This started off slow but got better. It is almost an adult book as all the characters in it are adults so I am surprised that it is being marketed as a YA book - especially with the copious amounts of lesbian sex alluded to in it.
Nevertheless, the murder plot is intriguing. in the boarding houses of the female code breakers of WW2, someone is murdering girls after the Saturday dances when they are vulnerable and alone.
Kit, Dottie, Maya and Violet use their collective brainpower to start the hunt for a serial killer when Kit's own room mate is one of the ones who doesn't return from a dance.

All the while Kit is having to hide who she really is, as in those times, you couldn't really love just anyone or be who you wanted to be.

For mature readers. ( )

Aimed at a young adult audience, this story combines historical detail with a thriller/mystery. At times the fact that it has a YA audience peeks through, but in general the story is plausible and well-told.

Two girls employed by the government have recently been murdered and group of four decide to try to track down the murderer. They use their skills as code breakers working in a secret US facility to develop a profile of the murderer and liaise with a journalist from the Washington Post to entrap him.
Running in the background are a couple of other strands: Kit Sutherland's hidden background, the role of girls in codebreaking, and the treatment of black girls despite the role they are playing. ( )

I enjoyed this one! It's a good paced young adult historical fiction mystery! I did figure out who the bad guy was early on but it didn't take away from the building suspense and there were other surprising twists along the way! I loved the code breaking and how the girls broke Codes. A Lot of research went into it and it showed! It's a unique story and definitely entertaining! Tbr and Beyond Tours for sharing this book with me!
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The Killing Code reads really well! It is fast-paced, exciting, and set in the middle of a war. We have three things going on simultaneously, Kit's secret, some romance, and the murders of young women employed by the government.

Despite being for the war effort, this facility also seems to be a woman's haven. There is the freedom to work with other like-minded women, talk, even if some of them resent that for them, and dream about something better after the war.

While Ellie Marney wrote an excellent book, it is closer to three and a half stars than four for me. Someone with so much experience should have been able to pick up on certain things. For instance, while I loved Kit and Moya overall, sometimes I felt like Kit was snapped into becoming super flirty with Moya when the rest of the time, she came off pretty shy. I just couldn't understand how her personality flipped in those moments. I also loved Violet and Dottie as characters, but I felt like Violet was used to superficially exploring race issues in the US. I think Violet was the only black girl we interacted with in the book, which is odd. Even worse when you realize that Moya was a supervisor who could have tried to at least foster more significant interaction between these units.

On the plus side, Raffi was fun, and I loved that he was quick to understand why Kit wasn't dancing. After Kit first suspected and dismissed, who she thought the killer was, I was sure it was that guy. Many misogynists hide like this, and we find out far too late. I did like how well researched the book was and Kit's secret. That added an absorbing layer to their actions and the risks involved. ( )

Engaging characters, an immersive 1940s wartime setting, and a suspenseful and baffling murder mystery!

The Killing Code was a tense and suspenseful story set during World War II, just outside Washington, DC, on the grounds of a former finishing school for young women. The tension came from several directions: Kit’s constant fear of being unmasked as an imposter, the stress and urgency of codebreaking and the war itself, and a string of gruesome murders perpetrated against young female government workers in DC. In addition, there is a romantic subplot involving two main characters.

The author obviously did a lot of amazing research in crafting the story. There are even quotes from historical figures involved in codebreaking and cryptography heading the chapters, including one from a distant cousin of mine (Colonel Parker Hitt.) I was particularly intrigued by the colossal about-face in the workforce at the time, with women fulfilling positions men had traditionally held. I had never heard about the all-black codebreaking unit working simultaneously with the white unit but segregated from them the entire time.

The main characters, the core group of women trying to track down the serial killer, come from different backgrounds and circumstances. But I felt the buildup of camaraderie and how they became a family. I liked how they used their knowledge and skills gained at work to profile the murderer and make sense of the information they gathered. They hit some snags along the way in their investigations and relationships, but their perseverance takes them through all roadblocks, much like tackling the Japanese coded messages.

The author doesn’t keep the women restricted to quarters either. I enjoyed that the investigations took them “off campus,” and we got to experience the world of Washington, DC, during 1940s wartime. Social settings, transportation, telephoning, and clothing are all mentioned, and I felt immersed in the place and time. However, with one of the main characters, a young black woman, the attitudes toward race during those days were also fully displayed.

With great characters that I could relate to and root for from the beginning, the immersive 1940s wartime setting, and the engrossing and baffling murder mystery, I was glued to this book to the very end. I recommend THE KILLING CODE to readers who enjoy historical mysteries, especially those set in World War II or including codebreaking.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author or publisher through NetGalley and TBR and Beyond Book Tours. ( )