No Dogs In Philly by Andy Futuro - REVIEW

Saru had a way out. All she had to do was find the girl, one skinny stray with blue, blue eyes—bluer than anyone had ever seen—and ten million fat bucks were hers.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

INTRODUCTION

No Dogs in Philly is a cyberpunk noir existing inside a multiverse being shaped by various eldritch entities, each seeking to carve out their margin. It begins with Saru, a private investigator, who after a brief time in the limelight is sought out by the mysterious overseers of what is or was Philadelphia.  The Gaespora want her to find someone, this someone carries within them a lot of potential to change the world as they know it. While the physically gruelling state of the city is something not shied away from, the story also features many supernatural elements that mesh well with cyberpunk, so much so that Saru initially feels a lot of the oddities she’s experiencing are just some elaborate trick. If only that were the case, then you could at least fight it. The thing with eldritch monsters is that they never stay dead, the once Friar, is a testament to their enduring nature and that Saru is entirely unqualified to take them down, yet face it down she must if she wishes to survive the coming storm.

The main vessel for the supernatural is the character of Ria, whose journey is shown in glimpses but it’s clear from the beginning, what exists within her, is no mere dog, but it is in fact something more and is only growing in strength. 

PLOT

The plot is very fast-paced yet the book feels longer than it is in the beginning. It also has to balance two worlds that exist in contrast to one another, and it handles that well for the most part. Saru’s investigation is the main focus and we see her resourcefulness in terms of trying to locate the missing girl, however, when factoring in the end, she practically fails in the mission and technically is very lucky. The two main characters don’t meet until the end and even then the end dials up the eldritch shenanigans to a high degree. I don’t mind it, but it may put someone off who is more into grounded, gritty cyberpunk that’s more focused on the high-tech society and what comes with it, as the strange aspects of the world-building pretty much take centre stage towards the end of the book. Of course, some may be disappointed that Ria’s story isn’t more at the forefront but as this is a serialised story, I feel following her ascension? If you could call it that will lead to just who she is in a later story down the line. 

CHARACTER

The characters are your standard Cyberpunk folk with their mannerisms and behaviours. Saru is your usual gritty detective backed up by a colourful cast of characters both in design and their artful use of words. Friar stands out in particular because he becomes a constant thorn for Saru and his way of being is far more reserved and more in line with the Gaespora who despite overseeing humanity couldn’t be any more detached if they tried. The gods themselves are likely to go over most people’s heads, the main ones to focus on are the Hungry and Sad gods as they have the beef and are fighting over Earth. The slow god is also interesting and seems to have offered salvage to purists who forego technology. Even if Saru doesn’t want it, the god doesn’t relent in protecting her in its own way. Ria is fine but we learn only a small portion about her, we know she has a dog inside her and it’s keeping her safe but the focus of the story on Saru means we only see Ria reacting to Saru’s attempt to find her. 

WORLD BUILDING

The world-building is fantastic, it doesn’t hesitate to throw you into this hellscape and it makes you wonder just what could possibly exist beyond Philadelphia and if the story will go even farther afield in the long run. Much like with Cyberpunk you are quickly introduced to the jargon and if you’ve played the game, the ttrpg or even read the books then you are well aware of what you are signing up for with this book. It doesn’t linger but you get the sense of a lived-in world with various types of people. While the gods are abstract their mixed effects on the population are seen to varying and sometimes utterly monstrous degrees. The eldritch stuff doesn’t half enhance the scale of the conflict, and there are brief moments where Gaespora’s representative ElilE shows just how much of a terrifying presence he can have at any given time. What starts out as a simple locate the missing girl objective turns into a conflict for the fractured soul of humanity. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, it’s a solid read that I would recommend if you like cyberpunk, gritty aesthetics, and mouthy detectives accompanied by an equally eloquent cast. While the eldritch side of things could have been more overpowering, it’s still woven in fairly well and really comes into its own in the final part of the book when we get a proper sense of the scale of the city itself and what lies beneath it, in its forgotten bowels.

The book can read as an e-book or in serialised form.