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Boring protagonist/narrator, needlessly convoluted plot, generally a slog. I kept waiting for this to get interesting, then realized I was three-quarters of the way through the book and quit. The characters seemed flat to me, more words given to the women's appearances than to their dialog. The main guy was kind of schmo, and egotistical about his mediocrity. I think the point was some sort of moral victory of duty combined with a deep psychological study of the individual. It wasn't made well. I didn't even skip to the end to see if the world ended or not. This is the first detective novel I have read, believe it or not. I don't know if the the way the story unfolded was typical; but the pace, clues, characters, and action were great. The fact that it took place in a post-apocalyptic setting made it amazing. This book was a mixture of detective/crime and post-apocalyptic genres. Doesn't seem like that combo would actually work, but the depiction of the slow breakdown of society and the reactions of people knowing that the end of the world is coming soon seems extremely plausible to me. I'm not usually a fan of crime novels, but this book was so interesting that I'll be looking for the next in the series soon. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Series
When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in six months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about. No library descriptions found.
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6 — Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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I also like that there isn't a clear answer about whether this was all worth it. The mystery is solved and the person responsible is identified but there is a /lot/ of collateral damage. Would everyone have been better off if Palace had accepted the easy lie? Is anyone better off because he couldn't? Is there a place for justice at the end of the world? (