialect is transcribed oddly. I have an auditory narrator (like some 33% of the population) so the transcripts were sounded out as I went for me. Otherwise I didn’t catch too many Brisitisms that a USian would have difficulty with. 

 

I am almost curious enough see if my library has the audio of the book. It would be interesting to see how all the different voices were handled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse and Infertility

Grafic drug dealing, drug addiction, and organised crime.

staceyinthesticks's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, and War

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Blood, and Abandonment

kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

felofhe's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

beepbeep101's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Torture

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

‘The Twyford Code’ by Janice Hallett is a twisty found audio mystery centered around a code in a children’s book that led to a teacher’s disappearance. 
Told through audio files, mostly voice recordings, the story centers on Steven Smith, a man trying to find his way after getting out of prison. After his release, he becomes obsessed with the Twyford Code, a code in a series of children’s books that he found when he was a child. The code is connected to the disappearance of one of his favorite teachers and Steven believes that he can not only crack the code but also figure out what happened to his teach all of those years ago. 
Hallett does a great job of utilizing the audio files to tell a story where you’re never quite sure what is true. Since we are getting the story primarily through Steven’s audio recordings, including his own recollections of encounters with acquaintances, it leaves the truth of what is going on up in the air as he begins to unravel the code. 
There was a point towards the end where the story was heading in a direction I wasn’t a fan of but Hallett did manage to bring the story around to a satisfying conclusion. 
The audiobook is a great option for this story since the story is told through audio files. I do wish there had been a few more narrators incorporated to make it feel more like an audio drama but I also understand that ultimately this wouldn’t have served the story. 
I’m interested to read more of Hallett’s work since I love stories told through letters, documents, audio files, and the like. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and War

tamara_joy's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Murder

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, and War