The Last Policeman (2012)
Ben H. Winters (1976)
336 pages
Though not generally a big fan of crime fiction, I have enjoyed the intricate machinations and dark vision in works by authors such as Philip Kerr (Berlin Noir, A Philosophical Inquiry) and more recently Pierre Lemaitre (Alex). Post-apocalyptic fiction on the other hand I can’t get enough of --- I’m attracted by authors’ explorations of the psychological impacts of a cataclysmic event: the reactions of individuals, families, communities and nations to an inconceivable new reality.
Having read Ben Winters’ story The Last Policeman, it occurs to me that there can actually exist quite a bit of overlap in the psychological drama found in the best of both crime stories and post-apocalypic fiction. Winters’ novel initially caught my attention because of its apocalyptic story line: a looming asteroid strike augers the end of civilization. And, indeed, Winters provides a captivating exploration into the complex dynamics of a world facing imminent, massive destruction. But the main story line is pure crime fiction, delivering an engrossing detective story. Oddly one could almost consider it noir, for though the main character bears little resemblance to the cynical, hard-bitten stereotype detective of classical noir, the psychological lens of imminent global destruction provides a fatalistic darkness to every page.
Set in Concord, New Hampshire, the story opens with Detective Hank Palace examining a victim hanging by a belt in a bathroom stall at a fast food joint. In a world only months away from a devastating encounter with an asteroid suicide rates have skyrocketed; in Concord the method of choice has been hanging, so Palace’s colleagues immediately write off this latest corpse as one more “hanger.” Looking at the body slumped over dead in the stall, however, Palace can’t shake the feeling that something doesn’t quite seem right about the man’s death --- that it may in fact have been a murder.
Only recently promoted from walking a beat as a police officer, Palace recognizes that the looming asteroid means that his dream job as a detective will ultimately be only a brief career. Nonetheless, and despite rapidly spreading apathy among the population at large as well as his own colleagues on the force, he remains determined to do his job properly and thoroughly right up to the end. This quality of doing one’s work to the best of one’s ability despite the circumstances becomes in a sense his personal coping mechanism, one that he also looks for and admires in others, whatever their particular vocation.
As he pursues the case, Palace reaches back repeatedly to his diligently pursued detective’s training, only to find that the imminence of world-wide destruction has introduced unexpected new motivations and behaviors among the people with whom he deals, requiring him to often re-interpret the evidence he collects. When he does finally solve the case, its resolution comes with a bitter, crushing understanding of the realities of the pre-apocalyptic world he inhabits, a recognition that suddenly throws into question the dogged spirit of simply carrying on as normal that he has prized in himself and others.
Winters has created an engaging, if disquieting, vision of the changes and challenges that a known, imminent apocalyptic event might wreak on people’s behaviors. In the best story telling tradition, we discover this horrific, altered reality --- this crumbling version of our modern world --- indirectly, through a taut detective story that keeps us guessing right up to the final pages.
Other reviews / information:
This is the first book of a trilogy. The second and third novels, Countdown City and World of Trouble in the set have already been published, and I look forward to reading --- and reviewing --- them soon.
Have you read this book, others by this author, or even similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Other of my book reviews: FICTION Bookshelf and NON-FICTION Bookshelf
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