A Serial Killer, a Doomed Planet, and the Stubborn Human Need for Justice: Reviewing Akane Araki’s Apocalyptic Whodunit ‘Murder at the End of the World’
"The Last Policeman is a 2012 American science fiction mystery novel by Ben H. Winters. It follows a police detective in New Hampshire as he investigates a suicide he believes was really a murder. His efforts are complicated by the social, political and economic effects of preparations for, and anticipation of, an asteroid impact six months in the future."
She credits Winters's influence in interviews, along with another asteroid novel, Motoko Arai's "Just One Glimpse of You…" which was published back in 1981. But her story is fully realized on its own terms. It's pretty great.
It sounds pretty great, and a premise is a premise, of course, and a novel isn't a premise (or shouldn't be). I only mentioned the Winters book here because I did a quick Google search after reading your review and actually didn't find her referencing Winters' work anywhere, which I found odd. But online search sucks these days, so I know I can't use search results as proof of anything definitive. (I bought the Winters trilogy many years ago solely because I found the idea so interesting, exactly as you state it above in your review, but alas, I haven't actually gotten around to reading it yet.)
I found the references to his work in a couple of Japanese interviews she did. I’m not sure those comments have made their way into English. One of the posts I linked above has one of those mentions in it.
Interesting premise; reminds me somewhat of Nevil Shute's 'On the Beach'; as fallout from a nuclear war drifts South, people in Australia carry on with their lives even as the inevitable end draws near.
I've heard that's good. I'll have to check it out. Humans are probably the only species with the capacity to imagine our demise. Interesting stuff comes from the exercise.
I came here to talk about the Winters trilogy but that’s been covered. However, thinking of Winters reminded me of his wonderful, thought provoking alternate history “Underground Airlines “. Worth a read if you haven’t already covered it.
But this book under review sounds great and I’m going to read it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Policeman
"The Last Policeman is a 2012 American science fiction mystery novel by Ben H. Winters. It follows a police detective in New Hampshire as he investigates a suicide he believes was really a murder. His efforts are complicated by the social, political and economic effects of preparations for, and anticipation of, an asteroid impact six months in the future."
She credits Winters's influence in interviews, along with another asteroid novel, Motoko Arai's "Just One Glimpse of You…" which was published back in 1981. But her story is fully realized on its own terms. It's pretty great.
It sounds pretty great, and a premise is a premise, of course, and a novel isn't a premise (or shouldn't be). I only mentioned the Winters book here because I did a quick Google search after reading your review and actually didn't find her referencing Winters' work anywhere, which I found odd. But online search sucks these days, so I know I can't use search results as proof of anything definitive. (I bought the Winters trilogy many years ago solely because I found the idea so interesting, exactly as you state it above in your review, but alas, I haven't actually gotten around to reading it yet.)
I found the references to his work in a couple of Japanese interviews she did. I’m not sure those comments have made their way into English. One of the posts I linked above has one of those mentions in it.
Interesting premise; reminds me somewhat of Nevil Shute's 'On the Beach'; as fallout from a nuclear war drifts South, people in Australia carry on with their lives even as the inevitable end draws near.
I've heard that's good. I'll have to check it out. Humans are probably the only species with the capacity to imagine our demise. Interesting stuff comes from the exercise.
I came here to talk about the Winters trilogy but that’s been covered. However, thinking of Winters reminded me of his wonderful, thought provoking alternate history “Underground Airlines “. Worth a read if you haven’t already covered it.
But this book under review sounds great and I’m going to read it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
My pleasure! I've never heard of Underground Airlines. Thanks for the tip!
Sounds exciting, thrilling, intelligent, fun, scary!!
Yes on all of the above. It’s great.
Joel, I really appreciate you reviewing Japanese novels. I would never be aware of that literary scene otherwise.