The Last Policeman

I'm not sure that the mystery itself would be compelling without the ... pressure of the rest of the situation. But because of that pressure the characters and situation become more dynamic and resonant. If it were a slightly different book the main character would be upholding the law because that's the right thing to do, and order must be maintained. That is there a bit, but instead a point is made that many people are going to do "what they've always wanted" and this is what this character has wanted. It is simply who he is and I can respect that.

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? ( )

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. ( )