Ben H. Winters’ World of Trouble

Hank Palace leaves behind the comfort of a secure police compound to seek out his missing sister, desperate to see her one last time before a six kilometer wide asteroid crashes into Earth.  With humanity on the brink of extinction, can Hank find Nico or will he simply die alone in the ruins of America?

I received a free copy from Quirk Books in exchange for a review.

Winters’ World of Trouble is the highly anticipated finale to his Edgar Award winning Last Policeman trilogy.  The books follow Detective Hank Palace as he struggles to find some sort of meaning to his remaining days in the face of impending doom.  When the third and final book picks up, we’re only a few short days from impact and his efforts to locate Nico have led him to a police station in Rotary, Ohio.  When an impenetrable entrance to an underground shelter is discovered, Hank leaves the station to seek out a sledgehammer – his own special key to unlock the door.  On his journey, Hank meets several people who are preparing for the end of days in their own way while he learns more about his sister than he expected.

Unlike The Last Policeman and Countdown City, Hank spends the bulk of the story in one location, offering a distinctly different experience.  He’s not working for the remnants of a police department, he’s not offering assistance to an old friend or client, he’s simply in business for himself; driven by a need to connect with the only family he has left.  With the story moving closer and closer to the end, Hank becomes more relatable, more human and less like the crime-solving robot that we were presented with in the beginning of the story; you really feel for the guy.

In the end, Winters lived up to my high expectations and delivered a satisfying ending to his unique story.  I’m looking forward to what he chooses to do next – I can’t wait.