The Last Policeman

Winters, Ben. The Last Policeman. Philadelphia : Quirk Books. 2012

First Sentences:

I'm staring at the insurance man and he's staring at me, two cold gray eyes behind old-fashioned tortoiseshell frames, and I'm having this awful and inspiring feeling, like holy moly this is real, and I don't know if I'm ready. I really don't, 

Description:

Sometimes I am attracted to a book by the setting alone, hoping to see how major characters deal with foreign, often threatening situations caused by their environment and the forces faced. Such books include The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (stranger in a magical land); The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (evolving human settlement of Mars); Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (Earth's moon blows up on the first page and humans have 18 months to figure out how to preserve some form of mankind); and even Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchel (living in a Civil War-torn country).

 

Ben Winters' The Last Policeman is exactly such a book. Here is the situation: Earth scientists have discovered a monstrous-sized asteroid heading for earth and are 100% certain it will hit Earth in six months with the destructive force that killed the dinosaurs. 

Hearing this news, people have reacted differently, from quitting jobs, pursuing Bucket List adventures, delving into drugs to leave the world high, and more and more commonly, suicide.

 

In this world of small town Concord, New Hampshire, Detective Hank Palace narrates the tale of how he tries to preserve his sense of order and justice. Recently promoted to Detective (since so many police officers above him had simply left the police department), Palace finds himself in his dream job. But he is surrounded by fellow officers who are unwilling to make any effort to confront crime. 

Detective Palace, nonetheless, doggedly pursues a new case, the suicide of a man found in a MacDonald's bathroom. Palace believes this, his first murder, is not a suicide as all appearances point to. Fellow officers, the Police Chief, the coroner, and even the victim's sister all feel this is merely one of a huge number of self-inflicted deaths, an act easily explained by the hopeless despondency felt worldwide.

 

But Palace is not to be deterred. There was no phone found on the body, an expensive belt was used in the hanging, and the location was an unusual one. Palace digs in, exploring seemingly minor leads and people to understand who this man was, his work, his relationships, his emotions, and any possible reasons to do away with himself.

 

Working in this highly tense environment, Palace is in contact with people who demonstrate they have no hope left, have religious convictions of salvation, feel they have uncovered highly secretive plots, want to lead believers to safe underground compounds, and even those who dream of space travel to the secret moon colonies the government has hidden from the world.

 

Crackpots, fanatics, dreamers, rebels, and even a few ordinary people who accept their inevitable fate are part of people Palace must interrogate to try to wring out of them the circumstances of this man's life and whether Palace's theory of murder is any more than just a fancy. And all this occurs in a world with unreliable phone service, businesses shut down, gasoline unavailable, and when friends, colleagues, and everyday people you meet one day are gone forever the next day from their jobs, homes, or life itself.

I would characterize the mood, here in town, as that of the child who isn't in trouble yet, but knows he's going to be....He's sullen and snappish, he's on edge. Confused, sad, trembling against the knowledge of what's coming next, and right on the edge of violence, not angry be anxious in a way that can easily shade ito anger.  

Clever, twisty, completely unexpected, and totally involving, The Last Policeman is a gripping, fascinating deep dive into a world so foreign, yet so possible, along with the people who have to plan and then undertake the manner of how they will live out their final days.

 

Best of all, there are two more Detective Palace books available (Countdown City and World of Trouble). Of course, I immediately borrowed these from the library and absorbed them. One is set with only three months before Earth's destruction, and the last one takes place with only a few weeks to go. They both were fantastic, but you must start with The Last Policeman. It's a delightful, thought-provoking, wild ride.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Stephenson, Neal. Seveneves

In the first sentence, the Earth's moon blows up and scientists worldwide predict the debris will begin raining down on Earth in 18 months. It is up to the combined resources of the world to somehow address this situation and try to survive this cataclysmic disaster to preserve the human race. It's simply the best sci-fi novel ever. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

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