Countdown City
|
Cover of U.S. paperback original | |
| Author | Ben H. Winters |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Doogie Horner |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre |
Soft science fiction, police procedural |
| Publisher | Quirk Books |
Publication date | July 16, 2013[1] |
| Media type | paperback original, ebook |
| Pages | 316[1] |
| ISBN | 978-1-59474-626-0 |
| Followed by | World of Trouble: The Last Policeman III |
Countdown City is a 2013 American soft science fiction mystery novel by Ben H. Winters. It is the sequel to The Last Policeman and follows the exploits of former detective Henry Palace as he investigates the dissappareance of Brett Cavatone, the husband of his childhood nanny, Martha. The book is set in a world preparing for the impact of 2011GV1, an asteroid that will wipe out humanity, which will occur in 77 days, within the archipelago of Indonesia.
With electricity and telecommunications links down, petroleum increasingly scarce and with water supplies of unknown potability, Palace is in a race with time. As the apocalypse approaches, individuals are abandoning their former professional and vocational responsibilities to enact various personalized "bucket lists" of preferred activities, but despite his redundancy from the nationalized Concord Police Department, Palace still intends to fulfill his duty to Martha and Brett Cavatone. As the US economy is dismantled, Concord is full of empty storefronts, while remaining police protect citizens from their feral apocalyptic fellow inhabitants.
Henry and Nico, his sister, travel to the former University of New Hampshire (which has now 'seceded' from what used to be the United States), in search of Brett. One member of the UNH student 'free republic' government, Julia Stone, is engaged in firearms transactions. Eventually, Palace finds Brett in a small community near Portsmouth Harbour and tries to persuade him to return to his wife. Remnants of the United States Coast Guard are attempting to prevent illegal immigrants from East Asia and the vicinity of the impact zone from entering the United States, using deadly force if necessary, which disturbs Palace. It also emerges that Martha was having an extramarital affair and that her estranged husband abandoned the relationship for that reason.
Brett Cavatone dies in a shoot-out, but although Palace is injured, Concord medical staff are still maintaining healthcare services. As for Martha, she and her father Rocky are enmeshed in a UFO cult futilely promising miraculous escape from the impending cataclysm. However, Nico Palace is also pursuing a nostrum of her own- the use of nuclear deterrence against 2011GV1, which sets up the core scenario for the final book in the trilogy, World of Trouble (2014) As with The Last Policeman, Countdown City examines the psychological, cultural and metaphysical consequences of the apocalypse.
Countdown City was the winner of the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award.[2]
Sequel
Countdown City is followed by World of Trouble, the final book in this trilogy.