Cover image of "The Last Policeman," a science fiction mystery novel

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Novelists, filmmakers, and scholars alike have speculated about how the world might end. Nuclear war. A killer pandemic. Unbearable heat. A supervolcano. Or a dozen other imagined versions of the Apocalypse. In fiction, or in scenario planning, they sometimes help us think about what might happen after a final terror rains down on the Earth. But much less often they ponder about what might happen if we know with certainty in advance that life on Earth will come to grief. And that’s the task novelist and screenwriter Ben H. Winters has set for himself in his trilogy that begins with his provocative science fiction mystery novel, The Last Policeman.

An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth

In April 2011, astronomers detect the distant asteroid 2011GV traveling on a wide elliptical orbit at great speed. They calculate the likelihood of a collision with the Earth as vanishingly small. But by August the probability of an impact has reached five percent—and it continues to rise as panic ensues. The economy begins to come apart at the seams. Long-familiar corporations go out of business, and people everywhere on Earth reassess their lives, often walking off the job to work through their bucket lists. Eventually, having given it the popular name Maia, observers calculate that the asteroid has a diameter of four miles. It’s quite large enough to create planet-wide ecological effects and end civilization. And the probability continues to rise. Then, in January 2012, comes the shattering announcement. The chances Maia will impact the Earth are 100 percent. And the date is certain: October 3, 2012.

The Last Policeman (The Last Policeman #1 of 3) by Ben H. Winters (2013) 336 pages ★★★★☆

Winner of the 2013 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original

Artist's rendering of an asteroid collision with Earth, like the one predicted in this science fiction mystery novel
This is the scenario on which The Last Policeman Trilogy is grounded. Scientists tell us that a collision with an object the size of the author’s fictional asteroid, Maia, might happen once every twenty million years. Not likely, then, but possible. Image: Discover Magazine

A suicide that’s really a murder as the police steadily militarize

We learn all this through the eyes of a newly minted detective with the Concord, New Hampshire police department, Henry (Hank) Palace. In March 2012, about a month before scientists have promised to announce the precise spot of impact, Palace is called to the scene of what others believe is a suicide. An insurance actuary named Peter Zell dangles from the ceiling by a belt around his neck. But Palace detects anomalies at the scene and pursues the case as a murder.

As the days steadily slip by, and society continues to unravel, Palace’s investigation leads him to the key figures who will eventually help him solve the case. Zell’s boyhood friend—his only friend—the corpulent J. T. Toussaint. The attractive secretary in Zell’s office, Naomi Eddes. Zell’s sister, Sophia Littlejohn, and her husband Erik, a pastor. Gradually, the relationship each of them had with Zell becomes clear, and the case approaches its end. Meanwhile, to combat the growing panic and widespread crime, the federal government is militarizing the police.

Meawhile, Palace has no choice but to spend time with his despondent younger sister, Nico. Her airhead husband, Derek, has gone missing after driving an ATV onto a restricted military zone. Only with great difficulty does Palace manage to secure a visit to Derek in his cell. Then, all too typically, the fool talks in riddles, refusing to explain what he was doing that got him arrested. There are hints about a mysterious underground movement based on a conspiracy theory. But Palace has no time to investigate. Because Peter Zell’s murder remains to be solved.

About the author

Photo of Ben H. Winters, author of this science fiction mystery novel
Ben H. Winters. Image: Wikipedia

Ben H. Winters was born in Maryland in 1976 and graduated twenty-two years later from Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of twelve novels, three collections of poetry, and five plays, and has won several literary awards for his work. Since 2016, he has been active in television and has worked on several hit shows. Winters lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

I’ve also reviewed the author’s novel, Golden State (A riveting hybrid science fiction mystery novel that questions reality). And for similar sci-fi mystery mashups, see The Ark (Children of a Dead Earth #2) by Patrick S. Tomlinson (On a starship, an art heist, a murder, a coverup) and Trident’s Forge – Children of a Dead Earth #2 (A suspenseful mash-up of science fiction and mystery).

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