A man dies in an apparent suicide, but a police detective suspects it may be murder. However, he can’t get anyone else to care because a four-mile-wide asteroid is going to hit the Earth in six months and probably wipe out humanity.

The Last Policeman is an excellent murder mystery all on its own, but the addition of a slowly crumbling society gives it another level of fascination. The characters are well-drawn and realistic, and the quiet, lanky detective is one of the best literary detective I’ve ever come across.

Recommendation: Read it. It’s great. The Last Policeman is the first of a trilogy and I’m already reading the second.