World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters
Following on from The Last Policeman and Countdown City, World of Trouble is the final installment in Ben H. Winters Edgar Award winning Last Policeman trilogy.
With just two weeks until a giant asteroid collidies with Earth, most likely wiping out mankind and Hank Palace finds himself as safe as he could possibly be. Sharing a country home with a handful of other law enforcers and their families, he was lucky to escape the town of Concorde alive. But even has he’s tucked up safely with friends, food, water and a roof over his head, he still knows he’s going to have to leave. He made a promise to his sister when their parents died that he would always be there for her and he let her down.
The last time he saw her she had saved his life, the time before that he had all but laughed in her face. Nico had tried to explain the last hope for mankind was a scientist who had figured out a way of changing the trajectory of the asteroid at the last minute. The group of people she had joined with were freeing him from where he was help and helping him achieve his goal. Hank obviously didn’t believe her for a second but there was one niggling doubt in the back of his head. When she had saved his life, she had picked him up in a helicopter and gotten him medical attention, if this group of students were just a rabble of nobodies then how did they get their hands on helicopter?
Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind he sets out to find her, with a little help from Houdini the dog and his unlikely sidekick, Cortez. Along the way they meet a handful of people, all preparing for the end of the world in their own way but as he slowly tracks Nico down there is no way that he could prepare himself for what he will find and no way he could predict where he will spend his final day.
After two emotional investigations with Hank you cannot help but tear into this novel, dying to know how it will all end but slowing in the final pages to make the most of it. Hank is the classic American cop and good guy, keeping to his word and sticking to the law. This finale is obviously a little bit more philosophical and heartfelt than the previous two novels as the main storyline is based around what is left of his family, Nico and the small amount of time he has left to find her. As always, he has to throw himself into some tricky situations to discover the truth, leaving him beaten by a horse, locked in a barn and tasered, although not shot this time. Full of twists, turns and surprises it is hard to give any plot details without spoilers but Hank is great hero and World of Trouble really delivers the gripping story that you would be expecting after the previous excellent books. There’s no easy way outs, happy endings or ‘it was all a dream,’ Winters full on faces his characters predicament with refreshing logic and realism.
The entire Last Policemen trilogy is excellent and World of Trouble is no exception. We can but hope Ben H. Winters has another character just as great coming in the future to replace the lovable Hank Palace.
Buy World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters