The Last Policeman by Ben H. WintersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Last Policeman is a commentary on how a lack of hope for the future affects people and, by extension, society. Oh, and it's also a detective story.
It takes only a few pages for The Last Policeman to paint an extremely bleak picture. There's an apparent suicide, taken in stride by almost everyone because it's such a common occurrence. Before long we learn this attitude is due to the end of the world, in the form of a massive object from space on a collision course with Earth. With no future to look forward to, many people have abandoned societal norms and gone on huge benders, or flown off to pursue "someday" dreams, or buried themselves in religion. Or simply decided to end their lives early.
Our hero, Detective Hank Palace, is not one of these people. He's sticking to society's rules, and investigating the case of the suicide. Which he believes could be a murder, and that investigation leads him to all sorts of unexpected people and places.
As a detective story, The Last Policeman hits a lot of the standard plot points. A few physical altercations, pushing a snitch for information, mysterious beautiful girl, stereotypical fellow detectives, uncovering deeper mysteries in the course of the investigation. By itself, it would seem formulaic. But set against the backdrop of the end of the world, the mystery aspect works to keep the story moving and the characters motivated.
This is only the first book in a trilogy, so it's no surprise that The Last Policeman ends with a lot of big questions unanswered. But I think it still works on its own, wrapping up the smaller story of the suicide investigation while setting up for later books to expand on the larger picture. I look forward to reading the next one to continue the story.
