The Last Policeman instantly jumped on my must read list the day I first read the blurb. I mean really an asteroid is coming and will collide with earth. Everything is going to shit people are just up and walking away from everything but this one guy probably the only guy left who is still on the job insists on investigating what his gut tells him is a murder that by all appearances is a suicide. Everyone is offing themselves so why not Peter Zell? Why is Hank so sure it’s a murder?
This book, this story, this character just sucked me in. The story at times I felt was slow because really Hank had almost nothing to go on the whole time yet that small thread that he began to pick at like a scab he just couldn’t leave alone would result in just one tiny bit of information and then just a tiny bit more. Is there a case?
If it’s murder why even kill someone when in 6 months 99.99 % of the population on the planet will die?
That kept me reading and wanting to know and Hank dammit I liked him a lot. The story had me so curious I was all kinds of invested in it. I wanted no needed to know what happened to Hank and that’s really what got me hooked. The story pulled me in but Hank our main guy he kept me sucked in because he won me over. I wanted Hank to be okay even though in 6 months he’ll be fried or drowned or ash or frozen or a number of other sad deaths and dammit Hanks not even real. Wtf Ben you made me like Hank so much. He’s just a good good guy and I will read the other two books planned in the series because I want to know more about Hank and what’s going to happen with the giant rock in the sky on a collision course with earth.
The story while slow at times kept my interest in fact had me maddeningly curious about what happened to Peter Zell. The characters were always of interest though only Hank and Peter the dead guy were really well fleshed out but that was enough for me to be won over by them. I mean when an author can create a character who isn’t real and is dead in the book and yet you want to know what happened to him and keep reading and reading for that you know the author did a kick ass job.
The side story with Hank’s sister which is my guess where the next book in the series will be focused was while a small part sure has me curious now about what else Ben will write in this series. I have his other book Bedbugs and I’m really looking forward to reading that too so I can try out another of his books.
The Last Policeman is a great example of why Quirk books should be on every readers radar. Good quality books outside of the box stories and writing that sucks a reader in.
I highly recommend checking out The Last Policeman. You should be hooked on Ben’s work as well.
My great thanks to Quirk books for the review copy.
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.
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.
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?
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