Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Le code Twyford by Janice Hallett

33 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.

paronomaniac's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence and Kidnapping

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

kbio's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

i picked this up at a bogo sale and i’m very glad i did. the book is told in a transcript format, which adds more fun to the voice in your head that reads! there are endless twists and turns until the very end. 4.5 for me. incredibly well done.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Dementia, Alcohol, and Classism

notlikethebeer's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Although this was good, it was definitely my least favourite of the 3 books by Janice Hallett currently available. I think it was a bit thinner in terms of plot, likely due to having only one main form of "multi-media", whereas the others have had more. As well, it was all told from only person's perspective. I found the plot overly confusing, which didn't help, and - although I'll be honest and admit it is my area of expertise - the details of Steve's resettlement were unrealistic😂😂The final few reveals were probably a bit too absurd and far-fetched for me. However, it did keep me reading, and I liked trying to solve the codes! I also enjoyed getting to know Steve as a character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Murder

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

anoke's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Car accident and Alcohol

kfergy's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

An interesting read, and a bit of rollercoaster near the end - I'm still not entirely sure what is 'fact' or 'fiction' in-universe and that's okay ☺ I had to finish the book via an e-book and that was a bit of a pity, as I would have like to flip back and forth to some of the story references that are used in the last 5th.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Gang activity

felofhe's review against another edition

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

sarahdenn27's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment