Steven Smith, condamné pour braquage, vient de terminer une longue peine de prison. Ne sachant ni bien lire ni écrire, il enregistre ses pensées sur un téléphone portable afin de progresser dans sa quête.Sa quête? Déchiffrer le code Twyford, inventé par une écrivaine de littérature jeunesse des années quarante, Edith Twyford. C'est un besoin impérieux, presque vital. Pour l'aider, Steven peut compter sur quatre amis avec qui il a partagé à l'époque du collège un événement qui a changé le cours de leur vie.Rapidement, il devient évident qu'Edith Twyford n'était pas seulement un «simple» écrivain. Le code Twyford a un grand pouvoir, et Steven n'est pas le seul à essayer d'en percer les secrets.Ode au pouvoir des mots et à la littérature, Le Code Twyford est un thriller qui se savoure avec délectation.
*** THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE APPEAL *** ''It totally foxed me. So clever and totally brilliant'' - LISA HALL ''Enid Blyton meets Agatha Christie with a cracking twist'' - MARION TODD ''Outstanding. Unlike anything you''ll ever read'' - IMRAN MAHMOOD ________________________________________ It''s time to solve the murder of the century... Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children''s book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. Wanting to know more, he took it to his English teacher Miss Iles, not realising the chain of events that he was setting in motion. Miss Iles became convinced that the book was the key to solving a puzzle, and that a message in secret code ran through all Twyford''s novels. Then Miss Iles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven has no memory of what happened to her. Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Iles murdered? Was she deluded? Or was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Iles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn''t just a writer of forgotten children''s stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn''t the only one trying to solve it... Perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Alex Pavesi and S.J. Bennett, The Twyford Code will keep you up puzzling late into the night.
Gripping. I loved the ambitious and unusual approach'' - SOPHIE HANNAH ''This is a case you''re about to become obsessed with. A triumph'' - ALEX NORTH ''Intriguing, clever and wholly original. A rare feat'' - ELIZABETH HAYNES IN A TOWN FULL OF SECRETS SOMEONE WAS MURDERED. SOMEONE WENT TO PRISON. AND EVERYONE''S A SUSPECT. CAN YOU UNCOVER THE TRUTH? Dear Reader - enclosed are all the documents you need to solve a case. It starts with the arrival of two mysterious newcomers to the small town of Lockwood, and ends with a tragic death. Someone has already been convicted of this brutal murder and is currently in prison, but we suspect they are innocent. What''s more, we believe far darker secrets have yet to be revealed. Throughout the Fairway Players'' staging of All My Sons and the charity appeal for little Poppy Reswick''s life-saving medical treatment, the murderer hid in plain sight. Yet we believe they gave themselves away. In writing. The evidence is all here, between the lines, waiting to be discovered. Will you accept the challenge? Can you uncover the truth? The standout debut thriller of 2021 that delivers multiple brilliant twists, and will change the way you think about the modern crime novel.
Everyone knows about the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing that her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared into the care system. Now, author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the true-crime scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby''s trail. As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they''d ever imagined. This story is far from over...