Normally, only Stephen King and Dean Koontz can suck me into a book and not release their stranglehold until I, exhausted from lack of sleep, have turned the last page. Now another writer has joined their ranks.
In The Last Policeman, an asteroid named Maia rushes toward the Earth on a course to destroy all life. Society suffers a mass nervous breakdown in the face of the coming apocalypse, but New Hampshire detective Hank Palace just keeps on keeping on. He’s not interested in joining the Bucket Listers who desert their jobs to go fly-fishing in Canada, or the Hangers, who give in to depression and hang themselves from the nearest stationary object. All he wants is to do his job, which in this case means finding out if the latest Hanger really was a suicide. But the higher-ups at his station aren’t interested. Since billions will soon be killed, worrying about the early demise of one sad Hanger seems pointless to them.
Bucking the mood of global fatalism, Hank steadily amasses one clue after another, not only proving that the Hanger’s death was indeed murder, but along the way, falling in love with a beautiful woman. Love in the face of certain death? No problem, Hank decides. He might as well go out on a roll.
To say this book is extraordinary is to make an almost laughable understatement, but yes, it is extraordinary—as well as brilliant, surprising, and, considering the circumstances, oddly uplifting. Writer/theologian C.S. Lewis once said, “If the ship is going down, dress in your best clothes, climb onto the mast, and go down with all flags flying.” That’s our Hank. My only criticism of The Last Policeman is that it can’t be the beginning of an outstanding series. Or can it? In the best of all soon-tobe- destroyed worlds, Maia’s collision course will slow enough to give Hank time to solve more cases.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
