The Manual Of Detection by Jedediah Berry

A low-level clerk in a shadowy, bureaucratic city is unexpectedly promoted to detective when his supervisor disappears, and he must navigate a labyrinthine, dreamlike world of missing persons, odd bureaucratic rules, and uncanny inhabitants using a mysterious instruction manual. Blending noir investigation with surreal, melancholic fantasy, the story follows his attempts to unravel cryptic clues, confront strange organizations, and piece together a truth that challenges the boundaries between identity, imagination, and reality.

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