I finished this less than ten minutes ago and all I want to do is run to the library or bookshop and pick up the next book in this trilogy. I missed these when they first came out, but Winters’ new release, Underground Airlines, put him on my radar and I decided to give this title a shot since it had been recommended by a few friends. As Palace would say, holy moly! Pages flew and I basically stopped talking to my partner or playing with my dog while I whizzed through this in a few days (mind you, these were work days too, so I only had an couple hours each night to actually, you know, read).
As a science fiction fan, The Last Policeman hits a sweet spot for me. It’s set in the near-future or an alternate now, and an apocalyptic event is looming. The psychologies presented because of this impending disaster were by far the best part of the book… questioning why you’d murder someone if everyone on the planet will be dead in a few months anyway; examining suicide/death drive in a time when mass death is guaranteed in short order; analyzing the desire to remain accountable and responsible in a time when everything is going to hell; etc.
Like the best science fiction, things are almost normal, just shifted slightly into a version of reality. It is disconcertingly believable because of that quasi-verisimilitude. Winters’ writing style and the world he imagines in pre-apocalyptic Concord is simple but inhabitable as a reader.
As detective fiction, I think this book works less well, but I only say that because I knew who the murderer was very early on… and that’s never true for me when I’m reading mysteries. I typically just allow myself to be strung along until the end, but this one didn’t have that effect on me. Obviously, that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of it in the least though!
This post is part of #MySummerOfMysteries, a project to immerse myself in mysteries, thrillers, crime writing, and whodunits. For each book I finish, I’m posting brief thoughts and reflections here. Please note that these are not intended as full reviews. To view my reading progress throughout the summer, click here.