Book Review: Calderdale by Dylan Byford

Forensics Analyst Carrie Tarmell receives a frantic call from a mysterious stranger moments before they’re brutally killed. Or so it seems. Carrie believes it’s a murder case, but with no body to be found, at least not the victims, the justice algorithms classify it as a missing persons case.

Desperate to find answers, Carrie is seconded to the bustling Great Northern Belt. While investigating the “disappearance” she stumbles across a vast conspiracy that could put her in corporate crosshairs.

Doubting herself and fighting colleagues and family, Carrie questions her choices and her own identity. What does it take to make a person? What does it take to make a murder?

GENRE: Cyberpunk Noir/Crime Thriller

PURCHASE LINK: Northodox Press | Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dylan Byford was born in Yorkshire and raised in Northumberland. He has travelled all over the world but now lives in the foot of the Yorkshire Dales with his family. A prolific playwright in his early writing career, Dylan has since turned to science fiction. Airedale is his first cyberpunk novel, a crime thriller set in a near-future northern England, riven with corruption, social unrest and urban decay.

Review

First things first: I've not read the first book, Airedale, so I know I'm probably missing out on some references and recurring characters and their histories/relationships, but this book is a great standalone! Not once did I feel like I was actually missing something, and by the end of it, I wanted to go back and check out the first installment. That's how it should work, right? But this was particularly well done.

I'm still fairly new to the UK and the only northern England place I've been to is York, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the world. I actually like how it's not a super futuristic cyberpunk setting. I love cyberpunk, but this book's take on it is quite refreshing. Enough grit and grime and advanced tech, though still not "out there" compared to, say, Altered Carbon. I guess I just love the human element really standing out.

Carrie, the protagonist, is such a badass. Even though she has many tools at her disposal, she ultimately figures things out with her nose and brains and experience! I also rather liked Deborah and Sunday.

This book was a chonker, but it didn't feel like it. I found myself just as eager as Carrie to figure out what in the world is going on, and I was relieved when we got to the end.

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

About Northodox Press

Northodox Press is an independent publisher established in 2020, based in Sheffield and Manchester. Their mission is to elevate northern voices and represent the diversity of writing from Northern England.

As of 2023, they cater to readers of general fiction and genre fiction.

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

You can find more info about me and my books, and also subscribe to my newsletter for more content, here. And if you like what I do, please also consider supporting me on Ko-fi! 🩷 https://ko-fi.com/mariesinadjan

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