Occasionally a book gets everything right. From the plot to the characters, from the pacing to the twists, The Last Policeman is flawless. I loved the moral dilemmas Winters presents and I enjoyed how he develops his characters around these dilemmas. The writing is so smooth that I read it slowly as if I were sipping it to savor it. The conclusion is satisfying and leads right into the next book of the series which I will absolutely be reading.

I fell for the hype. This book wasn't on my radar, but then was slowly and steadily creeping in and coming up and making me curious.

Now, this is a very well written book. I loved the MC and his dedication to duty, despite the fact that the world was literally going to end. He reminded me of me. Keep your head down and do your job. Who cares about tomorrow, deal with today first. The characters were all real to me. Under a lot of stress and acting maybe not "normally", but considering the circumstances, who could blame them?

I loved the world building. The "what-if" taken to the next level. Kind of disheartening to see how human nature doesn't change much, even when the world is going to end in a few months time. Realistic though. So points for world-building.

And the mystery grabbed me. I wanted to know whodunnit SO BADLY. That poor little actuary. He was my kind of people too. I don't read a lot of mysteries, but there was one person who did strike me as a bit off and I wanted to smack him/her. So points for the mystery!

As I am writing this review, I am bumping my rating up. It was 3.5 stars, rounded down, but as I think about it, this was really well written from every angle I can examine. So a full 4 stars on this one. I may read the last book, just to see if the end does come or not, but I'm not all excited to read the next one, hence the 3.5 stars.

Not a bad book at all. Written well, good mystery and take on the "what-if" question and good characters. Though I wanted to SMACK the sister SO HARD. She was a pill! Recommended if you like end of the world scenarios, human nature and good writing.

My thanks to NetGalley and Quirk Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

When it appears that the world will come to a screaming end very soon because of the approaching asteroid '2011GV1' most of the human race gives up. Sometimes this is through quitting jobs, or taking in one's bucket list, and sometimes it through suicide. In fact there are so many suicides that Detective Hank Palace shouldn't think twice about the latest hanging in the bathroom of a local business. But Palace does think twice and he's still committed to doing his job - which makes him a bit of an oddity right now.

Palace is sure there's a problem with this latest suicide, but he has nothing concrete. Even the initial autopsy report logs this in as a suicide. But Palace pushes back against all the evidence, convinced that there's something amiss. The biggest problem that Palace faces is apathy - no one cares to put much effort into doing a job, especially researching what on the surface is an obvious suicide.

Author Ben H. Winters has put together a really interesting premise and given us something a little different. Instead of a post-apocalyptic world, he's presented a pre-apocalyptic world - one in which the citizens are anticipating the end of the world. And in the face of such events we see a number of different personalities. I really liked this different look rather than the usual wherein everyone is scraping by in a post-apocalyptic world.

The book reads like a classic 'noir' detective story but in the slight future. As such, it moves a little slowly with a lot of commentary on what's happening around Palace. This 'voice' can be interesting, and we certainly get a good feel for Hank Palace and we appreciate his dedication. But we also spend too much time being told and shown that no one else seems to care -- that Palace is working alone. Most readers will get this early on and not need the constant reminders.

And as for Palace's dedication ... this is admirable, but ... Is Palace dedicated to being a detective, no matter what, or is he simply living out his bucket-list dream, like so many other people. He always wanted to be a detective and now he is. Is his motivation really for doing what's 'right' or simply for ego satisfaction? Perhaps more of this become clear in the other books in the series. I'd be interested is reading them based mostly on this fascinating world and with the hope of answering some questions I have.

Looking for a good book? <em>The Last Policeman</em> by Ben H. Winters is a pre-apocalyptic noir mystery that promises some interesting stories, though this particular book is generally 'average' at best.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.