What do you think?
Rate this book
The Last Policeman #2
Countdown City
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Science Fiction (2013)There are just 77 days to go before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Hank Palace is out of a job. With the Concord police force operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, Hank's days of solving crimes are over...until a woman from his past begs for help finding her missing husband.
Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace – an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees.
The second novel in the critically acclaimed Last Policeman trilogy, Countdown City presents a fascinating mystery set on brink of an apocalypse – and once again, Hank Palace confronts questions way beyond "whodunit." What do we as human beings owe to one another? And what does it mean to be civilized when civilization is collapsing all around you?
Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace – an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees.
The second novel in the critically acclaimed Last Policeman trilogy, Countdown City presents a fascinating mystery set on brink of an apocalypse – and once again, Hank Palace confronts questions way beyond "whodunit." What do we as human beings owe to one another? And what does it mean to be civilized when civilization is collapsing all around you?
316 pages, Paperback
First published July 13, 2013
About the author
Ben H. Winters
52 books2,027 followersBen H. Winters is the author most recently of the novel The Quiet Boy (Mulholland/Little, Brown, 2021). He is also the author of the novel Golden State; the New York Times bestselling Underground Airlines; The Last Policeman and its two sequels; the horror novel Bedbugs; and several works for young readers. His first novel, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, was also a Times bestseller. Ben has won the Edgar Award for mystery writing, the Philip K. Dick award in science fiction, the Sidewise Award for alternate history, and France’s Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire.
Ben also writes for film and television. He is the creator and co-showrunner of Tracker, forthcoming on CBS. Previously he was a producer on the FX show Legion, and on the upcoming Apple TV+ drama Manhunt.
He has contributed short stories to many anthologies, as well as in magazines such as Lightspeed. He is the author of four “Audible Originals”– Stranger, Inside Jobs, Q&A, and Self Help — and several plays and musicals. His reviews appear frequently in the New York Times Book Review. Ben was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Maryland, educated in St. Louis, and then grew up a bunch more, in various ways, in places like Chicago, New York, Cambridge, MA, and Indianapolis, IN. These days he lives in LA with his wife, three kids, and one large dog.
Ben also writes for film and television. He is the creator and co-showrunner of Tracker, forthcoming on CBS. Previously he was a producer on the FX show Legion, and on the upcoming Apple TV+ drama Manhunt.
He has contributed short stories to many anthologies, as well as in magazines such as Lightspeed. He is the author of four “Audible Originals”– Stranger, Inside Jobs, Q&A, and Self Help — and several plays and musicals. His reviews appear frequently in the New York Times Book Review. Ben was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Maryland, educated in St. Louis, and then grew up a bunch more, in various ways, in places like Chicago, New York, Cambridge, MA, and Indianapolis, IN. These days he lives in LA with his wife, three kids, and one large dog.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,558 reviews
April 2, 2018
Ah, yes, this is a really good apocalyptic trilogy series. 77 days to go before a deadly asteroid will hit earth and the world is in turmoil and growing chaos. Detective Hank Palace is out of a job but still accepts a request from a lady (former babysitter in his younger days) to find her husband Brett Cavatone, who disappeared without a trace. People are disappearing all over the world, going after their 'bucket list', suicide or trying to find a part of the world with possible chances of survival. Moving through a darkening world of panic, reducing supplies and everyone waiting 'for the water to run out, just wait until that happens' Hank sort of continues his policework, together with his dog Houdini. A world full of danger and strange happenings... The end is coming close. Can't wait for part three.
Great read & recommended, especially for those who can stand dark apocalyptic books ;-)
Great read & recommended, especially for those who can stand dark apocalyptic books ;-)
January 23, 2020
Countdown City by Ben H Winters is the second book in the Last Policeman trilogy.
Earth has a couple of months left before it collides with asteroid Maia 2011gv1. The fabric of socíety has broken down as no one sees the point in normal routine anymore. People have either gone ‘bucket list’ or sit at home and wait. A few however are hard wired to carry on working or find some meaning in these last days.
Henry (Hank) Palace is such a character. No longer a detective he agrees to help a family friend find her missing husband (detectives have been laid off and replaced by simple security men, as it’s deemed pointless investigating crime as the world is about to end!)
Hank throws himself into the search without the aid of the internet, phone or even a car. He’s a pleasant guy, maybe a little boring but driven to do ‘the right thing’ ........ an appealing trait.
With the help of his young sister Nico the case takes Hank deep into the heart of this strange collapsing society. A society where the black market rules, self governing communes are springing up, conspiracy theories are rife and a heavy handed, failing government is getting ever more desperate. Violence and apathy (in equal measures) are in the air.
The chaotic and sad world described in this series is nicely constructed and strangely believable.
Like its predecessor, Countdown City is original, exciting and frequently touching - I’m looking forward to the finale of this trilogy.
Earth has a couple of months left before it collides with asteroid Maia 2011gv1. The fabric of socíety has broken down as no one sees the point in normal routine anymore. People have either gone ‘bucket list’ or sit at home and wait. A few however are hard wired to carry on working or find some meaning in these last days.
Henry (Hank) Palace is such a character. No longer a detective he agrees to help a family friend find her missing husband (detectives have been laid off and replaced by simple security men, as it’s deemed pointless investigating crime as the world is about to end!)
Hank throws himself into the search without the aid of the internet, phone or even a car. He’s a pleasant guy, maybe a little boring but driven to do ‘the right thing’ ........ an appealing trait.
With the help of his young sister Nico the case takes Hank deep into the heart of this strange collapsing society. A society where the black market rules, self governing communes are springing up, conspiracy theories are rife and a heavy handed, failing government is getting ever more desperate. Violence and apathy (in equal measures) are in the air.
The chaotic and sad world described in this series is nicely constructed and strangely believable.
Like its predecessor, Countdown City is original, exciting and frequently touching - I’m looking forward to the finale of this trilogy.
May 18, 2014
When retired policeman Henry Palace is approached by his childhood babysitter to track down her missing husband, he's on the case. But with only seventy-seven days until an asteroid crashes into Earth, will he be able to track the missing man down amidst rioting, looters, and the rapidly disintegrating infrastructure?
The second Henry Palace book is even better than the first. It sees Palace riding his ten-speed bicycle all over New Hampshire, looking for a former state trooper that doesn't want to be found in a world with no internet and no phones.
As with the previous volume, the case takes a backseat and the book is really a character study of Henry Palace and the rest of the inhabitants of the world. What would you do with only seventy-seven days to live?
Palace has grown on me quite a bit. His single-mindedness has begun to remind me of another favorite character of mine, Roland the Gunslinger, only Palace's Dark Tower is a missing man named Brett Cavatone. Neither of them like what's at the end of the quest, either. Even Palace isn't sure why he does what he does. Hank Palace has gone from being an overgrown hall monitor to a non-alcoholic version of Matthew Scudder fairly quickly.
The supporting cast is pretty interesting, all good examples of what life in a pre-apocalytpic world must be like. Nico, Palace's sister, was both infuriating and endearing. The college campus/anarchist encampment was both ridiculous and all too likely. I imagine a lot of people would offer services similar to Cortez's if the manure was about to hit the windmill.
Once again, the case was a tough nut to crack. I had no idea what was going on and I really have no idea what's going to happen in the third book. Will the asteroid be deflected after all?
Like The Last Policeman, Countdown City is very self-contained. There's no cliffhanger and you probably wouldn't even need to read the first volume to enjoy it. 4.5 out of five stars.
The second Henry Palace book is even better than the first. It sees Palace riding his ten-speed bicycle all over New Hampshire, looking for a former state trooper that doesn't want to be found in a world with no internet and no phones.
As with the previous volume, the case takes a backseat and the book is really a character study of Henry Palace and the rest of the inhabitants of the world. What would you do with only seventy-seven days to live?
Palace has grown on me quite a bit. His single-mindedness has begun to remind me of another favorite character of mine, Roland the Gunslinger, only Palace's Dark Tower is a missing man named Brett Cavatone. Neither of them like what's at the end of the quest, either. Even Palace isn't sure why he does what he does. Hank Palace has gone from being an overgrown hall monitor to a non-alcoholic version of Matthew Scudder fairly quickly.
The supporting cast is pretty interesting, all good examples of what life in a pre-apocalytpic world must be like. Nico, Palace's sister, was both infuriating and endearing. The college campus/anarchist encampment was both ridiculous and all too likely. I imagine a lot of people would offer services similar to Cortez's if the manure was about to hit the windmill.
Once again, the case was a tough nut to crack. I had no idea what was going on and I really have no idea what's going to happen in the third book. Will the asteroid be deflected after all?
Like The Last Policeman, Countdown City is very self-contained. There's no cliffhanger and you probably wouldn't even need to read the first volume to enjoy it. 4.5 out of five stars.
July 12, 2021
Rating: 4* of five
12 JULY 2021 UPDATE THE TRILOGY'S BEEN OPTIONED FOR TV by Fox...Read all about it!!
The Publisher Says: There are just 77 days to go before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Hank Palace is out of a job. With the Concord police force operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, Hank's days of solving crimes are over...until a woman from his past begs for help finding her missing husband.
Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace – an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees.
The second novel in the critically acclaimed Last Policeman trilogy, Countdown City presents a fascinating mystery set on brink of an apocalypse – and once again, Hank Palace confronts questions way beyond "whodunit." What do we as human beings owe to one another? And what does it mean to be civilized when civilization is collapsing all around you?
My Review: This book has a helluva gut-punch in it. It has a gigantic eye-opening take on what catastrophe brings out...the apocalypse before the holocaust has surprising actors on its ever-darkening stage.
It gave my poor roommate a sleepless night or two as my light stayed on way past his comfort zone. Sorry, dude, there's books to be read!
I think, though I'm not sure, that one big reason our detective is developing and making his exit meaningful for as many as possible is that this series is a trilogy. The motivating factor being the annihilation of the planet and its people automatically limits the time available for anyone to act! It also allows Winters to load us up with telling details without making it feel like force-feeding a goose for a richer liver.
A point I'm appreciating more as the series goes on is the author's use of astronomical coordinates for the asteroid. It isn't something I saw right away, but it has slowly become a drumbeat of worry behind the plentiful action in the book. I particularly like the fact that, even though it's there from the beginning, its effect is cumulative. Sneakily so.
Off to book three!
12 JULY 2021 UPDATE THE TRILOGY'S BEEN OPTIONED FOR TV by Fox...Read all about it!!
The Publisher Says: There are just 77 days to go before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Hank Palace is out of a job. With the Concord police force operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, Hank's days of solving crimes are over...until a woman from his past begs for help finding her missing husband.
Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace – an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees.
The second novel in the critically acclaimed Last Policeman trilogy, Countdown City presents a fascinating mystery set on brink of an apocalypse – and once again, Hank Palace confronts questions way beyond "whodunit." What do we as human beings owe to one another? And what does it mean to be civilized when civilization is collapsing all around you?
My Review: This book has a helluva gut-punch in it. It has a gigantic eye-opening take on what catastrophe brings out...the apocalypse before the holocaust has surprising actors on its ever-darkening stage.
It gave my poor roommate a sleepless night or two as my light stayed on way past his comfort zone. Sorry, dude, there's books to be read!
I think, though I'm not sure, that one big reason our detective is developing and making his exit meaningful for as many as possible is that this series is a trilogy. The motivating factor being the annihilation of the planet and its people automatically limits the time available for anyone to act! It also allows Winters to load us up with telling details without making it feel like force-feeding a goose for a richer liver.
A point I'm appreciating more as the series goes on is the author's use of astronomical coordinates for the asteroid. It isn't something I saw right away, but it has slowly become a drumbeat of worry behind the plentiful action in the book. I particularly like the fact that, even though it's there from the beginning, its effect is cumulative. Sneakily so.
Off to book three!
August 4, 2013
I am a weak and cowardly person so if I knew that he world was about to end, I’d probably spend my final moments just crying, cursing the universe and generally acting like Bill Paxton in Aliens. "Game over, man! Game over!"
Hank Palace is better man than I am, or at least he’s able to divert himself from the upcoming apocalypse by playing detective. In The Last Policeman, Earth had learned that a giant asteroid was coming to send humanity out the same way the dinosaurs bought it. Hank was a young police officer in New Hampshire who had gotten promoted when large numbers of cops had wandered away to go ‘bucket list’. Law and order were being maintained by automatic jail sentences that would put anyone in a cell into the end of the world, but there were serious cracks starting to appear in society.
Countdown City picks up Hank’s story with only 77 days left before the asteroid hits, and the decline of civilization has accelerated. Hank and the other detectives have all been fired as the police are only being used as a show of force on the streets to keep things from falling totally apart. An old friend contacts Hank to ask him to find her husband Brett who has gone missing. With everyone going bucket list to spend their final days fulfilling their dreams, it would seem that Brett just took as so many others have, but Brett was a former state policeman known for his honorable nature so abandoning his wife doesn't seem like his style. Hank is also worried about his sister Nico who has gotten involved with a fringe radical group that thinks there’s some vast government conspiracy involving the asteroid.
The Last Policemen had a great concept, but I found Hank kind of irritating. It’s obvious that since being a detective had always been his dream that he was fulfilling his own bucket list by playing cop, and his rule-abiding nature seemed silly with the end near. Plus, he appeared to have no self-awareness or guilt about how his actions wasted the precious time of others or caused them even worse repercussions. It wasn’t really clear if Winters was trying to portray Hank as a hero doing his job until the bitter end or if he was meant to be seen as this desperate guy using a murder investigation to avoid dealing with what was coming.
That comes more into focus in Countdown City because Hank has no authority. He can only waste his own time, and if that’s how he chooses to spend the last days, then so be it. Plus, he gets called out multiple time by others who question the idea of chasing a missing husband when the world is going to end in less than 3 months. Even though Hank continues to push things long past a point when most of us would in similar circumstances, he comes across as more tragic and helpless to resist his impulse to find answers. When confronted when some harsh truths, Hank finally does acknowledge reality and starts facing up to it.
Winters has done a nice job in these two books of building a believable scenario of what would happen if everyone on Earth knew that the end was coming, and I particularly like how the breakdown started on low heat in the first book and comes to a boil in this one. I’m very much looking forward to the third book and seeing how Winters wraps this story up.
Hank Palace is better man than I am, or at least he’s able to divert himself from the upcoming apocalypse by playing detective. In The Last Policeman, Earth had learned that a giant asteroid was coming to send humanity out the same way the dinosaurs bought it. Hank was a young police officer in New Hampshire who had gotten promoted when large numbers of cops had wandered away to go ‘bucket list’. Law and order were being maintained by automatic jail sentences that would put anyone in a cell into the end of the world, but there were serious cracks starting to appear in society.
Countdown City picks up Hank’s story with only 77 days left before the asteroid hits, and the decline of civilization has accelerated. Hank and the other detectives have all been fired as the police are only being used as a show of force on the streets to keep things from falling totally apart. An old friend contacts Hank to ask him to find her husband Brett who has gone missing. With everyone going bucket list to spend their final days fulfilling their dreams, it would seem that Brett just took as so many others have, but Brett was a former state policeman known for his honorable nature so abandoning his wife doesn't seem like his style. Hank is also worried about his sister Nico who has gotten involved with a fringe radical group that thinks there’s some vast government conspiracy involving the asteroid.
The Last Policemen had a great concept, but I found Hank kind of irritating. It’s obvious that since being a detective had always been his dream that he was fulfilling his own bucket list by playing cop, and his rule-abiding nature seemed silly with the end near. Plus, he appeared to have no self-awareness or guilt about how his actions wasted the precious time of others or caused them even worse repercussions. It wasn’t really clear if Winters was trying to portray Hank as a hero doing his job until the bitter end or if he was meant to be seen as this desperate guy using a murder investigation to avoid dealing with what was coming.
That comes more into focus in Countdown City because Hank has no authority. He can only waste his own time, and if that’s how he chooses to spend the last days, then so be it. Plus, he gets called out multiple time by others who question the idea of chasing a missing husband when the world is going to end in less than 3 months. Even though Hank continues to push things long past a point when most of us would in similar circumstances, he comes across as more tragic and helpless to resist his impulse to find answers. When confronted when some harsh truths, Hank finally does acknowledge reality and starts facing up to it.
Winters has done a nice job in these two books of building a believable scenario of what would happen if everyone on Earth knew that the end was coming, and I particularly like how the breakdown started on low heat in the first book and comes to a boil in this one. I’m very much looking forward to the third book and seeing how Winters wraps this story up.
January 16, 2015
https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/...
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Had Earth not been scheduled meet an asteroid face-first in less than six months, Hank Palace would have made a fabulous beat cop. He might have even made a decent detective once he had a few years under his belt. However, his hasty promotion through the police force has been cut short and he finds himself hanging around the neighborhood and doing favors for friends. And by ‘favors,’ I don’t mean in a Matt Scudder-alcoholic-ex-detective-on-the-down-low kind of way. I mean mean it Don Quixote style where Hank is living in an imaginary world guided by a value system relevant only to himself. The result is a read that is equal parts fascinating and maddening.
This time, Hank is working on two cases: the local park kids had their plastic samurai sword stolen, and his childhood babysitter, Martha, is missing her dependable, ex-officer husband. Oh, make that three cases–he’s also stalking his baby sister, trying to keep an eye on her as she runs with a guerrilla group planning to save the world. Martha’s husband Brett left the state troopers and took a job working with his father in law at a former bowling alley–now successful shooting range. One day Brett heads out on a supply run and never comes back. As usual, most people suspect Bucket List or suicide, but after discovering more about Brett’s character, Hank suspects Martha is right and the answer is neither. As he searches, he runs into various individuals and communities seeking to deal with the coming asteroid in their own way. One of the most significant developments from the first book is that boatloads of people are fleeing Asia, the projected site of impact.
While Hank is better at asking the big questions, his stubborn response makes the answers all the more frustrating. As he works to solve the missing-persons case, I had hopes that he was developing a degree of self-awareness:
“There is an aspect of my character that tends to latch on to one difficult but potentially solvable problem, rather than grapple with the vast and unsolvable problem that would be all I could see, if I were to look up, figuratively speaking, from my small blue notebooks.“
What the reader realizes–or this reader, at least–is that Hank’s way of coping might not be any more ethical or useful than others. In essence, he is as selfish as everyone else, pursuing his own small goal in context of his value system at the expense of those around him.
Winter’s writing remains engaging, moving quickly without sacrificing description. His occasional brilliance in word choice and imagery impresses. For instance, as Hank is interviewing Martha, he notes:
“Her hair does not appear to have been washed or brushed, and it flies off in all directions, thick and messy. I get a nasty feeling, like her anxiety over her husband’s disappearance has metastasized into something else, something closer to profound despair, even madness.“
What Winters excels at is capturing human universals in small moments. There’s Nico’s apt observation of Hank:
“You have a way of saying you’re going to listen to something, but then when the other person is talking you’re up in your head having some sort of complicated policeman dialog with yourself about something else.“
As a mystery, it stands alone, but what is truly remarkable about this series is the setting: the dissolution of civilized society in context of impeding disaster. As such, understanding how resources and people change in just a few short weeks is critical to enjoying the story. I encourage reading in order, and all the way through. Next up: World of Trouble.
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Had Earth not been scheduled meet an asteroid face-first in less than six months, Hank Palace would have made a fabulous beat cop. He might have even made a decent detective once he had a few years under his belt. However, his hasty promotion through the police force has been cut short and he finds himself hanging around the neighborhood and doing favors for friends. And by ‘favors,’ I don’t mean in a Matt Scudder-alcoholic-ex-detective-on-the-down-low kind of way. I mean mean it Don Quixote style where Hank is living in an imaginary world guided by a value system relevant only to himself. The result is a read that is equal parts fascinating and maddening.
This time, Hank is working on two cases: the local park kids had their plastic samurai sword stolen, and his childhood babysitter, Martha, is missing her dependable, ex-officer husband. Oh, make that three cases–he’s also stalking his baby sister, trying to keep an eye on her as she runs with a guerrilla group planning to save the world. Martha’s husband Brett left the state troopers and took a job working with his father in law at a former bowling alley–now successful shooting range. One day Brett heads out on a supply run and never comes back. As usual, most people suspect Bucket List or suicide, but after discovering more about Brett’s character, Hank suspects Martha is right and the answer is neither. As he searches, he runs into various individuals and communities seeking to deal with the coming asteroid in their own way. One of the most significant developments from the first book is that boatloads of people are fleeing Asia, the projected site of impact.
While Hank is better at asking the big questions, his stubborn response makes the answers all the more frustrating. As he works to solve the missing-persons case, I had hopes that he was developing a degree of self-awareness:
“There is an aspect of my character that tends to latch on to one difficult but potentially solvable problem, rather than grapple with the vast and unsolvable problem that would be all I could see, if I were to look up, figuratively speaking, from my small blue notebooks.“
What the reader realizes–or this reader, at least–is that Hank’s way of coping might not be any more ethical or useful than others. In essence, he is as selfish as everyone else, pursuing his own small goal in context of his value system at the expense of those around him.
Winter’s writing remains engaging, moving quickly without sacrificing description. His occasional brilliance in word choice and imagery impresses. For instance, as Hank is interviewing Martha, he notes:
“Her hair does not appear to have been washed or brushed, and it flies off in all directions, thick and messy. I get a nasty feeling, like her anxiety over her husband’s disappearance has metastasized into something else, something closer to profound despair, even madness.“
What Winters excels at is capturing human universals in small moments. There’s Nico’s apt observation of Hank:
“You have a way of saying you’re going to listen to something, but then when the other person is talking you’re up in your head having some sort of complicated policeman dialog with yourself about something else.“
As a mystery, it stands alone, but what is truly remarkable about this series is the setting: the dissolution of civilized society in context of impeding disaster. As such, understanding how resources and people change in just a few short weeks is critical to enjoying the story. I encourage reading in order, and all the way through. Next up: World of Trouble.
March 29, 2016
"You can't just abandon your promises because the world is over."
Excellent. Even better than the first book.
I don't answer. I'm off in the distance somewhere, I'm racing through the wilderness, I'm standing in a storm with my hands raised, reaching out for bits and flakes of ideas like falling snow.
This is the exciting sequel to The Last Policeman.
Henry Palace, no longer , is still running around solving mysteries even though 77 days from now an asteroid will collide with Earth and wipe out humanity.
The woman who used to babysit for him when she was a teenager comes to him, sobbing. Her powerful, stalwart, good-hearted soldier of a husband is missing. He's left her. And he promised to wait with her for the end of the world. Could Henry find him and bring him back home?
This is no simple request. Obviously things are not what they were: no phones, no Internet, barely any cars, and no electricity. How can Henry find a man who might be anywhere for any reason?
...
I'm pleased to report that Henry has become a really amazing guy since Book One. No longer as naive, straight-arrow or as judgmental as he was in The Last Policeman, Henry - of course - retains these traits, but seems to have learned more about what's REALLY important in life. Right from the first page he was acting really like a man and impressing the hell out of me. This continues throughout the book, and I fell spoiled because there are three really good men in this novel: Henry, Brett, and Culverson. Wow, so dreamy. *sighs* All these men are just such stand-up do-right guys here and it's melting my heart.
ANYWAY.
The writing is beautiful, as usual, the plot is layered, complex and fast-moving. I'm sorry to say that Henry's detecting skills are only marginally better. I was figuring stuff out (correctly) way ahead of him.
And Henry hasn't lost his ability to infuriate and upset me occassionally. Even though he's much less judgmental than he used to be, he still has his moments. *rolls eyes*
The book is mildly funny, too, there are little jots of humor here and there, but they are pretty subtle.
If it turns out that my sister is romantically involved with this man, I might actually have to murder him.
Henry's clinging to the last thing in life that makes sense to him: solving a case is what is keeping him sane. Most people don't understand that for Henry, this IS his bucket list.
"You're like a little kid, you know that?"
He leans over me in the booth. I shrink back.
"In your tidy little universe, with your notebooks, and the good guys and the bad guys. That shit is moot, man. That shit is over."
But to Henry it's not over until it's over, so he keeps on keeping on - driving and driving at the facts, hunting down clue after clue, determined and unstoppable in his quest to find a missing man in a country gone mad.
"Do you know this man?" I say, bringing the photograph of Brett out of my pocket.
Cortez gasps theatrically, puts his hands in the air. "Oh my God, you're a fucking policeman."
"No, sir."
"Do it again," he says, grinning. "With the picture. Ask me again."
I place the photograph down in front of him. "Do you know this man?"
He slaps his desk, delighted. "A real-life policeman. It's like an acid flashback."
And Henry's still retained his... rather machine-like qualities. Even though he is deeply and intrinsically a "good man" (at least in definition of a law officer), finer qualities like love and human interation sometimes elude him.
Gently, I take the cardboard from her hands and read it again. "Martha, I have to be sure of something. There was no one else who knew about this. 'Sunshine, sunshine, mine all mine,' I mean. This code phrase?"
"Code phrase?" she says.
Martha's eyes focus on me and she's giving me this pitying and perplexed expression, which I recognize from the old days, when I used to do things that surprised her - politely say "no, thank you" to a second glass of chocolate milk, or rise to turn off the TV immediately after our permitted half hour had elapsed.
"It's not a code phrase, Henry," says Martha. "It was just a sweet little thing that we said to each other. A loving phrase we used. Because we loved each other."
"Right," I say, slipping the piece of cardboard in my pocket. "Of course. Let's go."
These little "what are human feelings?" moments can often provide the reader with a laugh or two. But Henry is no jokey one-trick character, he's layered and complex and constantly surprising me with his ability to change and grow - often as the results of very painful lessons.
...
Tl;dr - An excellent book, even better than the first one. I highly recommend these two books, and am hoping to start the third today or tomorrow. Depending on how this trilogy ends, it could become an amazing set of novels.
P.S. I really hope this isn't going where I think this is going in re: Henry's sister. Ugh. Please don't go that route, Winters. o.O
P.P.S. Why is this not available in Spanish??? WHY.
Excellent. Even better than the first book.
I don't answer. I'm off in the distance somewhere, I'm racing through the wilderness, I'm standing in a storm with my hands raised, reaching out for bits and flakes of ideas like falling snow.
This is the exciting sequel to The Last Policeman.
Henry Palace, no longer , is still running around solving mysteries even though 77 days from now an asteroid will collide with Earth and wipe out humanity.
The woman who used to babysit for him when she was a teenager comes to him, sobbing. Her powerful, stalwart, good-hearted soldier of a husband is missing. He's left her. And he promised to wait with her for the end of the world. Could Henry find him and bring him back home?
This is no simple request. Obviously things are not what they were: no phones, no Internet, barely any cars, and no electricity. How can Henry find a man who might be anywhere for any reason?
...
I'm pleased to report that Henry has become a really amazing guy since Book One. No longer as naive, straight-arrow or as judgmental as he was in The Last Policeman, Henry - of course - retains these traits, but seems to have learned more about what's REALLY important in life. Right from the first page he was acting really like a man and impressing the hell out of me. This continues throughout the book, and I fell spoiled because there are three really good men in this novel: Henry, Brett, and Culverson. Wow, so dreamy. *sighs* All these men are just such stand-up do-right guys here and it's melting my heart.
ANYWAY.
The writing is beautiful, as usual, the plot is layered, complex and fast-moving. I'm sorry to say that Henry's detecting skills are only marginally better. I was figuring stuff out (correctly) way ahead of him.
And Henry hasn't lost his ability to infuriate and upset me occassionally. Even though he's much less judgmental than he used to be, he still has his moments. *rolls eyes*
The book is mildly funny, too, there are little jots of humor here and there, but they are pretty subtle.
If it turns out that my sister is romantically involved with this man, I might actually have to murder him.
Henry's clinging to the last thing in life that makes sense to him: solving a case is what is keeping him sane. Most people don't understand that for Henry, this IS his bucket list.
"You're like a little kid, you know that?"
He leans over me in the booth. I shrink back.
"In your tidy little universe, with your notebooks, and the good guys and the bad guys. That shit is moot, man. That shit is over."
But to Henry it's not over until it's over, so he keeps on keeping on - driving and driving at the facts, hunting down clue after clue, determined and unstoppable in his quest to find a missing man in a country gone mad.
"Do you know this man?" I say, bringing the photograph of Brett out of my pocket.
Cortez gasps theatrically, puts his hands in the air. "Oh my God, you're a fucking policeman."
"No, sir."
"Do it again," he says, grinning. "With the picture. Ask me again."
I place the photograph down in front of him. "Do you know this man?"
He slaps his desk, delighted. "A real-life policeman. It's like an acid flashback."
And Henry's still retained his... rather machine-like qualities. Even though he is deeply and intrinsically a "good man" (at least in definition of a law officer), finer qualities like love and human interation sometimes elude him.
Gently, I take the cardboard from her hands and read it again. "Martha, I have to be sure of something. There was no one else who knew about this. 'Sunshine, sunshine, mine all mine,' I mean. This code phrase?"
"Code phrase?" she says.
Martha's eyes focus on me and she's giving me this pitying and perplexed expression, which I recognize from the old days, when I used to do things that surprised her - politely say "no, thank you" to a second glass of chocolate milk, or rise to turn off the TV immediately after our permitted half hour had elapsed.
"It's not a code phrase, Henry," says Martha. "It was just a sweet little thing that we said to each other. A loving phrase we used. Because we loved each other."
"Right," I say, slipping the piece of cardboard in my pocket. "Of course. Let's go."
These little "what are human feelings?" moments can often provide the reader with a laugh or two. But Henry is no jokey one-trick character, he's layered and complex and constantly surprising me with his ability to change and grow - often as the results of very painful lessons.
...
Tl;dr - An excellent book, even better than the first one. I highly recommend these two books, and am hoping to start the third today or tomorrow. Depending on how this trilogy ends, it could become an amazing set of novels.
P.S. I really hope this isn't going where I think this is going in re: Henry's sister. Ugh. Please don't go that route, Winters. o.O
P.P.S. Why is this not available in Spanish??? WHY.
January 20, 2020
The writing is a little clunkier in this follow up to The Last Policeman, but in some ways it's a better story. This one delves deeper into some existential questions as the end draws nearer, and it spends some time casually setting up the final novel pretty nicely as well. It is what it is. Read these books for the interesting premise and the mystery.
June 24, 2014
This is the second volume in Ben H. Winters' "Last Policeman" series, featuring Detective Hank Palace, lately of the Concord, New Hampshire PD. Lately, because in just seventy-seven days, a giant asteroid named Maia is going to slam into the earth, ending life as Hank and everyone else knows it. Naturally, things are now a bit discombobulated.
In the course of things, all the Concord police detectives have been fired since there's really no point in investigating anything when the world won't survive long enough for the courts (were there any left) to try anyone. A few patrolman have been kept on duty in an effort to maintain some sort of order. But not surprisingly, civilization is unraveling at a pretty rapid clip, and there's precious little order left to be preserved.
Most utilities and other public services have disappeared and it's pretty much gotten to the point of everyone for him or herself. Lots of people are armed to the teeth to protect the precious water and other supplies that they've managed to hoard. Some have taken off, determined to complete their "Bucket Lists;" others have fallen prey to zealots, religious and otherwise, who promise some sort of miraculous escape once the Last Day arrives. Lots of people have given up already and simply taken their own lives, rather than wait for the inevitable end.
Then there's Hank Palace.
Even in the face of the end of the world, Hank simply cannot give up his dream of being a detective, and when an old friend begs Hank to find her missing husband, he signs on for the job, even though he no longer has any official standing. He also doesn't have much hope. As one might imagine, millions of people have simply wandered off or otherwise just gone missing, and without gasoline, electricity, phones, working computers and other such amenities, tracking someone is not as easy as it once was.
Hank is thus reduced to riding around New Hampshire on this bicycle, pulling his trusty dog in a trailer behind him, trying to find the missing man whose name is Brett Cavatone. The search takes Hank to some interesting places and introduces him to a varied cast of characters, but in the end, Winters' depiction of what the country might look like in the face of such an impending catastrophe is much more interesting than either Hank Palace or his mission.
Virtually everyone Hank meets wonders why he would persist in looking for a missing person, given the circumstances. Frankly, so does the reader, or at least so did this reader. In the first book of this trilogy, The Last Policeman, Hank doggedly pursued what he believed to be a murder case. At that point, he actually still was a police detective and it was easy to sympathize with him as a man determined to do his job as best he can, even as the world disintegrates around him.
In this case, though, he comes off much less as the last noble man and much more like someone who's lost touch with reality. Hank has a family situation of his own that might more deservingly demand his attention under the circumstances than the case of a man who almost certainly went missing of his own volition. That would probably have been a more interesting story as well.
The concluding volume in this trilogy is due out shortly, and I'm anxiously awaiting it. But I confess that I'm much less interested in the fate of Hank Palace than I am in seeing how Winters describes the final days of Planet Earth.
In the course of things, all the Concord police detectives have been fired since there's really no point in investigating anything when the world won't survive long enough for the courts (were there any left) to try anyone. A few patrolman have been kept on duty in an effort to maintain some sort of order. But not surprisingly, civilization is unraveling at a pretty rapid clip, and there's precious little order left to be preserved.
Most utilities and other public services have disappeared and it's pretty much gotten to the point of everyone for him or herself. Lots of people are armed to the teeth to protect the precious water and other supplies that they've managed to hoard. Some have taken off, determined to complete their "Bucket Lists;" others have fallen prey to zealots, religious and otherwise, who promise some sort of miraculous escape once the Last Day arrives. Lots of people have given up already and simply taken their own lives, rather than wait for the inevitable end.
Then there's Hank Palace.
Even in the face of the end of the world, Hank simply cannot give up his dream of being a detective, and when an old friend begs Hank to find her missing husband, he signs on for the job, even though he no longer has any official standing. He also doesn't have much hope. As one might imagine, millions of people have simply wandered off or otherwise just gone missing, and without gasoline, electricity, phones, working computers and other such amenities, tracking someone is not as easy as it once was.
Hank is thus reduced to riding around New Hampshire on this bicycle, pulling his trusty dog in a trailer behind him, trying to find the missing man whose name is Brett Cavatone. The search takes Hank to some interesting places and introduces him to a varied cast of characters, but in the end, Winters' depiction of what the country might look like in the face of such an impending catastrophe is much more interesting than either Hank Palace or his mission.
Virtually everyone Hank meets wonders why he would persist in looking for a missing person, given the circumstances. Frankly, so does the reader, or at least so did this reader. In the first book of this trilogy, The Last Policeman, Hank doggedly pursued what he believed to be a murder case. At that point, he actually still was a police detective and it was easy to sympathize with him as a man determined to do his job as best he can, even as the world disintegrates around him.
In this case, though, he comes off much less as the last noble man and much more like someone who's lost touch with reality. Hank has a family situation of his own that might more deservingly demand his attention under the circumstances than the case of a man who almost certainly went missing of his own volition. That would probably have been a more interesting story as well.
The concluding volume in this trilogy is due out shortly, and I'm anxiously awaiting it. But I confess that I'm much less interested in the fate of Hank Palace than I am in seeing how Winters describes the final days of Planet Earth.
February 9, 2017
Hank is no longer a policeman, but he's all boy-scout, which happens to make him an ANTI-HERO in this world.
That's pretty funny, isn't it? I mean, sure, we like to make fun of those types of people, right? But in a world full of crumbling order, near anarchy, and bucket lists and *mostly* good people doing whatever they really wanted to do before the last 77 days come around and wipe them all out, that one person who lives by heroic high-ideals, the man who tries to find a missing person in a world full of suicides, is meant to be *our* hero.
It's damn funny. Hell, I think this might have turned into one hell of a comedy, if the voice was a slight bit different or the observations even *less* self-aware and other's reactions *more* violent. But alas, there were still enough people who respect Hank and what he's doing that I got tricked into respecting the guy. Hell, maybe I even like him, a little.
He's the best-behaved, idealistic, most duty-bound BAD BOY I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
Strangely enough, maybe it's just me, but I like this second book a lot more than the first. I think it's because I'm just used to the guy and I can appreciate what he's doing despite the fact that he annoys almost everyone around him. Maybe it's because he no longer has any authority to be a boy-scout, too. Less authority makes him a bit more sympathetic. :) Now he's just a *really* good samaritan in a collapsing world full of a strangely large number of libertarian social constructs. :)
There *are* a lot of interesting levels to this novel beyond the mystery, although the mystery structure is better here than the first book. I think I like the world-building best, though, right after the weird character commentary. Winters has a *lot* to say about human nature, and it's actually pretty delightful once you get over your annoyance at having to follow this guy around. :)
That's pretty funny, isn't it? I mean, sure, we like to make fun of those types of people, right? But in a world full of crumbling order, near anarchy, and bucket lists and *mostly* good people doing whatever they really wanted to do before the last 77 days come around and wipe them all out, that one person who lives by heroic high-ideals, the man who tries to find a missing person in a world full of suicides, is meant to be *our* hero.
It's damn funny. Hell, I think this might have turned into one hell of a comedy, if the voice was a slight bit different or the observations even *less* self-aware and other's reactions *more* violent. But alas, there were still enough people who respect Hank and what he's doing that I got tricked into respecting the guy. Hell, maybe I even like him, a little.
He's the best-behaved, idealistic, most duty-bound BAD BOY I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
Strangely enough, maybe it's just me, but I like this second book a lot more than the first. I think it's because I'm just used to the guy and I can appreciate what he's doing despite the fact that he annoys almost everyone around him. Maybe it's because he no longer has any authority to be a boy-scout, too. Less authority makes him a bit more sympathetic. :) Now he's just a *really* good samaritan in a collapsing world full of a strangely large number of libertarian social constructs. :)
There *are* a lot of interesting levels to this novel beyond the mystery, although the mystery structure is better here than the first book. I think I like the world-building best, though, right after the weird character commentary. Winters has a *lot* to say about human nature, and it's actually pretty delightful once you get over your annoyance at having to follow this guy around. :)
September 22, 2020
This book is an example of second-book-syndrome or middle-book-syndrome for me. The and pre-apocalyptic plot and setting are getting more serious, but you can imagine worse conditions (for book three).
But with the promising of other reviews about the third book, I believe to read the book sooner or later.
One thing that stole my attention on the novel: the dog is cute.
But with the promising of other reviews about the third book, I believe to read the book sooner or later.
One thing that stole my attention on the novel: the dog is cute.
May 26, 2021
The second book in the series and society is really falling apart as the day of the asteroid strike approaches. Our lead character, Henry Palace, is no longer a detective as there’s no longer any need for investigations, and the Police exist solely for the purpose of maintaining social order. Despite Palace being “retired”, a woman who was once his babysitter asks him to find her missing husband, and he can’t turn her down.
Palace is a born detective in that he has a compulsion to get to the truth, and once he starts an investigation it takes on a momentum of its own. He has to know, even to the point of seriously endangering his life. On this occasion I wasn’t totally convinced by the detective aspect of the story. In particular there was one scene that I felt was resolved by a deus ex machina, or something very close to one. It stretched my credulity a bit.
It’s the setting of course that makes this series stand out. Palace’s investigation gives him a purpose, something other than sitting around waiting for the end of the world. Everyone else is looking for a purpose as well. In many cases it’s joining Doomsday or Salvationist cults, in others it’s preparing a refuge, whilst one character charts a lonely course of his own.
The ending sets the reader up for the theme of the next instalment. I’m quite enjoying this series, and I’ll move on to the third book before too long.
Palace is a born detective in that he has a compulsion to get to the truth, and once he starts an investigation it takes on a momentum of its own. He has to know, even to the point of seriously endangering his life. On this occasion I wasn’t totally convinced by the detective aspect of the story. In particular there was one scene that I felt was resolved by a deus ex machina, or something very close to one. It stretched my credulity a bit.
It’s the setting of course that makes this series stand out. Palace’s investigation gives him a purpose, something other than sitting around waiting for the end of the world. Everyone else is looking for a purpose as well. In many cases it’s joining Doomsday or Salvationist cults, in others it’s preparing a refuge, whilst one character charts a lonely course of his own.
The ending sets the reader up for the theme of the next instalment. I’m quite enjoying this series, and I’ll move on to the third book before too long.
March 28, 2017
There is an aspect of my character that tends to latch on to one difficult but potentially solvable problem, rather than grapple with the vast and unsolvable problem that would be all I could see, if I were to look up.
The asteroid is hitting the earth in 77 days and everyone has their own way of coping. Henry/Hank Palace is determined to still act the policeman in spite of the fact that the world is complete chaos at this point. People are acting slightly crazy when facing imminent death. Society is broken beyond repair. And yet, Hank just keeps going. There is something noble about that. He is the one that his old babysitter calls when her husband goes missing, and Hank is determined to find him.
Civilization is just a bunch of promises, that's all it is. A mortgage, a wedding vow, a promise to obey the law, a pledge to enforce it. And now the world is falling apart, the whole rickety world, and every broken promise is a small rock tossed at the wooden side of its tumbling form.
Hank, along with a handful of people, are just trying to hold the world together until it ends. There is Ruthie, the coffee shop waitress, who is still serving hot water and oatmeal since that is all there is. There is Hank's mentor, Culverson, who shows up every day to have lunch with him. And, there is Dr. Fenton, who was a police coroner doing autopsies and is now patching up people as best she can in the E.R.. Hank finds himself patched up by her and gets her medical advice:
"As circulation improves over the next couple weeks, you'll start to get a persistent tingling, and then you'll need physical therapy to work toward regular functioning. Then, around early October, a massive object will strike Earth and you will die."
Silver linings
On the other side of things is Hank's sister, Nico, who is part of a group that thinks they will stop the asteroid and believes in a government conspiracy. There is a "civilization" at a college campus that is running like a bad reality show where the decisions are being made by hippies and stoners. There are church camps that are traveling in buses to "save" people before they die. There are those who are looting and killing, those who are running black-markets, and a new group that is promising a better life in a bunker to anyone who is willing to give them all of their supplies. (Thanks for your stuff, the bus will pick you up next Thursday.)
It is an interesting world that is built in these books. It gets you thinking, but it isn't depressing or a tear-jerker like it could be. There are moments that are rough, but there are also moments of levity, like when Hank's dog gets "Stockholm Syndrome". The book balances things out pretty well. All in all, it is a very good series for apocalyptic fans.
The asteroid is hitting the earth in 77 days and everyone has their own way of coping. Henry/Hank Palace is determined to still act the policeman in spite of the fact that the world is complete chaos at this point. People are acting slightly crazy when facing imminent death. Society is broken beyond repair. And yet, Hank just keeps going. There is something noble about that. He is the one that his old babysitter calls when her husband goes missing, and Hank is determined to find him.
Civilization is just a bunch of promises, that's all it is. A mortgage, a wedding vow, a promise to obey the law, a pledge to enforce it. And now the world is falling apart, the whole rickety world, and every broken promise is a small rock tossed at the wooden side of its tumbling form.
Hank, along with a handful of people, are just trying to hold the world together until it ends. There is Ruthie, the coffee shop waitress, who is still serving hot water and oatmeal since that is all there is. There is Hank's mentor, Culverson, who shows up every day to have lunch with him. And, there is Dr. Fenton, who was a police coroner doing autopsies and is now patching up people as best she can in the E.R.. Hank finds himself patched up by her and gets her medical advice:
"As circulation improves over the next couple weeks, you'll start to get a persistent tingling, and then you'll need physical therapy to work toward regular functioning. Then, around early October, a massive object will strike Earth and you will die."
Silver linings
On the other side of things is Hank's sister, Nico, who is part of a group that thinks they will stop the asteroid and believes in a government conspiracy. There is a "civilization" at a college campus that is running like a bad reality show where the decisions are being made by hippies and stoners. There are church camps that are traveling in buses to "save" people before they die. There are those who are looting and killing, those who are running black-markets, and a new group that is promising a better life in a bunker to anyone who is willing to give them all of their supplies. (Thanks for your stuff, the bus will pick you up next Thursday.)
It is an interesting world that is built in these books. It gets you thinking, but it isn't depressing or a tear-jerker like it could be. There are moments that are rough, but there are also moments of levity, like when Hank's dog gets "Stockholm Syndrome". The book balances things out pretty well. All in all, it is a very good series for apocalyptic fans.
May 20, 2018
Review of "The Last Policeman"
So the world is still ending and the countdown to its demise continues its inexorable march to zero. Society is on the verge of collapse with the bonds that maintain it dissolve a bit more everyday. Sometimes that takes the form of a person abandoning everything to go "bucket listing", other times it involves turning to doomsday cults, and for others it is simply suicide. The only thing that is certain is that things are not getting better and they will almost certainly get a lot worse before the very end.
There really isn't much in the way of pre-Apocalypse stories out there. Personally I find such setting more interesting that post-Apocalyptic ones. Seeing how existing relationships are stressed, broken, and reformed by knowledge of impending doom has a lot of potential. Likewise simply examining how a particular character reacts and develops in like of the impending doom is also quite interesting. I would say this book is no so much a mystery (though there is one and it drives the story) as much as it is a collection of character studies. It uses the Macguffin of the mystery to explore how various people have adjusted (or not adjusted) to the coming end of the world
Take former detective Palace for instance. As much as he comes off as sane and well grounded, taking a step back shows that he may be coping with the coming asteroid strike just as poorly as the outwardly unsettled. He continues to insist on a sort of regular process and order to his life even though regular process and order went out the window a long time ago. He is no longer a policeman but is willing to take a missing person's case from his old babybsitter because it gives him some sort of purpose to cling to. All while insisting that it is his sister who is deluding herself about her zany government conspiracies. In my opinion Palace is a bit cracked, just in a way unique to himself. He might not be a Bucketlister or doomsday prophet, but his clinging to the past is just as deluded as anyone else.
I liked this book because of how it explored the human condition under the near certain threat of extinction. The world Winters created is both realistic and interesting, a great back drop to the misadventures of Palace. It wasn't the mystery that kept me interested in this book so much as the world Winters crafted and the people that populate it. I am eager to see how he closes out the series, if it will truly be the end of the world or if Palace's sister and her co-conspirators are on to something that just might change everything.
So the world is still ending and the countdown to its demise continues its inexorable march to zero. Society is on the verge of collapse with the bonds that maintain it dissolve a bit more everyday. Sometimes that takes the form of a person abandoning everything to go "bucket listing", other times it involves turning to doomsday cults, and for others it is simply suicide. The only thing that is certain is that things are not getting better and they will almost certainly get a lot worse before the very end.
There really isn't much in the way of pre-Apocalypse stories out there. Personally I find such setting more interesting that post-Apocalyptic ones. Seeing how existing relationships are stressed, broken, and reformed by knowledge of impending doom has a lot of potential. Likewise simply examining how a particular character reacts and develops in like of the impending doom is also quite interesting. I would say this book is no so much a mystery (though there is one and it drives the story) as much as it is a collection of character studies. It uses the Macguffin of the mystery to explore how various people have adjusted (or not adjusted) to the coming end of the world
Take former detective Palace for instance. As much as he comes off as sane and well grounded, taking a step back shows that he may be coping with the coming asteroid strike just as poorly as the outwardly unsettled. He continues to insist on a sort of regular process and order to his life even though regular process and order went out the window a long time ago. He is no longer a policeman but is willing to take a missing person's case from his old babybsitter because it gives him some sort of purpose to cling to. All while insisting that it is his sister who is deluding herself about her zany government conspiracies. In my opinion Palace is a bit cracked, just in a way unique to himself. He might not be a Bucketlister or doomsday prophet, but his clinging to the past is just as deluded as anyone else.
I liked this book because of how it explored the human condition under the near certain threat of extinction. The world Winters created is both realistic and interesting, a great back drop to the misadventures of Palace. It wasn't the mystery that kept me interested in this book so much as the world Winters crafted and the people that populate it. I am eager to see how he closes out the series, if it will truly be the end of the world or if Palace's sister and her co-conspirators are on to something that just might change everything.
Read
July 18, 2016The Hook The last line of my review of The Last Policeman stated ”There is a sequel which I may not read as I thought the uncertainty of what might come was a fitting end.” Guess curiosity killed this gal. After reading a review of World of Trouble I decided to see Henry Palace to the end, whatever that may be.
The Line ”Last month there was a free class at the public library called “Eat Less and Live.”
The Sinker – Detective Henry Palace is now just citizen Henry Palace, a man trying to live his last days in normality. But what is normal when the countdown has truly begun? 77 days. Even Author Ben H. Winters can’t help asking his readers What Would You Do? Essays only it seems few of us want to answer that difficult question.
In this second installment of the trilogy Henry is asked to find the husband of his former babysitter, Martha. She has no clue where her husband has gone but others think he has left her to go Bucket List the term that is being used to do what you got to do before you expire. Martha doesn’t believe it and though Henry thinks it’s possible he feels an obligation that he can’t deny. He’s just that kind of guy. So with the days Henry has left before Asteroid Maia ends this earth, as we know it, he sets out to find Brett.
Like The Last Policeman there is far more going on than the mystery presented. The end is nearer and the desolation is ramping up. Think of the things that are gone; food, medical supplies, housing, electricity and perhaps the scariest of all, water? The devastation may be worse but Henry somehow maintains his solid core of values. You gotta love this man or at the very least you’d want him on your team if you were in this situation.
So what happens? World of Trouble is on reserve.
The Line ”Last month there was a free class at the public library called “Eat Less and Live.”
The Sinker – Detective Henry Palace is now just citizen Henry Palace, a man trying to live his last days in normality. But what is normal when the countdown has truly begun? 77 days. Even Author Ben H. Winters can’t help asking his readers What Would You Do? Essays only it seems few of us want to answer that difficult question.
In this second installment of the trilogy Henry is asked to find the husband of his former babysitter, Martha. She has no clue where her husband has gone but others think he has left her to go Bucket List the term that is being used to do what you got to do before you expire. Martha doesn’t believe it and though Henry thinks it’s possible he feels an obligation that he can’t deny. He’s just that kind of guy. So with the days Henry has left before Asteroid Maia ends this earth, as we know it, he sets out to find Brett.
Like The Last Policeman there is far more going on than the mystery presented. The end is nearer and the desolation is ramping up. Think of the things that are gone; food, medical supplies, housing, electricity and perhaps the scariest of all, water? The devastation may be worse but Henry somehow maintains his solid core of values. You gotta love this man or at the very least you’d want him on your team if you were in this situation.
So what happens? World of Trouble is on reserve.
December 17, 2014
There is some serious middle-book-syndrome and sequel-itis going on with 'Countdown City.'
'The Last Policeman' was gripping from the first page straight through to the end. I read it in one sitting, and gave it 5 stars.
'Countdown City' was... ok. It took a while to get going, and even once things started rolling, I just didn't really care about the case. Former detective Hank Palace agrees to help his former babysitter find her missing husband before the end of the world (which is coming, in just a couple of months).
There is some interesting stuff here about expectations: the missing man was a former state trooper, and seems to be considered by all who knew him to be 'noble' and good. Even without having met him, Hank is illogically eager to assume the best of the man - not only was he a respected law officer, but he won the love of Hank's own childhood crush.
Hank's investigation proceeds in an interesting-enough manner, with some unexpected twists and turns. I like how the decline of society is pictured, as the day on which an asteroid will impact Earth approaches - but the story just didn't have the urgency for me that the prior book did.
I also felt like, after spending more time with him, Winters decided he liked his protagonist a lot more. Hank Palace, as portrayed here, seems both less crazy and generally more likable than he did in the first book. I really enjoyed the aspect of The Last Policeman that involved Hank's obsessive-compulsive behavior leading to him causing a swath of destruction and death behind him, regardless of his good intentions. There's only one similar incident in this book, and it'd be a real stretch to call it Palace's fault.
Overall, it's not a bad book - but it didn't quite live up to my (very high) expectations. (I did, however, like the third book better - I've already read it.)
'The Last Policeman' was gripping from the first page straight through to the end. I read it in one sitting, and gave it 5 stars.
'Countdown City' was... ok. It took a while to get going, and even once things started rolling, I just didn't really care about the case. Former detective Hank Palace agrees to help his former babysitter find her missing husband before the end of the world (which is coming, in just a couple of months).
There is some interesting stuff here about expectations: the missing man was a former state trooper, and seems to be considered by all who knew him to be 'noble' and good. Even without having met him, Hank is illogically eager to assume the best of the man - not only was he a respected law officer, but he won the love of Hank's own childhood crush.
Hank's investigation proceeds in an interesting-enough manner, with some unexpected twists and turns. I like how the decline of society is pictured, as the day on which an asteroid will impact Earth approaches - but the story just didn't have the urgency for me that the prior book did.
I also felt like, after spending more time with him, Winters decided he liked his protagonist a lot more. Hank Palace, as portrayed here, seems both less crazy and generally more likable than he did in the first book. I really enjoyed the aspect of The Last Policeman that involved Hank's obsessive-compulsive behavior leading to him causing a swath of destruction and death behind him, regardless of his good intentions. There's only one similar incident in this book, and it'd be a real stretch to call it Palace's fault.
Overall, it's not a bad book - but it didn't quite live up to my (very high) expectations. (I did, however, like the third book better - I've already read it.)
September 28, 2019
A good middle for this series. I am enjoying the Last Policeman series. It's one author's vision of the crumbling of society due to a slow moving catastrophe. There is an end date so in Winter's vision we watch the slow erosion of civility. We also see the attempt of one man to try and maintain his integrity and sense of self among the chaos by becoming obsessive about his job. It allows him to ignore the decline. "Fiddling while Rome burns" comes to mind. So far the series is definitely worthwhile.
4+ Stars
Read on kindle
4+ Stars
Read on kindle
May 8, 2014
"I keep my head down and my mind focused on the case because I’m sick of wondering why I’m doing this, why I care. This is just what I have, this is what I do."
..and with that, Hank Palace gives us an answer to why he’s so goddamn determined to run around playing detective in the face of certain doom. With Countdown City, Ben H. Winters takes us back to Concord, New Hampshire, less than 3 months until impact. In just 77 days, Maia will collide with Earth and the impact along with the resulting chaos will bring humanity to the brink of extinction. As we’re brought back into Concord, there are barely any utilities up and running, people are stockpiling food and weapons and everyone is looking over their shoulders – no one is to be trusted.
Despite a tendency to go "bucket list" – leaving your life behind to pursue your dreams – Martha Catavone approaches Hank, asking him to find her missing husband. Given the sordid state of society, Hank is doubtful he’ll turn anything up. However, without much left to do and considering the history he shares with Martha, he’s determined to give it a shot.
With the end of the world lingering on the horizon, Palace struggles to keep his mind on the case although he also still has to deal with his sister Nico’s whereabouts. It’s discovered that Nico has joined up with a group that are certain they've found a way to curb the aftereffects of the asteroid’s impact but Hank remains skeptical. As a result, he damages his relationship with his sister.
It was just a few weeks ago that I put down The Last Policeman. While I wasn't ecstatic about it, I did champion its originality as well as Winters’ writing. For whatever reason, I wasn't aware that the sequel had been scheduled to hit shelves so soon and when I caught a glimpse of it as I entered a bookstore, I snagged it right away.
It basically came down to needing to know where things were headed. I only assumed that in Winters’ second installment, society would continue to degrade as more and more people would begin to accept their fate. Anyone who follows my reviews will know that I’m a huge fan of post apocalyptic fiction. There’s something about the way humanity deals with this Armageddon that fascinates me. While Winters continues to focus heavily on Concord and Palace’s world, he also gives a broader view of the way others are dealing with it. For example, the United States is dealing with a massive influx of refugees who threaten to spread North America’s dwindling resources thin. Their response, while understandable, is a little frightening.
There’s something about the writing in these books that is just flat out addictive. It moves so quickly and smoothly that I flew through large chunks of the novel without even realizing it. While I didn't find anything drastically wrong with The Last Policeman, I just found Countdown City a more enjoyable read. It probably has something to do with Hank Palace becoming a more sympathetic character. He’s more or less stripped of any authority and is constantly trying to do so much with so little. You’ve got to hand it to him, the man does not give up easily.
I can’t wait to see where Winters goes from here. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to. With no scheduled release date available outside of “2014”, I’ll be frothing at the mouth to get my hands on Book III when the time comes.
Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing
..and with that, Hank Palace gives us an answer to why he’s so goddamn determined to run around playing detective in the face of certain doom. With Countdown City, Ben H. Winters takes us back to Concord, New Hampshire, less than 3 months until impact. In just 77 days, Maia will collide with Earth and the impact along with the resulting chaos will bring humanity to the brink of extinction. As we’re brought back into Concord, there are barely any utilities up and running, people are stockpiling food and weapons and everyone is looking over their shoulders – no one is to be trusted.
Despite a tendency to go "bucket list" – leaving your life behind to pursue your dreams – Martha Catavone approaches Hank, asking him to find her missing husband. Given the sordid state of society, Hank is doubtful he’ll turn anything up. However, without much left to do and considering the history he shares with Martha, he’s determined to give it a shot.
With the end of the world lingering on the horizon, Palace struggles to keep his mind on the case although he also still has to deal with his sister Nico’s whereabouts. It’s discovered that Nico has joined up with a group that are certain they've found a way to curb the aftereffects of the asteroid’s impact but Hank remains skeptical. As a result, he damages his relationship with his sister.
It was just a few weeks ago that I put down The Last Policeman. While I wasn't ecstatic about it, I did champion its originality as well as Winters’ writing. For whatever reason, I wasn't aware that the sequel had been scheduled to hit shelves so soon and when I caught a glimpse of it as I entered a bookstore, I snagged it right away.
It basically came down to needing to know where things were headed. I only assumed that in Winters’ second installment, society would continue to degrade as more and more people would begin to accept their fate. Anyone who follows my reviews will know that I’m a huge fan of post apocalyptic fiction. There’s something about the way humanity deals with this Armageddon that fascinates me. While Winters continues to focus heavily on Concord and Palace’s world, he also gives a broader view of the way others are dealing with it. For example, the United States is dealing with a massive influx of refugees who threaten to spread North America’s dwindling resources thin. Their response, while understandable, is a little frightening.
There’s something about the writing in these books that is just flat out addictive. It moves so quickly and smoothly that I flew through large chunks of the novel without even realizing it. While I didn't find anything drastically wrong with The Last Policeman, I just found Countdown City a more enjoyable read. It probably has something to do with Hank Palace becoming a more sympathetic character. He’s more or less stripped of any authority and is constantly trying to do so much with so little. You’ve got to hand it to him, the man does not give up easily.
I can’t wait to see where Winters goes from here. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to. With no scheduled release date available outside of “2014”, I’ll be frothing at the mouth to get my hands on Book III when the time comes.
Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing
June 12, 2020
An asteroid is fast approaching that will destroy earth (but not yet, this is book 2 of 3) and now former cop Hank Palace is trying to help a friend find her husband. Not really the book for now, but my summer reading challenge is about finishing series I'd started. And in some ways I guess it is, because it features a white cop trying to navigate a world where power structures no longer include him. What was formerly considered crime happens in the open, and some acts of compassion are viewed as crimes. His sister is working inside a passionate group of anarchists, and while Hank is trying to help people, he really just wants a good cup of coffee....
If you are reading this in the Kindle version, please note that the book ends at 90%. The last 10% is acknowledgements and a preview of book 3. So unnecessary.
If you are reading this in the Kindle version, please note that the book ends at 90%. The last 10% is acknowledgements and a preview of book 3. So unnecessary.
August 25, 2019
This series is such a good idea! I’ve read so many books about Post apocalypse worlds, but what if you know the Apocalypse is coming? In this case a meteor will be crashing into the planet in 77 days. Does law and order prevail? I think you can work out the answer! Henry Palace is an honest man though in a world where many have ‘gone bucket’ dropping all their cares and responsibilities to fulfill their bucket list dreams.
March 27, 2014
Ben Winters continues to explore the breakdown of modern society in the face of impending apocalypse with his second Hank Palace novel. With this installment his detective is no longer a professional detective and instead follows the well gumshoed path, alone down those dark streets, he must go as if by some sort of genetic disposition, facing up to the end times by giving himself fully to a missing person investigation in a world where the majority of people have simply got up and left their lives behind in search of something, anything, different, new, fantastical.
All around him the world, which had already turned to shit in the previous story, is rapidly deteriorating in to a boiling cesspool of the very worst of humanity. Rape, murder, burglary, lovely lovely ultraviolence for no real reason, abandoned children, stockpiling of food, water and weapons and the indiscriminate slaughter of immigrants from Asia and Europe fleeing the predicted initial impact zone, it's all there in the background and our seemingly cold, unfeeling hero witnesses the lot on his quest to find the husband of his childhood babysitter.
Much less of a straightforward noir this time out but still a remarkable achievement in the study of hypothetical human behaviours and a hugely entertaining genre blend that sets things up nicely for a dramatic and fascinating conclusion.
All around him the world, which had already turned to shit in the previous story, is rapidly deteriorating in to a boiling cesspool of the very worst of humanity. Rape, murder, burglary, lovely lovely ultraviolence for no real reason, abandoned children, stockpiling of food, water and weapons and the indiscriminate slaughter of immigrants from Asia and Europe fleeing the predicted initial impact zone, it's all there in the background and our seemingly cold, unfeeling hero witnesses the lot on his quest to find the husband of his childhood babysitter.
Much less of a straightforward noir this time out but still a remarkable achievement in the study of hypothetical human behaviours and a hugely entertaining genre blend that sets things up nicely for a dramatic and fascinating conclusion.
May 11, 2019
This second book in The Last Policeman Trilogy finds Detective Henry Palace searching for Henry’s old babysitter’s husband and stumbling upon his sister’s cult-like friends who are preparing for the asteroid’s impact with Earth.
Henry’s inner conversations can be quite funny but mostly they are dialogues justifying his actions in the face of imminent death. He finds comfort in continuing his strict and rigid investigative procedures instead of “grappl(ing) the vast and unsolvable problem, that would be all I could see, if I were to look up, figuratively speaking, from my small blue notebooks.” His dog, Houdini, is forever faithful at his side and patiently listens to Henry’s ruminations. Both of them know that, “nothing-nothing-nothing can be counted on, nothing is certain.”
Smartly written and the master of suspenseful build up. Highly recommended after reading book #1.
Henry’s inner conversations can be quite funny but mostly they are dialogues justifying his actions in the face of imminent death. He finds comfort in continuing his strict and rigid investigative procedures instead of “grappl(ing) the vast and unsolvable problem, that would be all I could see, if I were to look up, figuratively speaking, from my small blue notebooks.” His dog, Houdini, is forever faithful at his side and patiently listens to Henry’s ruminations. Both of them know that, “nothing-nothing-nothing can be counted on, nothing is certain.”
Smartly written and the master of suspenseful build up. Highly recommended after reading book #1.
August 25, 2022
4.5 stars. No middle book malaise here. As society enters its final circle down the toilet bowl drain and the heavy stench of desperation pervades the air the narrative is filled with both more action and more introspection. Palace may finally realize what's truly important to him, but alas, it may be too late, everything may already be lost. Isn't that always the way.
March 31, 2019
Second book syndrome. I do like Winter's writing and this is a good detective story. There is much introspection material in this book. What would you do if you knew the world ended in 70 days, I like how Winters represents the whole spectrum of choices. Good enough to keep going until the conclusion.
October 22, 2023
Son polis serisinin ikinci durağı.
Öncelikle; (bkz: Kıyamet Polisi)
Sahnede yine dedektif Henry “Hank” Palace var; İlk kitapta çözdüğü cinayetin ardından, daha da çıldırmış bir dünyada, son randevumuzdan üç ay sonra karşımıza çıkıyor dedektifimiz. Dev göktaşı Maia, güneş sistemimiz içinde büyük bir hızla ilerliyor ve küçük mavi gezegen üzerinde hükmümüzü kalıcı olarak sona erdirmek için yaklaşıyor. Çarpışmaya artık sadece 77 gün kalmış. Hank ise tüm bu çılgınlığın içinde kayıp bir adamın peşine düşüyor.
`İçinde bulunduğumuz durum. Böyle dedim Martha'ya. Kayıp bir kişiyi aramanın, içinde bulunduğumuz durumda zor olmasının pek çok nedeni var. Bu üstü kapalı ifadenin yetersizliği karşısında içimi çekiyorum. Asteroitin ilk görüntülerinin şaşkınlıkla fark edildiğinin duyulmasından on dört ay, çarpışmanın gerçekleşeceğinin kesin olarak anlaşılmasının üzerinden yedi ay geçti ve kimse bunu nasıl adlandıracağını hâlâ bilmiyor. Bazıları "durum" bazıları da "olanlar" diyordu. "Şu çılgınlık" diyen de var. 3 Ekim'de, yani tam yetmiş yedi gün sonra, 6,5 kilometre çapındaki 2011GV, adlı asteroit Dünya adlı gezegene çarpıp bizi yok edecek. İçinde bulunduğumuz durum`
Kitap, Martha Milano’nun ağlayarak Hank’e, "Ama söz verdi," demesiyle açılıyor. Hank’in çocukluğundan tanıdığı, kardeşi Nico’ya ve ona bakıcılık yapan kız çocuğu Martha, şimdi yetişkin bir kadın olarak karşısında ve yok olmaya mahkum bir dünyada kaybolmuş kocası için ağlıyor. Yüz binlerce insanın kaçtığı, kaybolduğu, aklında yer edenleri yatıştırmaya çalıştığı veya basitçe sonu beklemek yerine bir köşede sorunu kendi sonunu getirdiği bir yer artık dünya. Ve Martha, Hank’ten, internetin, uçakların, otobüs ve trenlerin, arabaların, telefonların, adres veri tabanlarının olmadığı bir dünyada, umutsuz bir dünyada, kayıp kocasını bulmasını istiyor. Henry ise Martha’ya, kocasını bulmanın mümkün olmadığını, muhtemelen hayatının son anlarında kaçıp gittiğini söylemek, kadına kendi başına devam etmesini öğütlemek yerine, “tamam,” diyor; “elimden geleni yapacağım.” ve muhtemelen cehennemin dibinde bile elinden düşürmeyeceği küçük not defterine yazmaya başlıyor; ”Martha’nın otuz beş yaşındaki kayıp kocası Brett Cavatone, en son Old Loudon Sokağı’nda Steeplegate Alışveriş Merkezi’nin yanındaki Rocky’s Rock `n` Roll adlı lokantada görüldü”
Henry artık bir polis kimliğine sahip değil. Concord Polis teşkilatının kamu güvenliğine yönelik tüm birimleri kapatılmış, personeli emekli edilmiş. “iç tehdide” karşı tekrar örgütlenmiş, doğrudan Adalet Bakanlığı’na bağlanmış durumda olan kurum, “koruma ve hizmet” ile pek az ilgilenen bir çeşit Kıyamet çevik kuvvetine dönüşmüş durumda.
Henry’nin peşine düştüğü “Martha’nın kocası Brett” ise enteresan bir karakter. Tam bir beyaz atlı şövalye. Eski bir eyalet polisi olan Brett, herkes tarafından çok seviliyor, insanlarda her zaman hayranlık uyandırıyor. Güçlü kuvvetli, güleç yüzlü, tuhaf bir karizması ve ikna ediciliği var. Adeta ortama kahraman lazım olduğundan, gökten zembille Brett iniyor. Adımlarını izlerken Hank de sık sık bu karizmaya tanık oluyor, kiminle konuşsa Brett övülüyor; “Brett müthiş biridir”, “Brett’e hayır diyemezsin” ve “Brett öyledir işte”...
İlk kitapta pek az tanıdığımız Henry’nin kardeşi Nico, bu sefer hikayede daha önemli bir yer alıyor. Nico, Hank’i derinden etkileyen, hayatını her aşamasında iz bırakmış, hem tahammül edemediği hem de çok sevdiği bir insan. Dedektifimiz, Nico’nun verdiği kararlardan, olmayacak işlerin peşine düşmesinden, insanları kullanmasından, duyarsızlığından, asiliğinden nefret ediyor ama bir taraftan da aklının bir köşesi devamlı kardeşinde. Henry’nn arayışına kısa süreliğine eşlik etmeyi teklif ediyor Nico. Karşılığında beklediği ise gayet basit; yolculuklarının sonundan ağabeyinin, surat asmadan, göz devirmeden, sözünü kesmeden kendisini dinlemesini istiyor. Nico “dünyayı kurtarmayı” hedefleyen bir gruba katılmış ve günlerini bir çeşit komün içinde, tam maiyeti belirsiz kimi görevleri tamamlayarak geçiriyor. “Göktaşını durdurabilecek bir yol var ama hükümet bunu engelliyor” diyor Nico. Ama elbette onların, “hükümetin elindeki asi bir bilim adamını kurtarmak ve nükleer silahlar çalmak” içeren çok acayip bir planları var.
Henry bu deli saçmasından nefret ediyor. Dünya üzerindeki son günlerinde kardeşini yanında istiyor. Kardeşinin manyak manyak insanlarla zaman geçirmesini istemiyor. Ancak dedektifimiz, tüm dünyaya yardım etme isteğinin, yanan bir dünyada son polis olmak için gösterdiği muazzam çabanın ardında, son derece ben merkezci, takıntılı ve sabit fikirli bir insan. Bu yüzden de kardeşinin duygularını anlayamıyor, eylemlerine öfkeleniyor. Kendi düşüncelerinden de mütemadiyen kaçtığı için belki de, dünya üzerindeki son günlerini daha anlamlı kılmak için cinayet çözmeye çalışmanın, evden kaçan eski polislerin peşine düşmenin, iki ay içinde tamamı ölecek insanlara “polislik yapmanın” nasıl korkunç bir takıntılılık hali olduğunu ve kardeşinin eylemlerine ne kadar benzediğini göremiyor. Hank, kendi amaçlarını kutsayıp, eski polis arkadaşlarının tavsiyelerine sırt çevirerek Brett’in peşine düşüyor. Martha’ya “kocasını getirmek için elinden geleni yapacağına” dair verdiği sözü onurlandırmaya çalışıyor, bunun için hayatını tehlikeye atıyor. Ancak kardeşinin de “dünyayı kurtarmak” adına, Hollywoodvari saçmalıkta bir plana kapılacak ölçüde adanmışlığa ihtiyaç duyabileceğini, Nico’nun kendini var etme yolunun da bu olabileceği ihtimalini anlayamıyor. Nico, Blockbuster bir macera filminin içinde yaşamak, asteroide gönderilecek Bruce Willis olmak istiyor. Çünkü Nico, başka türlü bu denli büyük dehşetle nasıl yüzleşilir, kalan 3 ayda yaşamaya nasıl devam edilir bilmiyor.
Hank’in arkadaşları Dedektif McGully ve Dedektif Culverson ise, hikayede küçük rollere sahip ama Henry’nin mental durumu için önemli karakterler. McGully ve Culverson ile bilikte, Ruth-Ann’in işlettiği restoranda oturmak ve yemek yiyerek davalar üzerine konuşmak, Henry’nin hayatındaki en önemli ritüellerden biri. Bu restoran aynı zamanda Henry’nin zihin sarayı ve tüm o koşuşturmalar arasında daima buraya dönmeyi arzu ediyor. Ancak sona yaklaşan bir dünyada her yer gibi burası da çürüyor, dökülüyor. Ruth-Ann’in kıyamet gününde bile açık olacağına dair şakalar yapıyorlar ama içten içe sonun düşündüklerinden yakın olduğunu da biliyorlar.
` "Ne?" diye soruyorum ama o birden bağırmaya ve üstüme doğru gelmeye başlıyor. "Küçük bir çocuk gibi davrandığının farkında mısın?"
Üzerime doğru eğiliyor. Geri çekiliyorum
"Kendi küçük, düzenli evrenindesin, küçük not defterlerin, iyi adamların, kötü adamların. Bu işlerin anlamı falan kalmadı. Bitti o işler."
"Sakin ol," diyor Culverson, yerinden hafifçe doğrularak ama McGully parmağını yüzüme doğru sallıyor. "Sular kesilene kadar bekle sen. Bekle amına koyayım," diyor. Dişlerini göstererek homurdanıyor. "Şu aradığın eyalet polisi, kötü biri olduğunu mu düşünüyorsun? Ben kötü bir adam mıyım sence?"
"Öyle bir şey demedim," diye mırıldanıyorum ama dinlemiyor beni. Zaten konuştuğu da ben değilim aslında.
"Musluklardan su akmaz oluncaya kadar bekle sen. O zaman gerçek kötüleri göreceksin." Yüzü kıpkırmızı. Nefes nefese.`
Gerisayım Kenti, tedirgin bir bekleyişin, giderek yükselen bir tansiyonun kitabı. Dünyayı saran bu bekleyişin, tam da kontrolsüz bir paniğe dönüştüğü yere kadar taşıyor bizi. Hikaye boyunca Henry büyük bir kararlılıkla Brett’in peşinden koşuyor,Ruth-Ann’in restoranında tartışılan planlar, istifçilerin, kıyamet hazırlıkçılarının, korkmuş insanların dünyasında dramatik anlara dönüşüyor. Hank, yanında ölmüş bir torbacıdan aldığı köpeği Houdini ile, sağda solda kendi listelerini tamamlamakla meşgul manyakların, organize gruplar oluşturmaya başlamış çetelerin, hayatta kalmaya çalışan polislerin, göçmen katleden ordunun, son dakikada üniversite kampüsünde bir İşgal cumhuriyeti kurmuş öğrencilerin dünyasında ipuçlarını izliyor, başına türlü belalar açıyor, yaralanıyor, hırpalanıyor ama durmuyor.
Tanıştığı neredeyse herkes Henry’e neden bu kadar ısrarla Brett’in peşinde olduğunu soruyor. Fallout’tan fırlamış gezgin bir tüccar gibi duran Cortez, parodiyle ütopya arasında gidip gelen anarko-demokratik işgal komünün öğrencileri, dünyanın son nimetlerini aç gözlülükle toplayan polisler... Her karşılaşmada aynı neden sorusu ile karşılaşıyor Hank ve açıkçası verebilecek bir cevabı da yok. Kimse ısrarını anlayamıyor ama bisikletine bağlanmış vagonuyla, arkada köpeği, çılgıncasına pedal çevirerek eyaleti aşan eski polis, Martha’ya verdiği sözü tutmak için ayarsız bir kararlılıkla hareket ediyor Henry Palace, elinden gelen her şeyi yapıyor. Sonunda kendini muazzam bir deliliğin ortasında bulduğunda, kükreyen alevlerin yükseldiği anda bile durmuyor, davayı çözmeye çalışıyor.
Soruşturma ve takip ilerledikçe katmanlar halinde açılan bir hikaye okuyoruz kitap boyunca. İlk kitabın günahlarından büyük ölçüde arınmış, gerçekten güzel, heyecanlı bir hikaye anlatıyor Gerisayım Kenti. Asıl ilgi çekici kısmı dünyanın soluşunu izlemek olsa da, Henry ile beraber Brett’i kovalamak, onun adımlarından hayatını, geçmişini dalgalar halinde keşfetmek ve bu sırada Henry’nin de iç hesaplaşmalarına tanıklık etmek gerçekten güzel. Henry ile birlikte yanılıyoruz, şüpheleniyoruz, verileri inceliyoruz ve doğru yanıtları bulmak üzere tekrar konumlanıyoruz. Yavaş yavaş puzzle parçalarını birleştirmek de bunaltmayan, eğlenceli bir ritimle gerçekleşiyor.
Bu arada kitap, kendi başına okunabilecek biçimde yazılmış. Devamı için bir merak unsuru yaratmasına karşın bunu, Hikayesini yarım bırakarak yapmıyor. Aynı şekilde ne olduğunu anlamak için bir önceki kitabı okumanızı da şart koşmuyor. Ancak çizdiği dünya, oluşturduğu büyük resim de gayet eğlenceli ve insan ister istemez devam eder buluyor kendini. Üç kitaplık seriyi okumuş/okuyor olmaktan hayli memnunum ben. Ben yola üçüncü kitap ile devam ediyorum. Sonunda tükürdüğümü yalar mıyım bilmiyorum ama seriyi bir bütün olarak da baya sevdim şu ana kadar. Apokaliptik senaryolardan hoşlanan hakikaten bayılır bu kitaba. Bir de üstüne polisiye merakınız varsa kaçırmayın derim.
Serinin diğer kitapları:
(bkz: Kıyamet Polisi - The Last Policeman, #1)
(bkz: Bir Dünya Der - The Last Policeman, #3)
Öncelikle; (bkz: Kıyamet Polisi)
Sahnede yine dedektif Henry “Hank” Palace var; İlk kitapta çözdüğü cinayetin ardından, daha da çıldırmış bir dünyada, son randevumuzdan üç ay sonra karşımıza çıkıyor dedektifimiz. Dev göktaşı Maia, güneş sistemimiz içinde büyük bir hızla ilerliyor ve küçük mavi gezegen üzerinde hükmümüzü kalıcı olarak sona erdirmek için yaklaşıyor. Çarpışmaya artık sadece 77 gün kalmış. Hank ise tüm bu çılgınlığın içinde kayıp bir adamın peşine düşüyor.
`İçinde bulunduğumuz durum. Böyle dedim Martha'ya. Kayıp bir kişiyi aramanın, içinde bulunduğumuz durumda zor olmasının pek çok nedeni var. Bu üstü kapalı ifadenin yetersizliği karşısında içimi çekiyorum. Asteroitin ilk görüntülerinin şaşkınlıkla fark edildiğinin duyulmasından on dört ay, çarpışmanın gerçekleşeceğinin kesin olarak anlaşılmasının üzerinden yedi ay geçti ve kimse bunu nasıl adlandıracağını hâlâ bilmiyor. Bazıları "durum" bazıları da "olanlar" diyordu. "Şu çılgınlık" diyen de var. 3 Ekim'de, yani tam yetmiş yedi gün sonra, 6,5 kilometre çapındaki 2011GV, adlı asteroit Dünya adlı gezegene çarpıp bizi yok edecek. İçinde bulunduğumuz durum`
Kitap, Martha Milano’nun ağlayarak Hank’e, "Ama söz verdi," demesiyle açılıyor. Hank’in çocukluğundan tanıdığı, kardeşi Nico’ya ve ona bakıcılık yapan kız çocuğu Martha, şimdi yetişkin bir kadın olarak karşısında ve yok olmaya mahkum bir dünyada kaybolmuş kocası için ağlıyor. Yüz binlerce insanın kaçtığı, kaybolduğu, aklında yer edenleri yatıştırmaya çalıştığı veya basitçe sonu beklemek yerine bir köşede sorunu kendi sonunu getirdiği bir yer artık dünya. Ve Martha, Hank’ten, internetin, uçakların, otobüs ve trenlerin, arabaların, telefonların, adres veri tabanlarının olmadığı bir dünyada, umutsuz bir dünyada, kayıp kocasını bulmasını istiyor. Henry ise Martha’ya, kocasını bulmanın mümkün olmadığını, muhtemelen hayatının son anlarında kaçıp gittiğini söylemek, kadına kendi başına devam etmesini öğütlemek yerine, “tamam,” diyor; “elimden geleni yapacağım.” ve muhtemelen cehennemin dibinde bile elinden düşürmeyeceği küçük not defterine yazmaya başlıyor; ”Martha’nın otuz beş yaşındaki kayıp kocası Brett Cavatone, en son Old Loudon Sokağı’nda Steeplegate Alışveriş Merkezi’nin yanındaki Rocky’s Rock `n` Roll adlı lokantada görüldü”
Henry artık bir polis kimliğine sahip değil. Concord Polis teşkilatının kamu güvenliğine yönelik tüm birimleri kapatılmış, personeli emekli edilmiş. “iç tehdide” karşı tekrar örgütlenmiş, doğrudan Adalet Bakanlığı’na bağlanmış durumda olan kurum, “koruma ve hizmet” ile pek az ilgilenen bir çeşit Kıyamet çevik kuvvetine dönüşmüş durumda.
Henry’nin peşine düştüğü “Martha’nın kocası Brett” ise enteresan bir karakter. Tam bir beyaz atlı şövalye. Eski bir eyalet polisi olan Brett, herkes tarafından çok seviliyor, insanlarda her zaman hayranlık uyandırıyor. Güçlü kuvvetli, güleç yüzlü, tuhaf bir karizması ve ikna ediciliği var. Adeta ortama kahraman lazım olduğundan, gökten zembille Brett iniyor. Adımlarını izlerken Hank de sık sık bu karizmaya tanık oluyor, kiminle konuşsa Brett övülüyor; “Brett müthiş biridir”, “Brett’e hayır diyemezsin” ve “Brett öyledir işte”...
İlk kitapta pek az tanıdığımız Henry’nin kardeşi Nico, bu sefer hikayede daha önemli bir yer alıyor. Nico, Hank’i derinden etkileyen, hayatını her aşamasında iz bırakmış, hem tahammül edemediği hem de çok sevdiği bir insan. Dedektifimiz, Nico’nun verdiği kararlardan, olmayacak işlerin peşine düşmesinden, insanları kullanmasından, duyarsızlığından, asiliğinden nefret ediyor ama bir taraftan da aklının bir köşesi devamlı kardeşinde. Henry’nn arayışına kısa süreliğine eşlik etmeyi teklif ediyor Nico. Karşılığında beklediği ise gayet basit; yolculuklarının sonundan ağabeyinin, surat asmadan, göz devirmeden, sözünü kesmeden kendisini dinlemesini istiyor. Nico “dünyayı kurtarmayı” hedefleyen bir gruba katılmış ve günlerini bir çeşit komün içinde, tam maiyeti belirsiz kimi görevleri tamamlayarak geçiriyor. “Göktaşını durdurabilecek bir yol var ama hükümet bunu engelliyor” diyor Nico. Ama elbette onların, “hükümetin elindeki asi bir bilim adamını kurtarmak ve nükleer silahlar çalmak” içeren çok acayip bir planları var.
Henry bu deli saçmasından nefret ediyor. Dünya üzerindeki son günlerinde kardeşini yanında istiyor. Kardeşinin manyak manyak insanlarla zaman geçirmesini istemiyor. Ancak dedektifimiz, tüm dünyaya yardım etme isteğinin, yanan bir dünyada son polis olmak için gösterdiği muazzam çabanın ardında, son derece ben merkezci, takıntılı ve sabit fikirli bir insan. Bu yüzden de kardeşinin duygularını anlayamıyor, eylemlerine öfkeleniyor. Kendi düşüncelerinden de mütemadiyen kaçtığı için belki de, dünya üzerindeki son günlerini daha anlamlı kılmak için cinayet çözmeye çalışmanın, evden kaçan eski polislerin peşine düşmenin, iki ay içinde tamamı ölecek insanlara “polislik yapmanın” nasıl korkunç bir takıntılılık hali olduğunu ve kardeşinin eylemlerine ne kadar benzediğini göremiyor. Hank, kendi amaçlarını kutsayıp, eski polis arkadaşlarının tavsiyelerine sırt çevirerek Brett’in peşine düşüyor. Martha’ya “kocasını getirmek için elinden geleni yapacağına” dair verdiği sözü onurlandırmaya çalışıyor, bunun için hayatını tehlikeye atıyor. Ancak kardeşinin de “dünyayı kurtarmak” adına, Hollywoodvari saçmalıkta bir plana kapılacak ölçüde adanmışlığa ihtiyaç duyabileceğini, Nico’nun kendini var etme yolunun da bu olabileceği ihtimalini anlayamıyor. Nico, Blockbuster bir macera filminin içinde yaşamak, asteroide gönderilecek Bruce Willis olmak istiyor. Çünkü Nico, başka türlü bu denli büyük dehşetle nasıl yüzleşilir, kalan 3 ayda yaşamaya nasıl devam edilir bilmiyor.
Hank’in arkadaşları Dedektif McGully ve Dedektif Culverson ise, hikayede küçük rollere sahip ama Henry’nin mental durumu için önemli karakterler. McGully ve Culverson ile bilikte, Ruth-Ann’in işlettiği restoranda oturmak ve yemek yiyerek davalar üzerine konuşmak, Henry’nin hayatındaki en önemli ritüellerden biri. Bu restoran aynı zamanda Henry’nin zihin sarayı ve tüm o koşuşturmalar arasında daima buraya dönmeyi arzu ediyor. Ancak sona yaklaşan bir dünyada her yer gibi burası da çürüyor, dökülüyor. Ruth-Ann’in kıyamet gününde bile açık olacağına dair şakalar yapıyorlar ama içten içe sonun düşündüklerinden yakın olduğunu da biliyorlar.
` "Ne?" diye soruyorum ama o birden bağırmaya ve üstüme doğru gelmeye başlıyor. "Küçük bir çocuk gibi davrandığının farkında mısın?"
Üzerime doğru eğiliyor. Geri çekiliyorum
"Kendi küçük, düzenli evrenindesin, küçük not defterlerin, iyi adamların, kötü adamların. Bu işlerin anlamı falan kalmadı. Bitti o işler."
"Sakin ol," diyor Culverson, yerinden hafifçe doğrularak ama McGully parmağını yüzüme doğru sallıyor. "Sular kesilene kadar bekle sen. Bekle amına koyayım," diyor. Dişlerini göstererek homurdanıyor. "Şu aradığın eyalet polisi, kötü biri olduğunu mu düşünüyorsun? Ben kötü bir adam mıyım sence?"
"Öyle bir şey demedim," diye mırıldanıyorum ama dinlemiyor beni. Zaten konuştuğu da ben değilim aslında.
"Musluklardan su akmaz oluncaya kadar bekle sen. O zaman gerçek kötüleri göreceksin." Yüzü kıpkırmızı. Nefes nefese.`
Gerisayım Kenti, tedirgin bir bekleyişin, giderek yükselen bir tansiyonun kitabı. Dünyayı saran bu bekleyişin, tam da kontrolsüz bir paniğe dönüştüğü yere kadar taşıyor bizi. Hikaye boyunca Henry büyük bir kararlılıkla Brett’in peşinden koşuyor,Ruth-Ann’in restoranında tartışılan planlar, istifçilerin, kıyamet hazırlıkçılarının, korkmuş insanların dünyasında dramatik anlara dönüşüyor. Hank, yanında ölmüş bir torbacıdan aldığı köpeği Houdini ile, sağda solda kendi listelerini tamamlamakla meşgul manyakların, organize gruplar oluşturmaya başlamış çetelerin, hayatta kalmaya çalışan polislerin, göçmen katleden ordunun, son dakikada üniversite kampüsünde bir İşgal cumhuriyeti kurmuş öğrencilerin dünyasında ipuçlarını izliyor, başına türlü belalar açıyor, yaralanıyor, hırpalanıyor ama durmuyor.
Tanıştığı neredeyse herkes Henry’e neden bu kadar ısrarla Brett’in peşinde olduğunu soruyor. Fallout’tan fırlamış gezgin bir tüccar gibi duran Cortez, parodiyle ütopya arasında gidip gelen anarko-demokratik işgal komünün öğrencileri, dünyanın son nimetlerini aç gözlülükle toplayan polisler... Her karşılaşmada aynı neden sorusu ile karşılaşıyor Hank ve açıkçası verebilecek bir cevabı da yok. Kimse ısrarını anlayamıyor ama bisikletine bağlanmış vagonuyla, arkada köpeği, çılgıncasına pedal çevirerek eyaleti aşan eski polis, Martha’ya verdiği sözü tutmak için ayarsız bir kararlılıkla hareket ediyor Henry Palace, elinden gelen her şeyi yapıyor. Sonunda kendini muazzam bir deliliğin ortasında bulduğunda, kükreyen alevlerin yükseldiği anda bile durmuyor, davayı çözmeye çalışıyor.
Soruşturma ve takip ilerledikçe katmanlar halinde açılan bir hikaye okuyoruz kitap boyunca. İlk kitabın günahlarından büyük ölçüde arınmış, gerçekten güzel, heyecanlı bir hikaye anlatıyor Gerisayım Kenti. Asıl ilgi çekici kısmı dünyanın soluşunu izlemek olsa da, Henry ile beraber Brett’i kovalamak, onun adımlarından hayatını, geçmişini dalgalar halinde keşfetmek ve bu sırada Henry’nin de iç hesaplaşmalarına tanıklık etmek gerçekten güzel. Henry ile birlikte yanılıyoruz, şüpheleniyoruz, verileri inceliyoruz ve doğru yanıtları bulmak üzere tekrar konumlanıyoruz. Yavaş yavaş puzzle parçalarını birleştirmek de bunaltmayan, eğlenceli bir ritimle gerçekleşiyor.
Bu arada kitap, kendi başına okunabilecek biçimde yazılmış. Devamı için bir merak unsuru yaratmasına karşın bunu, Hikayesini yarım bırakarak yapmıyor. Aynı şekilde ne olduğunu anlamak için bir önceki kitabı okumanızı da şart koşmuyor. Ancak çizdiği dünya, oluşturduğu büyük resim de gayet eğlenceli ve insan ister istemez devam eder buluyor kendini. Üç kitaplık seriyi okumuş/okuyor olmaktan hayli memnunum ben. Ben yola üçüncü kitap ile devam ediyorum. Sonunda tükürdüğümü yalar mıyım bilmiyorum ama seriyi bir bütün olarak da baya sevdim şu ana kadar. Apokaliptik senaryolardan hoşlanan hakikaten bayılır bu kitaba. Bir de üstüne polisiye merakınız varsa kaçırmayın derim.
Serinin diğer kitapları:
(bkz: Kıyamet Polisi - The Last Policeman, #1)
(bkz: Bir Dünya Der - The Last Policeman, #3)
November 3, 2023
4 Stars
July 14, 2021
I personally regret spending time on what little I read of this book. I found it boring and plain dumb.
November 7, 2017
I really enjoyed The Last Policeman, and while the second book in this trilogy has a lot of strong points going for it (notably ex-Detective Hank Palace and his determination to follow through with his investigation, whether or not he works for the police anymore or not), I didn't feel the same connection.
The catastrophic asteroid is drawing closer to Earth, and resources are dwindling. Hank decides to help his old babysitter find her husband, and his sleuthing draws him away from his town, toward strange new communities and government conspiracies. I found myself missing Concord and weird essence of normalcy despite the looming end of the world.
The catastrophic asteroid is drawing closer to Earth, and resources are dwindling. Hank decides to help his old babysitter find her husband, and his sleuthing draws him away from his town, toward strange new communities and government conspiracies. I found myself missing Concord and weird essence of normalcy despite the looming end of the world.
August 6, 2013
Great follow up to The Last Policeman.
After such a great first book, I thought that the second one would be sure to dip quite a bit. But it only dipped a fraction.
This "case" was excellent too- but in the bigger story of the asteroid-I did foresee the situation that occurs at the end of this book. To me, it was pretty obvious.
But love, love these characters. And am TRULY intrigued in how Ben H. Winters keeps their core values so pertinent to the circumstances of their own cognitive "reality"- so intact- and as of one piece. Goofy becomes goofier. Manipulator becomes more believing in manipulation. Trusting become further trustful. etc. etc.
The dip from the 5 star "Last Policeman", to me, was that this book really did not come to a conclusion but was more a stepping stone for the next one.
Now I'm wondering if the asteroid hits in the following title or if we will be waiting for 2 more.
After such a great first book, I thought that the second one would be sure to dip quite a bit. But it only dipped a fraction.
This "case" was excellent too- but in the bigger story of the asteroid-I did foresee the situation that occurs at the end of this book. To me, it was pretty obvious.
But love, love these characters. And am TRULY intrigued in how Ben H. Winters keeps their core values so pertinent to the circumstances of their own cognitive "reality"- so intact- and as of one piece. Goofy becomes goofier. Manipulator becomes more believing in manipulation. Trusting become further trustful. etc. etc.
The dip from the 5 star "Last Policeman", to me, was that this book really did not come to a conclusion but was more a stepping stone for the next one.
Now I'm wondering if the asteroid hits in the following title or if we will be waiting for 2 more.
August 28, 2016
Ok book, I mostly read it because I'm interested in finishing this trilogy, imagine what would happen to the world if everyone knew an asteroid would hit the earth and kill everyone on it a 100 days from now, this is the premise of this trilogy. In this book we follow the life of the main character (a forcefully retired police officer ) who tries to keep order among chaos in society , this second book deals more with the fact that as the asteroid gets closer more and more of society cohesiveness starts to break down , what would you do to protect yourself? .
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,558 reviews