Countdown City

The Last Policeman, Book 2

By: Ben H. Winters

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

“A genre-defying blend of crime writing and science fiction.”—Alexandra Alter, The New York Times

Detective Hank Palace returns in the second in the speculative mystery trilogy set on the brink of the apocalypse.

There are just 77 days before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Palace is out of a job. With the Concord police force operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, Hank's days of solving crimes are over...until a woman from his past begs for help finding her missing husband.

Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace—an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees.

Countdown City presents another fascinating mystery set on brink of an apocalypse--and once again, Hank Palace confronts questions way beyond "whodunit." What do we as human beings owe to one another? And what does it mean to be civilized when civilization is collapsing all around you?

©2013 Ben H. Winters (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Good (not great) sequel

A good sequel to the first story. Doesn't require reading the first but you should still start there.

Less of a police procedural than the first so I preferred the first volume.

A little slow at times but overall a good story.

Decent second installment

This is a good second book in the series about the end of the world, but I was getting a little annoyed by the end about the ridiculousness of a person in a world headed toward apocalypse to be so hell-bent on solving a meaningless case. But overall the story was good, and performance was good.

Fun, Fun, Fun.

The sequel to "The Last Policeman" is more of the same. Funtime in Concord. Det. Palace is unlike any protaganist i have encountered. A vulnerable charachter that you just want to climb into the book and hug. And i can't give enough kudos to the brilliant performance by Berkrot as narrator. Now off to the finale.

Great book.

I enjoyed the story and the main character is relatable and endearing. I recommend this trilogy.

Societal Denial & Obsessive Compulsive Protagonist

The protagonist is fairly annoying in this sequel. He is more or less in denial about the apocalypse, has made nearly no plans, and is obsessively following "leads" in a ridiculous "case" and endangering others by refusing to let it the f@$k go. The rest of society is more or less in the same denial, which is even more incredible and somewhat annoying. The books overall have a very interesting premise, but the details seem unlikely to be realistic. It seems much more likely that people would start preparing and organizing as soon as a major planet-level disaster became a certainty, particularly if they had something more than a year to plan. The obsessive protagonist who is in denial may be realistic, but he is still annoying.