The Last Policeman

                                    

I first read this two years ago and them promptly forgot it.  Why? Because it was  going to be a trilogy and I was not going to think about it again until I had the complete set beside my reading chair.  And it worked!  I actually did forget most of what happened (though really, after reading at least four hundred books between then and now, I guess it wasn't something I had to put too much effort into...).
I have, since the first time, developed a strong fondness for Ben H. Winters (well...Quirk Publishing in general).  Okay, I can even go as far as saying that I love this guy!  Since my first reading of The Last Policeman I have also read, Bedbugs, and Android Karenin (which was no small feat of adaptation!).  So I feel that I have come to know the author a little better.  Coming back to The Last Policeman was a treat (and considering that I had just finished Farewell, My Lovely by the great Raymond Chandler that's really saying something!).  I really paid attention to all the details, noticed more than I had forgotten, really got to know the protagonist Hank Palace. 
Now that the other two are published Countdown City and World of Trouble, I freely recommend this pre-apocalyptic, police detective series, it's a different spin on chaos, on humanity in a crisis, with a plot that is engrossing, and not too hard to follow.  Getting close to the end of Policeman I really felt the excitement, the build up to the finale which was not disappointing and it left, naturally, questions which I look forward to getting the answers to in the next two installments.