the premise: interesting, up to a point. Having two cities with entirely different laws, language, and culture superimposed on a single space with a panopticon gvt agency exercising near-superpowers that prevents the two kinds of citizens from looking at each other? And meanwhile, the divide between them completely ignored by people from other countries?? It is full of wtf-ery. The traffic laws alone break my head. /o\

presumed shout-outs: to Bon Cop, Bad Cop and possibly to the Inspector Lynley series(?) (Corwi and Havers should go have a pint) were cute, and it's nice to see Canada get mentioned.

the setting: a really interesting allegory to large cities with large populations who speak different languages: Arabs in Paris, Latin Americans in Miami, Quebecois in Montreal, etc.

the structure: Agatha Christie at her worst, complete with pointless byzantine counterplots and an obnoxious reveal at the end.

women: exist only to be killed, fucked, proved wrong, grossly taken advantage of, and/or totally undervalued. Or else they can be bystanders who never, ever intervene. OTOH, they're never defined by how attractive they are or aren't, and it was nice to see beauty plainly ignored as a form of cultural currency. Also nice to see women shown as variously brilliant or dumb as the men.

queer people: apparently don't exist in this 'verse except for the secret drag show in a crime boss' hidden bank basement bar. Apparently drag shows are illegal there?

men: fairly anonymous heroes and villains. Our hero is supercop but has no friends, family, or anything he really cares about. He has no stakes, so the ending is totally predictable.

characterization: the only characters with any depth are the two women who die, although a couple of other women have brief good moments. Everyone else, protagonist included, comes off as a cardboard cut-out.

in sum: a sequel might be better, assuming he can figure out (and figure out a better way to present) the rules of his 'verse.