The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters - a book review 📚

What would it be like to know the specific date that the world would end? I can't quite imagine what that would be like. What would you do? Would you live your dream, get depressed, panic? What would people around you do? What will change immediately, or within a week? Will it be complete anarchy? Are you able to buy a bread the coming days? Will bakeries stop making bread, or maybe not accept money as we know it anymore?

Plot

An asteroid is heading toward Earth where the cause of a collision will have the same impact as a thousand Hisoshimas, and we’re not even talking about the results of the earthquakes and tsunami’s afterwards. A lot of people are ‘going Bucketlist’ when the news sinked in, which basically means they are doing whatever they always wanted to do: paragliding, going to a certain country, or more illegal stuff even if that means murder. Others are so depressed by the news they are committing suicide. Suddenly, humanity has an expiration date.

Henry Palace, the protagonist of the story, has been working for the Police Department for more than a year when he suddenly has been promoted to detective. An apparent suicide has been found at a McDonalds restaurant. While his colleagues are dismissing it as another doomsday suicide, Henry is not so convinced this is one of the many suicides a day they are seeing. He persists an investigation because he is noticing some weird things around the crime scene.

Who should read this?

If you would like a grim-dark pre-apocalyptic crime detective: yes. It’s an easy read, with some beautiful descriptions about such a weird world to live in. The most interesting elements are in the details, just like in any subtle science fiction work (or with any genre, actually). For example, the crime scene is in a McDonalds restaurants. However, this is a pirated restaurant since the franchise stopped. This, together with a nice main story, makes it a nice read.

The twists in the story are good as well. And, it’s the first of a trilogy, so there’s more to look forward to after finishing this one! I am definitely reading the other two books in this trilogy.

My rating

★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

More info

• Pages: 288
• Publication year: 2012
• Goodreads