L is for The Last Policeman

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters is my submission for the Crime Fiction Alphabet at Mysteries in Paradise this week. Please visit the post at Mysteries in Paradise to check out other entries for the letter L.

Description from the publisher's website (Quirk Books):

The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. Industry is grinding to a halt. Most people have abandoned their jobs. But not Hank Palace. As our story opens, he’s investigating the latest suicide in a city that’s full of suicides—only this one feels wrong. This one feels like homicide. And Palace is the only one who cares. What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die?

This is two books in one. Half the time, the book is describing the inevitable effects that an asteroid heading towards earth is having on the populace. Half the time, the story follows a policeman investigating a crime, as if it has just as much importance now as when everything was normal. Half the time, this reader was considering how foreknowledge of an apocalyptic event would affect me personally, how I would live those last months and why the characters in this book made their choices. The other half of the time, I was reading the book as a straight police procedural. And the book succeeds in both areas.

Detective Hank Palace has just recently been made a detective.  My  theory for why he is so dogged in pursuing the crime (or possible crime) is because this is what he has always wanted to do, and he knows there won't be much time left to do it. Not only is the normal fabric of life falling apart, the police department is decimated. There are fewer employees in any role in the department, and there is very little oversight as to how the job gets done. The other detectives either don't believe the suicide is actually murder, or don't care whether the murder gets caught, or both.

Palace follows normal police procedure where he can. The medical examiner is still working and taking her job seriously, so he does have the resources of some forensics analysis. He does interview coworkers, relatives, witnesses. And he has more leeway because the laws have changed. In some cases, laws are more lax; in other cases, more strict. It affects the investigation.

The detective's character is the most fully developed. His backstory is doled out in pieces, a technique I like. There are other interesting characters who are peripherally involved in the case. The reactions and behaviors of other detectives illustrate the uncertainty that everyone deals with on a daily basis in this environment. The author has done an excellent job of creating his version of what the world could be like in this situation.

Another thing to note: I have had problems in the past adjusting to reading books which use present tense to tell the story. The Last Policeman is the first book using present tense that has been a comfortable read for me. This could be just getting use to the idea, but I credit the author's talented storytelling. It took me a while to even notice.

Other reviews:
My husband's review at Goodreads.
At In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel.
At Crimepieces.