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I hadn't necessarily thought of myself as a lover of mysteries but these books might change my tune.
Admittedly, The Last Policeman series by Ben Winters didn't suck me in because of their mysteries, but instead because of the world in which those mysteries take place. Pre-apocalyptic, if you will. "Say what," you might ask. "What is PRE apocalyptic?" You learn early on that a sizeable meteror, asteroid, comet-type monstrosity is headed toward Earth, destined to strike on October 3. As you can imagine, the world becomes increasingly desperate and depraved as the date nears. Each book presents a mystery to be solved by Detective Hank Palace, a rookie cop quickly advancing through the ranks...since the ranks are dropping like flies to face "the end" however they see fit.
Against the backdrop of crumbling systems and humanity, these stories are really my cup of tea. It's a nice juxtaposition for those who aren't apocalyptic obsessed too...light on the morbid, depressing details of doom as the plot focuses more on Hank solving the cases. The third book, in particular, is somehow very lovely, with snippets of writing worthy of a dog-ear:
The third was a bit more introspective than the others; we spend a lot of time alone with Hank as he looks for his missing sister in the week before the collision. He recalls different moments of loss in his life as if he's using the asteroid as a way to unpack things he had left stuffed in a corner. While the ending itself was pretty perfect, I really, really didn't want to be finished reading these. I own the entire series if you want to borrow. Is anyone else still reading actual books or has everyone moved on to e-readers? Anyway, read these. They are great. And who knows, now maybe I'll FINALLY shift from dystopian depression to crime novels. Yay?
Against the backdrop of crumbling systems and humanity, these stories are really my cup of tea. It's a nice juxtaposition for those who aren't apocalyptic obsessed too...light on the morbid, depressing details of doom as the plot focuses more on Hank solving the cases. The third book, in particular, is somehow very lovely, with snippets of writing worthy of a dog-ear:
It's not just a person's present that dies when they die...It's the past too, all the memories that belonged to only them, the things they thought and never said. And all those possible futures, all the ways that life might have turned out.
The third was a bit more introspective than the others; we spend a lot of time alone with Hank as he looks for his missing sister in the week before the collision. He recalls different moments of loss in his life as if he's using the asteroid as a way to unpack things he had left stuffed in a corner. While the ending itself was pretty perfect, I really, really didn't want to be finished reading these. I own the entire series if you want to borrow. Is anyone else still reading actual books or has everyone moved on to e-readers? Anyway, read these. They are great. And who knows, now maybe I'll FINALLY shift from dystopian depression to crime novels. Yay?
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