His forte is the lavish descriptions of weird, surrealistic cities and the teeming, bizarre life that inhabits them, but his latest THE CITY AND THE CITY is almost a crime novel, as an investigator delves into a murder and a cross between Chandler and Kafka arises.

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Mieville weaves together an intricate plot that fills the reader with curiosity and a slight bit of confusion, but that is an intentional ploy by the author and it keeps the reader hooked. Not only is this a great detective novel but an imaginative fantasy that intrigues and fascinates.

Synopsis

When the body of a murdered woman is found in the extraordinary, decaying city of Besźel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks like a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he probes, the evidence begins to point to conspiracies far stranger, and more deadly, than anything he could have imagined. Soon his work puts him and those he cares for in danger. Borlú must travel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own, across a border like no other.

With shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984 , The City & The City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.

About the Author

China Miéville lives and works in London. He is three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award (Perdido Street Station, Iron Council and The City & The City) and has also won the British Fantasy Award twice (Perdido Street Station and The Scar). The City & The City, an existential thriller, was published in 2009 to dazzling critical acclaim and drew comparison with the works of Kafka and Orwell (The Times) and Philip K. Dick (Guardian). His most recent novel, Kraken, was published in 2010.   In 2010 China Miéville won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award for his novel The City and the City, the first time in its history an author has won it three times.   Maxim Jakubowski's view on PERDIDO STREET STATION... British author Miéville is one of the most adept practitioners when it comes to creating imaginary worlds and cities which are both alien and recognisable as an extrapolation of the world we live in. The urban and gothic New Crobuzon is a harbour for humans, mutants, magicians and every mysterious species under the sun. Old-fashioned storytelling taken off the leash and exhaustively inventive.   Author photo © Chris Close More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation