LAST POLICEMAN by BEN WINTERS
October 2013
Ben H. Winters' writing combines literary fiction with horror and steampunk, social commentary with psychological suspense, science fiction with mystery. He writes both for adults and older kids. Whichever melange or audience he chooses, Winters brings a certain pulp sensibility to the proceedings. He books move at a brisk pace, seldom languishing in digression or introspection. Clear, exuberant writing and straightforward plotting keep the reader engaged, amused, and slightly on edge. Winters's settings are wildly divergent, veering from 19th-century Russia to Regency-era England to modern-day Brooklyn, New York. Start with: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (Adults); The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman (Older kids).
Writings:
Countdown City: the last policeman book II (Jul 2013)
Set three months before a deadly asteroid is due to hit Earth, this Last Policeman sequel chronicles the further adventures of Hank Palace. The Concord Police Department is now operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, and Hank is out of a job-until he's hired by a business tycoon to help find the man's estranged son. It isn't long before Hank's missing-person case turns into a murder investigation.
The last policeman (Jul 2012)
When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in six months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about.
Bedbugs (Sep 2011)
After Susan and Alex Wendt find their dream apartment, Susan wakes up with small welts believing it to be bedbugs until an exterminator turns up nothing and further investigation points towards something sinister.
Android Karenina (Jun 2010)
When revolutionaries launch an attack on Russian high society's high-tech lifestyle, Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky must fight back with courage and a sleek new cyborg model like nothing the world has ever seen
Sense and sensibility and sea monsters (Sep 2009)
"As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels?"
For Children:
The mystery of the missing everything (Sep 2011)
When a treasured trophy disappears from the display case at Mary Todd Lincoln Middle School and the principal cancels the eagerly anticipated eighth grade class trip, Bethesda Fielding has no choice but to solve the mystery.
The secret life of Ms. Finkleman (Sep 2010)
Spurred by a special project from her social studies teacher, seventh-grader Bethesda Fielding uncovers the secret identity of her music teacher, which leads to a most unusual concert performance and a tutoring assignment.
Read-alikes from NoveList:
Fuerst, James Huge
Reason: Mediocre "detectives" feature in these two hardboiled mysteries, which also contain excellent characterizations and -- for entirely different reasons -- a dark tone. Huge stars an angry pre-teen, while The Last Policeman is set in a pre-apocalyptic world. -- Shauna Griffin
Heller, Peter The dog stars
Reason: In these dystopian novels, the main characters are not heroes saving the day against zombies; rather, they're ordinary men trying to do the best they can with what they have. In both cases, civilization's collapse is memorably rendered. -- Shauna Griffin
McCarthy, Cormac The road
Reason: Though The Road is a much bleaker, grimmer read, set as it is in a menacing post-apocalyptic United States, its main characters, like in The Last Policeman, embody hope in the face of hopelessness. -- Shauna Griffin
Walker, Karen Thompson The age of miracles
Reason: Though The Last Policeman is a mystery while The Age of Miracles is literary fiction, both are set in pre-apocalyptic worlds in which the main characters must still continue with their day-to-day lives as the end of the world approaches. -- Shauna Griffin
