‘Why haven’t you left, gone off to do whatever it is you’ve always wanted to do?’įenton tilts her head, looks at me like she’s not exactly sure she understands the question. ‘Excuse me?’ She stops at the door, looks back. “Answer this, in your blue books, Professor Palace: what effect does it have on motive, all this information, all this unbearable imminence?” What will your partner do? Children? Neighbors? The clerks at your grocery store? The plumbers? Doctors? Suddenly, humanity has an expiration date–if not from the disasters, then from starvation. After prolonged speculation, scientists discover the exact doomsday will be in six months, eleven days. Even worse, the resulting environmental destruction will cast a cloud cover over the world, obscuring the sun for years. Fast and large, the power of its collision with Earth will cause an explosion “equaling the blast force of a thousand Hiroshimas,” and the shock waves will cause tsunamis and earthquakes worldwide. What do I mean? Consider:Īn asteroid is heading toward Earth. Imagine Spin (my review) crossed with The Manual of Detection (my review) and a suicide investigation. 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? The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. 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. People all over the world are walking off the job-but not Hank Palace.

The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States.

What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?ĭetective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view.

The last policeman ben winters