World of Trouble

The world is ending, but instead of hunkering down with friends, Detective Hank Palace sets off on a journey to find his missing sister, who was hell-bent on saving the world. With only two weeks before an asteroid snuffs out life on Earth, Hank, his dog, and a thief named Cortez set out in search of Nico, crossing America and observing humanity’s best and worst as people prepare for the end.

World of Trouble is the finale of Winters’ outstanding Last Policeman trilogy, and Winters pulls no punches as the series speeds toward its conclusion. Abandoning many common apocalyptic tropes, World of Trouble instead embraces melancholy mystery as Palace tracks Nico to Ohio and a police station where he finds more questions than answers.

It’s difficult to review this book and avoid spoilers, since so much of what happens in the book is of great importance to Hank and other recurring characters, but I can say that the conclusion was both unexpected and utterly true to the spirit of the books that preceded it.

I look forward to returning to this series in six months or a year and seeing how it holds up. I suspect I’ll enjoy it just as much.