Reviews - The Killing Code

322 reviews for:

The Killing Code

Ellie Marney

3.83 AVERAGE

co2lreads's review

4.75

informative inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A brilliant mystery from Ellie Marney. The Killing Code weaves together history and the invented murder mystery in a thoroughly engaging way. The characters were delightful, and by the end (once I'd begun to puzzle out the killer) I was in an almost constant state of worry about them, which I think is a sign of well-written characters. Definitely a read for fans of historical fiction!

lisaluvsliterature's review against another edition

5.0

The historical time period in this story, as well as the type of people who were featured was very interesting! It was during World War II, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t read about the women working on breaking codes, at least not in a story. There were a few details mentioned in the story that I did recognize from movies or other books about the code breakers, like Alan Turing and ENIGMA. But then there was info about Washington DC, like the area where the Pentagon was built and what it had been before they put that building there. I want to read more on that history for sure.

I really liked the mystery. I loved how the characters were code-breakers, and they used these skills that were part of their jobs to be applied to trying to solve murders of people close to them, or similar enough that they could see how they were also in danger. The author did a great job of even keeping me as the reader guessing about who it could possibly be. I had a couple different guesses, and one turned out to be right in the end, but that was after I’d been thrown off track a little bit with some of the solutions the girls came up with for the suspected perpetrator.

While this is a YA book, the characters are actually more new adult age in my opinion. Also, personally the romance was a little extra for me in that I don’t feel it necessarily added that much to the story. I get that it adds the little extra with LGBTQ characters. And maybe gave a little more reason for them to connect? It just at times seemed thrown in and not crucial for the storyline or even the character’s growth. As I’ve mentioned before, third person isn’t always my favorite way to tell a story. However this story did use that in a way that we were able to kind of get the story from more than just Kit’s viewpoint at times.

In the end I liked the story enough that I’ll be adding it to my school library as well as recommending it for my state school library association’s reader award nominees for the future.

Review first posted on Lisa Loves Literature.

lefa's review against another edition

5.0

Without fail, I always have a terrific time reading Ellie Marney’s books. This is less thriller/horror than her last book, None Shall Sleep, less murder mystery than her Every series, less romance than her Circus Hearts series. Instead, it’s a satisfyingly balanced version of the best parts of these wrapped up in a well-researched historical fiction package. Tore through it in a day and closed the cover feeling well sated.