The Last Policeman: A Novel (The Last Policeman, #1)

by Ben H Winters

"[The] weird, beautiful, unapologetically apocalyptic Last Policeman trilogy is one of my favorite mystery series."--John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns
Winner of the 2013 Edgar(R) Award Winner for Best Paperback Original!
What's the point in solving murders if we're all going to die soon, anyway?
Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There's no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.
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"The Last Policeman "presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job--but not Hank Palace. He's investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week--except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
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The first in a trilogy, "The Last Policeman "offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace's investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we're confronted by hard questions way beyond "whodunit." "What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us""do, what would we "really "do, if our days were numbered?"

• ISBN10: 1594745765
• ISBN13: 9781594745768
• Publish Date: 10 July 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 27 June 2013
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Quirk Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[sarahjay]

Some network wanting to cash in on the True Detective thing could make this into a pretty decent show. I'd watch it. Though, given the premise of this book/trilogy, it would end up being short lived, but. Still. Anyway, it's a good book, enjoyable and easy to read writing style, and I found the main character quite endearing. Looking forward to the sequels.

[lovelybookshelf]

This is a joint review of the first two books in the trilogy (no spoilers) originally posted on my blog, A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall:

A deadly asteroid is bound for earth. There's no hope left: People are abandoning their jobs, their responsibilities, fulfilling bucket lists, committing suicide. Hank Palace is the only policeman left who considers the possibility of murder when 99% of crime scenes are suicides; the only policemen left who cares enough to bother solving the case.

I can't believe I almost passed on the opportunity to read and review these two books. I'm kind of picky about mysteries, and crime fiction is usually not my thing, but the pre-apocalyptic angle intrigued me. I'm glad I took a chance, because I raced through these two books, reading them back-to-back.

There are 6 months until impact in The Last Policeman, and only 2½ months left in Countdown City. As you can imagine, society deteriorates more and more as time runs out. Both books are riveting. Ben Winters strikes the perfect balance between mystery, thriller, science, and bringing the reader into a society on the brink of devastation. The tone is never too heavy, and certainly not too light. The dialogue is fantastic. And our protagonist? Hank Palace is as kind and caring as he is fierce (when necessary).

Considering it is the first book in a trilogy, The Last Policeman had a surprisingly satisfying ending. It wrapped up in such a way that I could have easily put the series aside if I'd wanted, but that wasn't going to happen! Immediately upon finishing, I dived into Countdown City, which was equally as exciting.

What's the difference between what's lawful and what's right? When everything seems pointless, and there's no profit or gain, what choices will people make? How will people choose to spend their last few months? There's a short but especially powerful scene of readers holing themselves up in a library, devouring as many books as possible.

I couldn't read quickly enough, either: the first two books in Ben Winters's The Last Policeman trilogy are that good. I'm looking forward to reading the final installment.

I received a copy of each book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

[inlibrisveritas]

The Last Policeman is set in a pre-apocalyptic world, where an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth and everything is slowly falling a part. It tackles the question of ‘what would you do if you knew the world was going to end?’.

The world in Last Policeman is threatened by an enormous asteroid called 2011GV1, or Maia, and civilization is in the process of crumbling under the news that it’s going to hit Earth. Our story follows a detective, Hank Palace, and his desire to do his job despite the inevitability of the worlds end. The world Winters has painted is very realistic and bleak. Suicides are common, no one wants to work anymore and laws are only there to be broken. In other words everything is grinding to a halt, making life more difficult and Hank’s determination to continue doing what he swore to do as a cop. One of the best things about this is the different ways people handle the news of the asteroid. Some people opt out, others use it as excuse to finally live, and some take the opportunity to do what they want no matter the cost. It’s the human condition on display.

Our main character, Hank, is one I truly admire. I know in the face of something so devastating and huge I would not want to continue working, I would be one of those people who have a sudden desire to go skydiving or road trip across the US. Hank puts up with so many people who have given up on upholding the law, and even with all of the nay-saying and general complacence he still puts his mind to work and tries to solve a murder that appears to be a suicide. I wouldn’t even say that Hank is all that fantastic of a detective, in fact he’s quite new to the job…but it makes a world of difference when you’re close to the only one doing your job. I loved getting to know about Hank and what makes him tick. Even though I can’t quite understand how someone could be so comfortable with the idea of impending death that they carry on, I still really liked his drive to continue. He’s the sort of person you hope to see in dire situations.

I loved that the novel was not solely just about the murder mystery, but instead about the setting around Hank. How people are living, reacting, and coping. The whole pre-apocalyptic setting is not an in your face experience, it’s more of a muffled exprience. The world is sad and scared, and the city reflects that. The mystery in itself was quite interesting and not one you can easily guess, so I really appreciated that since I tend to be one of those people who guess early on and end up bored.

I’m really looking forward to reading book two and three in order to see how things will play out the closer the asteroid gets. I do know that Hank is going to have his hands full and given the way this one ended things are only going to get tougher. If you enjoy out-of-the-box mysteries that are not only fun to read, but also make you think about life in general then definitely give this one a shot!

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

If a huge asteroid was heading towards earth threating to destroy all mankind, what would you do? Would you even bother to continue working? Would you worry about solving a crime? Detective Hank Palace is determined to solve a suspicious suicide even when the rest of the world doesn’t care in this apocalyptic whodunit, making him The Last Policeman.

I love the idea of blending apocalyptic fiction with a pulp type crime novel. The world is in decline and Hank Palace has only just made detective. So without anyone else caring about this crime, why would he spend so much time trying to prove himself as a homicide detective? This really is the driving force of this book; you are always questioning the motivation of Palace when the rest of the world wants to live life to its fullest.

Personally I would have liked to see Hank to be a bit more hard-boiled but the idea of being a newbie to the force wanting to prove himself was pretty enjoyable. He was a little unsure and sometimes too timid but he never gave up. I would have loved to see more depth to the character but as this is a planned trilogy I think the author is saving some more for the next two books. Unfortunately all the others are just background characters and they never had the development they deserved. I think this might have been just a lack of experience from author Ben H. Winters; best known for his mash up novels Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Android Karenina.

The crime itself was pretty straight forward and even predictable but the problems with solving the case was trying to do it without any forensic or police help, so I feel like I can forgive Winters for this. Then there is the subplot which forces more on the apocalyptic struggle to try and survive aspects. I felt like this was the biggest let down of the book, I know he wanted to help his sister but as a reader I felt like it was just fleshing out the novel and trying to make sure it’s at least 300 pages long.

I’m interested to see what author Ben H. Winters does with this trilogy; I’m hoping he grows as a writer and incorporates more pulp elements in the next two books. Detective Palace has real potential as a protagonist; he has some appeal to him already but with some development he could be great. I like the Science-Fiction pulp mash-up and I hope this continues, Winters has a great idea here and with some love and hard work this will turn out to be a great trilogy.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/01/04/book-review-the-last-policeman/