World of Trouble

October 27, 2014
At the start of Edgar Award–winner Winters’s third and final visit to a doomed America, the galaxy shelf-life of the world is down to only 14 days, thanks to the unavoidable arrival of a giant asteroid. The U.S. is a devastated and dysfunctional mess. The novel’s protagonist, novice police detective Hank Palace; his limping dog, Houdini; and a homicidal sidekick named Cortez are on a journey across the country from a deserted police station in Concord, N.H., to the dusty and dangerous rubble of a small town in Ohio. Hank is searching for his beloved sister, Nico, who was last seen keeping company with heavily armed true believers who are eager to kill anyone trying to stop them from what they perceive as an Earth-saving mission. Reader Berkrot’s raspy rendition of Hank’s voice indicates he’s young, not terribly self-confident, but ultra-dedicated and maybe a little bit unhinged—as who wouldn’t be. Cortez, on the other hand, is quite loony, and Berkrot gives his dialogue a gleeful enthusiasm that’s more chilling than comforting. When it comes to the wide array of secondary characters Hank encounters amid his travels—some crazed and fearful, some quietly at peace—Berkrot matches their personalities and attitudes. When the novel hurtles toward a conclusion as inevitable as the descending meteor, he quickens the narrative pace until, near the end, settling into a softer, melancholic resignation. A Quirk paperback.

July 1, 2014
The end of the world won't stop the last policeman from solving one more case.Would-be detective Hank Palace is driven by a sense of purpose long abandoned by a planet that's gone crazy as the last days approach. Though he spent little time as an actual detective-after all, there's no such thing as police, or even order, any more-Palace is the kind of guy who keeps at his job, even in the final days before asteroid Maia is predicted to collide with the Earth. Besides, the last case Palace has chosen is personal: He has to find out what happened to his younger sister, Nico, before everything comes to an end. During their last meeting, Nico claimed to be on the trail of a scientist who could save the planet. When Palace tried to call her bluff, she made a quick getaway, determined to find what she believed to be the truth. Now Palace attempts to retrace her steps, going through the remains of civilization from Massachusetts to Ohio armed only with Nico's high school yearbook photo. Even Palace's most loyal companion, his dog, Houdini, limps alongside him as if he knows that the end is near and that the two companions must find their own meaning in it.This final installment in Winters' trilogy (Countdown City, 2013, etc.) is the weakest, marked by a falling off of both the writing and the story that made the first entry worthwhile. Perhaps the world lasted 14 days too long.

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June 15, 2014

The conclusion of Winters's trilogy (The Last Policeman; Countdown City) about a policeman struggling to do his job as the world is about to end still finds Hank Palace tilting at windmills. As the meteor that will destroy Earth hurtles ever closer, his final case is to find his sister Nico. He and Cortez (a thief he met in the last book) follow a clue that leads them to a deserted police station in Ohio, where Nico and her group were gathering in a final effort to stop the meteor. The station looks deserted but presents Hank with one last tragic puzzle to solve. VERDICT It is impossible not to love Hank and his need to try to do the right thing all the time. The bleak premise of this series could be too much, but, instead, it gives a certain clarity to the action of people who become their most real selves when the end of the world arrives. And Hank could have been quite a policeman.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
The concluding volume of the Last Policeman trilogy takes place the week before an asteroid will slam into Earth. Hank Palace, who used to be a police officer before society started tearing itself apart, has one thing he needs to accomplish before the asteroid hits: find out what has happened to his sister, Nico, who (as recounted in the previous books in the trilogy) had hooked up with a group of people who claimed to have a plan to save the world. Where the first two books (The Last Policeman, 2012, and Countdown City, 2013) were preapocalyptic mysteries, this one, while still set before the cataclysm, reads like a post-apocalyptic story: society has almost completely fallen apart, cities are deserted ruins, people are scrounging for food, technology is all but dead. The series has had a built-in expiration date from the very beginning, so readers shouldn't be upset that it's ending now, butand this is an indication of Winters' abundant gifts as a storytellerwe really, really wish he could find a way to keep it going. A fine conclusion to a unique and compelling trilogy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)