The Last Policeman

Author(s): Ben H. Winters

Fiction

Winner of the 2013 Edgar® Award Winner for Best Paperback Original!

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?

General Information

  • : 9781594746741
  • : Quirk Books
  • : Quirk Books
  • : 0.318
  • : 01 April 2013
  • : United States
  • : books

Other Specifications

  • : Ben H. Winters
  • : Paperback
  • : en
  • : 813.6
  • : 336

More About The Product

"The best genre fiction holds a mirror up to society while also providing edge-of-the-seat excitement, and The Last Policeman did that and more."--"Las Vegas City Life" ".".."a heck of a lot of fun."--"Locus" "Winters constructs a sturdy, functional, entertaining page-turner."--Greg Cook, WBUR.org "I'm eager to read the other books, and expect that they'll keep me as enthralled as the first one did."--Mark Frauenfedler, "Boing Boing"" "."."."darkly intriguing..."--"Discover "magazine "Full of compelling twists, likable characters, and a sad beauty, "The Last Policeman" is a gem."--"San Francisco Book Review" ..".resonant and powerful."--"Locus" "This is a book that asks big questions about civilization, community, desperation and hope."--"io9" ..".an entertaining and well-plotted tale."--"Wired.com's GeekDad" "I'm in the middle of it and can't put the dang thing down."--"USA Today's Pop Candy" ..".sharp, funny, and deeply wise."--"Slate.com" ""The Last Policeman "succeeds both as a mystery, with a quirky detective and an intriguing whodunit, and as a piece of apocalyptic speculative fiction. That's good news. The even better news is that this novel is supposed to be the first of a planned trilogy, with each case occurring closer to the moment when, as Henry repeatedly notes, 'Bam!' And that is something we can anticipate with a good feeling."--"Sacramento News & Review" "Winters is masterful in crafting a plausible image of a society that's hanging onto sanity by its fingernails as it teeters on the edge of mass hysteria....This is a novel that grabs ahold of you and doesn't let you go until the very end."--"The Nashua Telegraph" "If the next two books are as good as this one, I can't wait for the end of the world."--"Asbury Park Press" ..".a solidly plotted whodunit with strong characters and excellent dialogue...This memorable tale is the first of a planned trilogy

BEN H. WINTERS is a New York Times bestselling author and an Edgar Award nominee. Ben lives in Cambridge with his wife and three children.