City and the City by China Mieville

A modern crime/detective story set in a unique urban fantasy setting. Two cites that exist in the same space, and overlap at areas of "crosshatching". Citizens in Ul Qoma and Bes hold on to their identities as separate nations by unseeing and unsensing citizens from the other city. To notice in areas of crosshatching is to move over to that city and to breach. Breaching is a major crime and involves the mysterious oversight policing force known as Breach. They have more power than either city's police force but only deal with crime involving the illegal travel between cities. If you breach, you disappear. Trained from birth to ignore the other city, the citizens of either city can live their entire lives in one city without ever truly seeing anything from the other one.

A blend of near-future science fiction and police procedural. Told from the point of view of Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad roams through the intertwined but separate cultures as he investigates the murder of Mahalia Geary, who believed that a third city, Orciny, hides in the blind spots between Beszel and Ul Qoma. As Mahalia's friends disappear and revolution brews, Tyador is forced to consider the idea that someone in unseen Orciny is manipulating the other cities.

I have read several reviews so when it came out on CD thought I would give it a try. Honestly it was hard to just listen to especially with the almost Eastern European sounding names and places. Also I had no idea how the cities or names were spelled until I saw the book. I did enjoy the mix of mystery with science fiction elements. Now that I've listened to it on CD I want to re-read it in print to see how it works for me.