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    Countdown City
    Countdown City
    Countdown City
    Audiobook8 hours

    Countdown City

    Written by Ben H. Winters

    Narrated by Peter Berkrot

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    “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?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 16, 2013
    ISBN9781469226286
    Author

    Ben H. Winters

    Ben H. Winters is an author and educator who has written plays and musicals for children and adults, as well as several books in the bestselling Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide series. He is also the author of The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman, Bedbugs, and the parody novels Android Karenina and the bestselling Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. He lives in Indianapolis.

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    Reviews for Countdown City

    4/5

    509 ratings76 reviews

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    • 4/5
      In this second book of the trilogy, an asteroid is expected to collide with Earth in 77 days. Henry Palace is no longer a police detective since his unit was disbanded but he can't help trying to solve problems. As in the first book, he is set on another pointless mission to find the missing husband of a damsel in distress. This mystery at the core of the book is resolved by the end, but the questions surrounding the big problem of the end of Earth are only slightly advanced here.I'm glad that Henry still has Houdini, the dog that he adopted in the first book, but now he has to measure out the kibble to make sure it lasts for 77 days. Supplies are becoming increasingly scarce, there is no electricity and soon there won't be any water. Henry's sister has joined up with a group of conspiracy theorists. I didn't think the plot was as tight here as in the first book. There were some coincidences and improbable rescues. I thought that Henry's foray into the socialist Free Republic of New Hampshire went on for too long. There was also an excessive amount of time spent with the consequences of a gunshot wound. I've had enough of looking for missing persons. I just want to know whether or not Earth ends as scheduled. I'm hoping for some pay off in the final book of the trilogy.
    • 4/5
      This second book of Winters' The Last Policeman trilogy was a well-done follow up to the first and I'm definitely looking forward to the final installment. Considering the circumstances of the series (pre-apocalyptic detective tales set 6 months or so before an asteroid is due to end all life on Earth), I came away from the first book feeling like the world presented was a little to orderly and not quite dark/bleak enough. I was pleased to see that Winters moves the story in this direction with the second installment and starts to show a much more drastic breakdown of society. The reader also begins to see more clearly that the protagonist's clinging to his former position and moral scruples is less a noble endeavor so much as his own form of desperation. I hope the end of the trilogy is as entertaining as the first two volumes.
    • 4/5
      I received this book from Early Reviewers having waited to read it in order to acquire and read the first book in the trilogy, "The Last Policeman". All I could hope for was that I wouldn't hate the first one because then I wouldn't want to read the second. I can easily say that both books were quite good. The first one I felt was a little slow taking off, but I did enjoy it very much by the end of the read. "Countdown City" didn't disappoint. The last policeman, Hank Place, is now literally out of a job. There isn't much left to do now that much of the population in Concord is now gone through one means or another. The world is on the brink of an apocalypse, and all Hand wants to do is be the policeman that he wants to be. So, he investigates a missing person case on his own which leads him to reconnect with his sister and discover that maybe there is hope for for the world.
    • 4/5
      How can you not love Henry Palace. The books are partly about Henry's determination to solve cases but the story is also about the breakdown of society and Henry's dogged sense of maintaining promises as part of a good and functional world.
    • 4/5
      This is the second in the "Last Policeman" series and I only regret how quickly I read it and how long I'll have to wait for the next one. I read his first book of the trilogy and waited impatiently for "Countdown City". Ben Winters is a gifted writer who created a world teetering on the edge of chaos as an asteroid hurtles towards earth. He populates the world with believable characters who react realistically to the impending disaster. "Countdown City" is a gripping read as a dystopian tale, mystery and police procedural. Give yourself a treat and read both books and you'll join me in eagerly waiting the next.
    • 3/5
      Having enjoyed the first story well, I was looking forward to reading the sequel. The world is still there but with a lot less time and the effects of societal breakdown is more apparent.

      However, this time the story doesn't feel as involved as the first. There's more focus on the case this time and with the exception of a college of communists struggling to hold on for 77 days to prove communism works and a few other settings, there isn't much there. The following of the case is a little more clunky too. I found myself having to re-read parts to actually figure out if I had zoned out and missed something or if hadn't been revealed yet. Again, the mystery doesn't bring along the reader to help figure out. You're more or less told conclusions which is a key plus or minus I look for in any mystery novel. This story is definitely in the minus category.

      I would say that this story rode too much on the coattails of the first book and the charm just wasn't there as much this time. I will check out the third book because of the world the first one built. Hopefully the story will be better put together in that one. Final Grade - C
    • 2/5
      The first book in this series relied heavily on its premise to catch and hold the reader's interest. That worked okay, but for book two we need to care more about the characters. Winters tries to build up the main character Harry, with lots of flashbacks to Harry's past, focused especially on his relationship with his sister, but it didn't work for me. I don't understand his motivation, at all, why he cares. "Civilization is just a bunch of promises, that’s all it is"? This is Winters talking, not Harry. Add to this a scattered plot, full of holes, and a cliffhanger ending (?!). It makes for an unsatisfying novel. > Among my regrets about what has just unfolded is that Brett never did ask me why I had come to find him, why I cared. I had my answer all figured out. Because a promise is a promise, Officer Cavatone, and civilization is just a bunch of promises, that’s all it is. A mortgage, a wedding vow, a promise to obey the law, a pledge to enforce it. And now the world is falling apart, the whole rickety world, and every broken promise is a small rock tossed at the wooden side of its tumbling form.
    • 5/5
      Loved that there was more in this series. Henry is on another case, while also trying to deal with his sister…Really enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      Just as good as the first one. A bit more philosophical and angst ridden.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as part one...but it's a bridge to third book.
    • 5/5
      There was no letdown from the first book in this near future trilogy. This time, Hank Palace is no longer a police detective, but he's still obsessed with solving a mystery, a missing person case. With the asteroid Maia hurtling toward Earth, the husband of Hank's long ago babysitter asks him to find her husband and bring him back home. Hank's search for Brett takes him into an increasingly chaotic and lawless landscape. He has to deal with anarchists forging their own society with their own rules, groups of hoarders, and a lack of the basics of life we all take for granted.The mystery is almost beside the point, its main function being the thing that gives Hank's life meaning when life is slowly eroding into meaninglessness. The details feel alarmingly real as Winters weaves his simple story with big ideas. This is a future that could realistically happen and Winters covers a myriad of human reactions that are just as plausible. Given the current political climate, this series feels incredibly relevant.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed it even more than book one,wonder if houdini makes an appearance in book three - trying to slow down my “whole bag of chips” tendency to go kindle and binge on book three instead of waiting & listening thru the audio which had been great for the first two .
    • 4/5
      After reading The Last Policeman I had to get Countdown City. I liked it. We are still enjoying former Detective Henry Palace, the cop that can't retire. We start this book with only 77 days left before the asteroid named Maia smacks down in Indonesia and kills off most of the Earth's population.In the remaining days, Henry can't seem to relax and feels a sense of duty from his police force days. He is investigating the disappearance of Brett Cavatone. Has Brett gone "bucket list" or is he dead? Brett's wife asks Henry to find him and so he sets out to do just that.After a bit of an investigation Henry realizes he needs help getting into a former University which has...believe it or not....seceded from what is left of the United States. Brett had hooked up with an anarchist named Julia and there is a definite conspiracy theory in the works that actually plays out to be true. Besides the hoarding of firearms the biggest problem is the U.S. Navy. They are openly shooting people who try and gain access to our shores,That's a scary real life scenario. The military are keeping immigrants from the impacted hemisphere from entering the U.S. An asteroid is going to hit their continent and our Navy won't let them in safely! That's so rude.There is a shootout which involves Brett and Henry with interesting consequences. I don't want to put spoilers in here but the ending resolves a few things and now I need the last book. Yes, it left you hanging just a little bit.This photo below is from the end pages at the back of the book. I haven't checked it out yet but I am curious about how people answered.It's not brilliant writing (in the sense of the classics :-) but it certainly kept me entertained. If you are a fan of apocalyptic lit this will be right up your alley.
    • 5/5
      A solid follow up to the first novel, and just as good. In this book we see a bit more of the breakdown of society in anticipation of the asteroid's arrival. And of course, in the midst of chaos and destruction, former Detective Hank Palace has a missing persons case, and is determined to follow it. One of the other characters in this book compared Hank to a monster: "From a monster movie. The man who would not f***ing quit." A very true statement. It's telling of Hank's character that at certain moments in his investigation, he refers to himself as Detective, and at one point as "a policeman", even though that is technically no longer true. It is what he still feels he is. I liked the way the author decided to end this particular installment, and now of course I await the final book in the trilogy.
    • 4/5
      Darker than the first book. But just as good.
    • 4/5
      The Last Policeman (trilogy), by Ben H. Winters (4 stars)consisting of(1) The Last Policeman (2012), by Ben H. Winters (3½ stars)Six-word reviews (regular and bonus):(a) Apocalyptic scenarios always deliver paranoid thrill.(b) Ok, I'll read the next one.(2) Countdown City (2013), by Ben H. Winters (3½ stars)Six-word review: How they cope with impending destruction.(3) World of Trouble (2014), by Ben H. Winters (3½ stars)Six-word review: As time runs out, what matters?Extended review:This trilogy drew me in quickly with its premise and its main character. The earth is on a collision course with an asteroid, and no way of averting or surviving the catastrophic impact seems possible. A young police detective named Henry Palace is determined to pursue his calling, solving cases and stopping criminals, despite the fact that it is arguably pointless: everyone is going to die soon anyway.The series thematically poses the questions: How do we spend our time? and does it matter?Henry Palace's answer to the latter is yes, it matters. And his conviction that it matters is the key to his passion to spend his time, by his lights, well; or, at any rate, in such a way that his inner imperatives are satisfied.Like some number of other trilogies, this is really one three-part novel (divided, I always think somewhat cynically, for marketing reasons rather than from any inherent structural necessity), with, typically enough, a little slack in the middle segment. It does have a clear arc, from beginning to end, with Palace's central question playing out against a backdrop of all the probable and plausible reactions to the world's imminent ending.Publication of the three installments in three successive years does have the virtue of giving author Winters time to learn how to spell "imminent," which (as someone ought to have told him before 2012) means something altogether different when it has an a in it.The character of Palace, as first-person narrator, is motivated by two compelling forces: first, the loss of his parents when he was twelve, one to senseless violence and the other to suicide, and second, a solemn promise to protect his adored younger sister and never to abandon her. "[A] promise is a promise," he says in book 2; "...and civilization is just a bunch of promises, that's all it is. A mortgage, a wedding vow, a promise to obey the law, a pledge to enforce it. And now the world is falling apart, the whole rickety world, and every broken promise is a small rock tossed at the wooden side of its tumbling form." (page 209)He recalls a quote from his father, an English professor: "One thing we can learn from Shakespeare, Hen, is that every action has a motive." In searching out and exposing the motives of others, he unsparingly shows us his own, both the unequivocal and the conflicted, and how they translate into deeds.Palace is by his profession a man of action; but by his nature he is also a man of reflection, and his self-awareness contributes depth to his narrative of a global society in crisis. His evaluations tend toward understatement: "The end of the world changes everything, from a law enforcement perspective." At the same time, his character seems not to develop according to fictional convention. I don't see him growing and changing under the pressure of the challenges he faces. Rather, in the way of a more abstract character such as we see in a fable or allegory, he remains constant and becomes ever more resolutely what he is, even through self-doubt and questioning, as if his true role were not to play a part but to serve as a mirror.In this capacity he confronts us with moral questions of our own; for in fact, as we all know despite our natural tendency to regard it as unthinkable, each of us is on a collision course with death; and even if we aren't facing it at a precisely forecast moment, and by a known means, and in simultaneous company with the rest of humanity, it still behooves us to ponder the question: what shall we do with the time that is given to us?Not that the author or his narrator ever poses it outright; but it is implicit in the variety and kind of human responses to it that the three novels depict. The coping schemes that Palace observes range from public madness, mayhem, and destruction to a feverish obsession with reading everything in the library to a quiet, dignified surrender such as Nevil Shute describes in On the Beach (which Winters cites by name in book 1).And denial. Speaking only slightly facetiously, I suggest that the series could be read as a crash course in the fine art of denial, which proves to have the potential for more dimensions than any impending catastrophe.But the trilogy is not a catalog or a sociological thought experiment. It's a story, a series of stories, an intersection of stories, fraught with murder, revenge, justice, terror, cowardice, love, loss, loyalty, acceptance, and an ennobling capacity to rise above our meanest instincts. Palace is a detective, and he detects a good deal more than the solutions to the crimes he commits himself to solving. His final choice to embrace the common bond of humanity becomes his defining moment.Four afterthoughts:• Considering the number of novels that I have ditched on or before page 1 for being written in the present tense, I regard it as a testament to the author's skill in storytelling that I put up with this irritating stylistic practice all the way through three parts in quick succession. I could see an argument that present tense is better suited to a narrative anticipating the end of the world in our time than, say, a historical novel of the Middle Ages.• It's worth special mention that all three books, in the trade paperback format in which I read them, came out to exactly 316 pages. I surmise that that was not happenstance but some kind of minor feat of self-editing.• Even though I rated each of the three at 3½ stars, I gave the series four because it stays strong through all three segments and delivers more than the sum of its parts.• Bonus points for one of the neatest encapsulations of character that I can remember in a contemporary novel: namely, the sister, who, when told, "The situation is what the situation is," retorts, "I disagree."
    • 4/5
      What would you do if an asteroid was on its way to earth and guaranteed to hit? In a world that's mostly gone haywire, Hank Palace's answer is: business as usual. Formerly a policeman, his former babysitter has asked him for help finding her husband, a man she's sure wouldn't just leave her and go "Bucket List." Will Hank be able to find him in time?This mystery trilogy with a hint of science fiction and conspiracy theories (Hank's sister Nico is part of a group still trying to affect the asteroid) is a fun genreblending read. The setting of Concord, New Hampshire, is familiar New England to me with a touch of difference - martial law, the breakdown of society, that kind of thing. It also gets you wondering... What would I do? "Go Bucket List"? Business as usual? Something in between? And what if it can be stopped - what will that mean for rebuilding a society that's broken down? (Guess I'll have to read the next book to find out!).
    • 3/5
      There is some serious middle-book-syndrome and sequel-itis going on with 'Countdown City.'
      'The Last Policeman' was gripping from the first page straight through to the end. I read it in one sitting, and gave it 5 stars.

      'Countdown City' was... ok. It took a while to get going, and even once things started rolling, I just didn't really care about the case. Former detective Hank Palace agrees to help his former babysitter find her missing husband before the end of the world (which is coming, in just a couple of months).

      There is some interesting stuff here about expectations: the missing man was a former state trooper, and seems to be considered by all who knew him to be 'noble' and good. Even without having met him, Hank is illogically eager to assume the best of the man - not only was he a respected law officer, but he won the love of Hank's own childhood crush.

      Hank's investigation proceeds in an interesting-enough manner, with some unexpected twists and turns. I like how the decline of society is pictured, as the day on which an asteroid will impact Earth approaches - but the story just didn't have the urgency for me that the prior book did.

      I also felt like, after spending more time with him, Winters decided he liked his protagonist a lot more. Hank Palace, as portrayed here, seems both less crazy and generally more likable than he did in the first book. I really enjoyed the aspect of The Last Policeman that involved Hank's obsessive-compulsive behavior leading to him causing a swath of destruction and death behind him, regardless of his good intentions. There's only one similar incident in this book, and it'd be a real stretch to call it Palace's fault.

      Overall, it's not a bad book - but it didn't quite live up to my (very high) expectations. (I did, however, like the third book better - I've already read it.)
    • 5/5
      I love the premise of this series. An asteroid is about to crash into Earth, destroying everyone... but Detective Henry Palace wants to keep on solving ordinary murders and missing person cases.

      In the end, you get a compelling mystery that would work as a novel in its own right, surrounded by an equally gripping per-apocalyptic atmosphere, all injected with a healthy dose of conspiracy theory!

      Countdown City reminded me what I loved about The Last Policeman, and I think Winters' writing is even stronger in this second book. Looking forward to the next one!
    • 5/5
      When I read The Last Policeman earlier this year I thought it was terrific and I wanted to read the rest of the series. But I also wondered if the next books would be as good as the first. I can answer that question now with a definite yes. It looks like there is a third book, World of Trouble. I'll be looking for it.An asteroid is hurtling through space on a collision course with Earth. It is due to hit the Eastern Hemisphere in October. Even if all human life is not killed by the collision most of the survivors will die from hunger or thirst or cold. With less than six months to live many people walked away from their jobs, their houses, their responsibilities determined to enjoy their remaining time. But Henry Palace, former police detective, is determined to carry on with his responsibilities even though he has been fired from his job on the police force. When the woman who was his babysitter asks for his help to find her husband, Henry cannot say no. Brett Milano went out to find supplies for the pizza place owned by his father-in-law at ten o'clock one morning and never returned. His wife, Martha, is dumbfounded because Brett had promised he would stick it out with her until the end. Henry follows the clues trying to find Brett. At one point he has to ask his sister, Nico, for help. Nico is involved with some cult that thinks they can destroy the asteroid. She has contacts that Henry needs and the two of them team up for a while. In fact, Nico saves Henry's life but then she disappears. Henry has an answer for Martha but now Martha is missing. And the town they live in is sliding into anarchy since the water went out. What does a man who feels strongly about honouring his commitments do when he might not survive the night? Read the book to find out.This book raises big questions and will leave you thinking about them long after the book is finished. For me that is the mark of great writing.
    • 3/5
      When Detective Henry Palace returns in this second volume of The Last Policeman Trilogy, there are only 77 days left until the asteroid is due to hit Earth. Henry is no longer employed by the police department, and the few police who are left take a pretty laissez faire attitude in a society where money has no value, and shortages of necessary goods and services prevail.Henry's old babysitter turns up one day seeking his help in finding her husband Brett, who has disappeared. She is sure that he would never "go bucketlist" or otherwise desert her to face the end alone, and fears he has come to some harm. Although hundreds of people are disappearing everyday (including many who commit suicide), Henry believes her and takes the case.What was more interesting than the mystery to be solved (as was also the case for me with the first volume) is the creation of the world at the end--the reflections on what it means to face the end of the world. As Henry searches for Brett we experience with him the difficulties of retaining his humanity when all around people are losing theirs.I guess I'm going to have to read the final volume to see if the world really does end.3 stars
    • 4/5
      Rating: 4* of fiveThe Publisher Says: There are just 77 days to go before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Hank 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. The second novel in the critically acclaimed Last Policeman trilogy, Countdown City presents a 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?My Review: This book has a helluva gut-punch in it. It has a gigantic eye-opening take on what catastrophe brings out...the apocalypse before the holocaust has surprising actors on its ever-darkening stage.It gave my poor roommate a sleepless night or two as my light stayed on way past his comfort zone. Sorry, dude, there's books to be read!I think, though I'm not sure, that one big reason our detective is developing and making his exit meaningful for as many as possible is that this series is a trilogy. The motivating factor being the annihilation of the planet and its people automatically limits the time available for anyone to act! It also allows Winters to load us up with telling details without making it feel like force-feeding a goose for a richer liver.A point I'm appreciating more as the series goes on is the author's use of astronomical coordinates for the asteroid. It isn't something I saw right away, but it has slowly become a drumbeat of worry behind the plentiful action in the book. I particularly like the fact that, even though it's there from the beginning, its effect is cumulative. Sneakily so.Off to book three!
    • 4/5
      I'm just floored again by Henry Palace and the Last Policeman series.It's less than three months until the end of world and Henry Palace has one more case to solve. The husband of childhood friend has gone missing, but so have a lot of people. Why track down this one man? Well, what else is there to do? Palace could go "Bucket List" and find some way to pass the time until the end, but he's not built that way.A beat cop promoted to detective and then retired all because the world was ending, Palace will always be a cop first.This world is haunting and powerful. I can't wait to read book 3, but I don't want to start it because then it will be over much too soon.
    • 2/5
      Brief but entertaining. As with Book 1, I still felt that the characters were slightly underdeveloped, and that the author would have gone more into discussing the world facing the characters as the asteroid approaches.
    • 4/5
      The end of the world is coming with a little less than three months until Mia, a giant asteroid, destroys the planet. All around Harry Palace, people are checking out of town, either to finish their bucket list or jump ship by suicide. Crime has taken over with resources dwindling and the police force is severely reduced and barely visible. Although he had been let go from the force, Harry cannot help but commit himself to taking on another case. Harry's childhood crush contacts him about her husband who has gone missing. Desperate to find him before the end of the world, she begs Harry to help her. Harry, as in the first book of the series, thoroughly commits himself to finding the missing husband, and willingly puts himself in harm's way just because he has to figure out what happened. With society collapsing all around him, Harry enlists his paranoid conspiracy-obsessed sister and others to help him along the way. Harry is an enjoyable character who really cares about people and is committed to helping others until his last days on the planet, which are numbered, seriously numbered. This is a quick but suspenseful read for anyone who enjoys apocalyptic fiction with a mystery twist.
    • 5/5
      OMG. I loved this story. Wait, is it appropriate to start a review with OMG??

      OMG I fucking love this story. I think that's better. Just like the first book, I was sucked in. Could not, would not put it down. Believable. I love the "film noir" feel to these books. (yes books, there is a first one) And the second book carries on with the same feel. Its not "oh here we go again" kinda thing, but a complete story unto itself, wrapped in a larger unfolding story. I care deeply for Hank and his dog. Yes dog. I and am sitting on the edge of my seat for the outcome of the larger story and eager to know what mystery the third book will bring.

      In all fairness I think someone else mentioned film noir in reference to these books.Maybe someone from NPR. I don't feel bad for hijacking it for my own review. If the shoe fits, steal it, you never know when a second pair will come in handy. It is the end of the world after all.
    • 4/5
      This was a fantastic conclusion to The Last Policeman trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed these pre-apocalyptic noir mysteries. The focus is on the mystery and not the impending end of the world. Winters gives these books an old style detective story feel. I was mesmerized by the detective's passion for his quest.
    • 4/5
      Title - Countdown City (The Last Policeman #2)Author - Ben H. WintersSummary - In seventy-seven days, the asteroid 2011GV1 is going to slam into the planet Earth and destroy all life on it. It will be a catastrophe on par with the impact that ended the reign of the dinosaurs. All humanity knows it is coming and they know just as well that there is nothing they can do about it. Many have chosen to deal with this impending doom in different ways. Some have decided to end their own lives rather than wait out the day. Others have gone on extensive trips, fulfilling bucket lists they had put off to another time and now there is no more time.But for forcibly retired Police Detective Henry Palace, he does the only thing he can. The only thing he knows to do. He stays on the job and today, seventy-seven days away from the apocalypse, he has a new case to work. Martha Milano babysat Henry and his sister Nico when they were kids. Now they are all grown up and Martha's husband Brett has gone missing. Martha is sure there is more to it than Brett running away in the face of the end of times. She is positive he wouldn't do that. No something else has happened and she needs Henry to look into to it. To find and bring her husband back home. The police will be no help. They have been replaced with young kids who simply are there to provide a presence. No one investigates. Henry is sure that the databases are even working. But still he agrees to find Brett."...My missing person was a man dying to leave, in a fever to leave, but who knew that leaving was wrong. He made a compromise with himself, struck a moral balance, did what he had to, to make arrangements for the woman he'd be leaving behind..."Henry follows Brett to a pizza parlor and through the dark street to a hideout for one of the few remaining criminal enterprises. All the while knowing that Brett had left Martha. But why? Brett was an ex-cop and what Henry was sensing was that Brett wasn't running from something, he was running to something.The mystery deepens as Henry must work through the remaining camps of humanity that live outside the city. Survivalists and communes. Both thinking that the government is lying to them all and that there is no end of the world. Conspiracy nuts who are sure this is all a Government cover-up. All to find one missing man and bring him home. So that he can die with his wife, when the seventy-seventh die finally arrives.Review - Countdown City is an excellent sequel to The Last Policeman. Henry Palace is such a well written character that his drive to do the right thing in the face of such over whelming helplessness just endears him the readers even more.The story is well plotted and though it is a desperate situation, the novel never gets bogged down in the setting and hopelessness. Even besides the impending doom, there is a real mystery here. Where is Brett? Why did he leave? What is he doing and are the rants and ravings of the communes and conspiracy nuts hold any validity? What is Henry going to tell Brett when he finds him? Excuse me but your wife would like you to come home now so you can die together.Countdown City is well written mystery and if Henry Palace is the Last Policeman then perhaps there is some hope left. At least until the asteroid hits and the planet overheats and everything dies and then well it all kind of sucks after that. But until then, it looks like there is one more book coming with Henry Palace to be read!A very good read!
    • 5/5
      Hank Palace is back! More end times stuff has been going on in Concord, NH, and things are looking more dire.If we're gonna get superficial, I didn't like the cover so much on this one. The Last Policeman and World of Trouble had much better covers, in my opinion. But you know that old saying, don't count your chickens before they hatch. Also, a stitch in time saves nine.Hank gets a standalone(ish) mystery this time, and I felt like this book was like the asteroid swinging around behind the sun, gathering momentum for that last swing, the last stretch where the story would hurtle towards you for the final collision in the last book.His sister Nico gains prominence in this story, his last remaining relative, his world, ever since their parents and then their grandfather died off, leaving them to their own devices.Winters revels in this scenario he's created, the end times, and what people do in the situation, and what people do to other people. The nebulous promises of hidden bunkers, solutions to the "asteroid problem," the wariness of other people and their motives all get explored a little bit more in this follow up to a great start for the final days of our planet. As in the first book, the mystery is a little pat, some of the clues a little too obvious, shocking, almost, that retired Det. Hank Palace might have missed them in his investigation. But, then, the world is ending, and he was only a detective for such a short while, so maybe he can be given a pass.
    • 4/5
      This is the second in the "Last Policeman" trilogy, the continuing adventures of (former) Detective Hank Palace, Concord, NH.

      In this one, Hank starts investigating a missing-persons request for a friend, because what else is he going to do with his time while waiting for an asteroid to hit the Earth? As he gets into it, though, it veers left and becomes a murder mystery. Along the way, he runs into an anarchist cult (or is it?), a government conspiracy (or is it?), and the disappearance of his sister (or is it?).

      Countdown City suffers a bit from sequelitis: We're familiar with this preapocalyptic world now, so we need to see something new to stay engaged. Winters does a good job of both resolving the mystery and sowing the seeds of what will (I think) appear in the last book, so hats off. He also continues to show us what it would be like to be facing the End of Days, as people continue to go "Bucket List" or just quietly fade away. I'm very grateful that he hasn't gone the completely Mad Max route (yet, although there are hints of that, too).

      I'm still enjoying this series very much, and I do hope it ends with the next one. Then it will be great, that the author had the stones to follow through on his premise.