• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
FanFiAddict

FanFiAddict

A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.

  • Home
  • About
    • Reviewers
    • Review Policy
    • Stance on AI
    • Contact
    • Friends of FFA
  • Blog
    • Reviews
      • Children’s / Middle Grade Books
      • Comics/Graphic Novels
      • Fantasy
        • Alt History
        • Coming of Age
        • Epic Fantasy
        • Fairy Tales
        • Grimdark
        • Heroic Fantasy
        • LitRPG
        • Paranormal Fantasy
        • Romantic Fantasy
        • Steampunk
        • Superheroes
        • Sword and Sorcery
        • Urban Fantasy
      • Historical Fiction
      • Science Fiction
        • Aliens
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Alt History
        • Cyberpunk
        • Dystopian
        • Hard SciFi
        • Mechs/Robots
        • Military SF
        • Space Opera
        • Steampunk
        • Time Travel
      • Thriller
    • Guest Posts
    • Lists
    • Neurodivergence in Fiction
    • Why You Should Read…
    • Interviews
      • Book Tube
      • Authorly Writing Advice
  • Fear For All
    • Demons
    • Ghosts
    • Gothic
    • Lovecraftian
    • Monsters
    • Occult
    • Psychological
    • Slasher
    • Vampires
    • Werewolves
    • Witches
    • Zombies
  • SFF Addicts
    • SFF Addicts Clips
    • SFF Addicts (Episode Archive)
  • TBRCon
    • TBRCon2025
    • TBRCon2024
    • TBRCon2023
    • TBRCon2022
  • FFA Book Club
  • FFA TBR Toppers
    • Advertise Your Book on FFA!
  • Writer Resources
    • Artists
    • Cartographers
    • Editing/Formatting/Proofing

Book Review : New York Minute by Stephen Aryan

September 30, 2024 by Charlie Cavendish Leave a Comment

Rating: 9.0/10

Synopsis:

A noir story, set in an alternate New York City.

After years of being a cop, and now a private investigator, there’s little that surprises Cole Blackstone. But when someone working for Karl Dolman, the most notorious crime boss in the city asks for his help, Cole is caught off guard, and more than a little afraid.

Dolman’s daughter, Selina, has gone missing. To prevent a gang war that will tear the city apart, Cole must find her. But the job is being made more difficult as everyone is interfering, cops and criminals, and no one wants him to succeed.

Together with his childhood friend, Bracken Hart, the two men must navigate the depths of the city’s underworld for answers. In a race against the clock, Cole needs to find out what happened to Selina, and who is responsible, before the streets run red.

Review:

Seriously this book was such a good read. I was hooked from the first few pages.  It’s dark and gritty with the threat of violence dripping from the pages. At its heart this is a noir mystery set an New York that’s immediately familiar yet quite alien from that famous city we all know.

The alternate world we find ourselves in is intriguing. We are given glimpses into a world that echo’s our own, but its never fully explained whether this our Earth post an apocalyptic event or possible a world that isn’t even Earth. The lack of explanation in no way detracts from the story and for this reader (at least) it had me hooked and needing to know more.

We see glimpses of world where technology is in decline, electricity is only used sporadically if at all, and general populace move around in trains or on horse drawn trolleys. Whilst the controlling elite occupy the remnants of skyscrapers falling into disrepair and street thugs fight with swords, spears and even shields instead of guns.

It’s against this intriguing backdrop that we meet Cole Blackstone & his close friend and brother in all but name Bracken. These really are the duo you didn’t know you needed in your life. Tough as nails and able to enact tremendous violence on those in their way and yet there is a depth to the friendship / brotherhood that is incredibly tender. Their past is hinted at but what is clear is that they would follow the other into the gates of hell if required.  And they come pretty close to that in the course of their blood soaked investigations through the underworld of their New York. Cole is a former policeman turned PI and its for these skills that he is summoned by the most feared crime boss of New York, Karl Dolman.

As I have mentioned there is a solid mystery at the heart of the story and I’m not going to ruin that by giving away any details but the clock is ticking if Cole & Bracken are going to stop the streets of New York being awash with blood. But what I can say is that the quality of the writing and the depth of the characters grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go. In my case I devoured it in one sitting.  Being a novella it was over all too soon and I was over the moon to learn that we can expect further stories from this world

This was my first foray into Stephen’s writing and on the strength of this book its safe to say I will be reaching for his other work as soon as I can. Whilst eagerly awaiting a return visit to the world he has introduced us to in a New York Minute.

Thanks to Stephen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

Stephen Aryan is an award winning fantasy author. He has written two trilogies, the Age of Darkness, and the Age of Dread, plus a prequel novella, set in the magic-infused world of Mordana.

He has also written the Quest for Heroes duology, The Coward and The Warrior, published by Angry Robot Books.

The Judas Blossom, the first instalment in a Persian-inspired historical fantasy trilogy, The Nightingale and the Falcon was published in July 2023. The second in the trilogy, The Blood Dimmed Tide was published 9 July 2024 by Angry Robot Books.

Twitter : @SteveAryan

Instagram: @stephenaryan_writer

Website: https://stephen-aryan.com/

Filed Under: Book Tour, Detective Noir Fantasy, Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tagged With: Book Review, Fantasy

About Charlie Cavendish

Hey I’m Charlie!

I’m old enough to have seen the original Star Wars trilogy at the cinema which may account for the grey hairs on my head. I currently live in Sydney (Australia) with my wife, three teenage children, and two pugs. I have spent about half my life in the UK and the balance in Australia so tend to have a strong English sense of humour.

I’ve always loved books and reading but stumbled into the world of indie authors/self-publishing after making the “brave” leap onto Twitter in 2022. This proved to be a revelation and I have been getting involved in the community ever since, with my main area of interest being on indie SFF books. That said I’m always keen to read as widely as possible.

I’m keen to help promote indie authors and so thought I’d try my hand at writing a few reviews, it’s early days so please bear with me.

Outside of reading and the book community, I love running, my pugs, and my family (not in that order).

Other Reviews You Might Like

Review: Bloodless by G.J. Terral, book 3 of The Binding Tenets

Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

Review: Anji Kills A King (The Rising Tide #1) by Evan Leikam

Review: The Girl in the Walls by Meg Eden Kuyatt

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored By

Use Discount Code FANFI For 5% Off!

FFA Newsletter!

Sign up for updates and get FREE stories from Michael R. Fletcher and Richard Ford!

What Would You Like To See?(Required)
Please select the type of content you want to receive from FanFi Addict. You can even mix and match if you want!

FFA Author Hub

Read A.J. Calvin
Read Andy Peloquin
Read C.J. Daily
Read C.M. Caplan
Read D.A. Smith
Read DB Rook
Read Francisca Liliana
Read Frasier Armitage
Read Josh Hanson
Read Krystle Matar
Read M.J. Kuhn

Recent Reviews

Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

Recent Comments

  1. Mark Matthews on COVER REVEAL: To Those Willing to Drown by Mark MatthewsJanuary 7, 2025
  2. Basra Myeba on Worth reading Jack Reacher books by Lee Child?January 5, 2025
  3. Ali on Review: Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav BarsukovJanuary 5, 2025
  4. Carter on So you want to start reading Warhammer 40,000? Here’s where to start!January 4, 2025
  5. M. Zaugg on Bender’s Best LitRPG reads of 2024January 3, 2025

Archive

Copyright © 2025 · Powered by ModFarm Sites · Log In