Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Le code Twyford by Janice Hallett

15 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

bronzel's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

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

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

toomanytbr's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

angela005's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

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

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Out now! [Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Steve “Smithy” Smith has recently been released from prison and is hunting for a mysterious code in the children’s books of author Edith Twyford, which may be tied to the decades-old disappearance of his teacher.

I love a good mystery/puzzle and heard really great things about this one, which is told in a series of transcribed audio files, a truly unique format (I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it). I was able to read this as part of a buddy read, which absolutely added to the fun, as we were able to put our detective hats on and discuss.

That said, while I was definitely intrigued the whole time, The Twyford Code ultimately didn’t land in quite the way I hoped—I found myself confused and a bit frustrated with the way the mystery played out, and while that may be the point, it isn’t my preferred style at all. I felt like I never knew what the actual questions were, so I couldn’t really focus on solving them, and it made the reveal(s) at the end feel a bit out of left field. I also felt like there were a bunch of unanswered questions in the end, and as someone who really likes closure in a book the lack of resolution wasn’t my favorite.

All of that said, I truly know people who ADORE this book, and if it sounds intriguing to you I would absolutely say to give it a shot! It will easily go down as the most original thing I’ve read this year (and maybe ever) and I think if you are the type of person who will enjoy this one you’ll REALLY enjoy it.

Recommended if you like: puzzle books; unconventional/epistolary(ish) formats; multiple plot threads

CW: Violence/injury/blood (all mild); death/loss of parents (off-page); mentions of domestic abuse

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail