The City and the City

When the body of a foreign student is discovered in the streets of the down-at-heel city of Besźel, it’s just another day’s work for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But he uncovers evidence that the murdered girl came from Ul Qoma, a city that shares a dangerous and volatile relationship with Besźel, and this case will challenge everything Borlú holds dear.

My take

A darkly atmospheric detective mystery set in two overlapping cities that exist in the same space but operate under a strict protocol of mutual invisibility. Detective Borlú investigates a murder that forces him to confront the unsettling reality of the world he's chosen to ignore, blending noir intrigue with philosophical unease.

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