World of Trouble, by Ben H. Winters. Pub 2014

This is the third and final part of the Last Policeman series, and we pick-up almost immediately after the end of part 2.

SPOILER: Hank, along with a fellow member of Police House (the retreat in the country where a group of police have set-up for the end of the world), set out to find Hank’s sister, Nico. Through some leads, they end up at an abandoned police station in rural Ohio, and are confronted with a number of puzzling clues – a girl with her throat slashed who somehow survives; a sealed-up hole in the floor; a sink covered in blood; an empty vending machine. Hank works to put the clues together and ranges to buildings and farms in the area to try to find Nico. Eventually the clues are solved, the hole is opened, and the story of Nico and the conspirators is concluded. As the end of the world arrives, Hank is as close to peace as he could be. SPOILER ENDS.

In this final novel of the series, we see the ultimate demise of society. Everything is either abandoned or sealed off, as people make the last of the choices that they can in the face of the looming destruction. Whether it’s the Amish hiding from reality or the hippies camping and spending their days indolent and high, everyone’s reactions and choices are understandable.

While the book is pretty good, a real page turner, the story is (even for speculative fiction) much more far-fetched than the previous ones. It does bring all story lines and characters to a close, and ends with the end of the world (so no further sequel in store). One thing that became clearer in this book is the age of the main character – Hank Palace, the titular last policeman, is not even 30 years old. This helps to explain his spontaneity and (often) poor choices, as well as his ineptness at police work – he’s good and tries hard, but he is not the grizzled veteran that he tries to be. It makes the end of series just a bit more poignant, all of his potential lost along with the world.

I have since learned that this author has several other books that sound interesting, so I might put those on the future list. As an aside, one of his earlier books was Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

Fate: the set of three will go to someone else now.

1 – murder
13 – somewhere I’ve never been (New Hampshire)
36 – part of a series