Golden State by Ben H. Winters

I had to blow this one up extra large so you can enjoy the fake leaves. As you can see, we're still green as Ireland, but we had the good fortune of experiencing an unseasonal cold front, yesterday (still cool, today, and maybe for another day or two, yay)! Happy Autumn!! The words feel real, for once. :)

Golden State by Ben H. Winters takes place in a near-future world in which the former California is now a country and lying is illegal. The main character, Laszlo Ratesic, works for the Speculative Service in the Golden State. Here's an excerpt from the cover flap of Golden State:

. . . the Golden State [is] a place where like-minded Americans retreated after the erosion of truth and the spread of lies made public life and governance impossible. In the Golden State, knowingly contradicting the truth — speaking a lie — is the greatest crime. Stopping those crimes is Laz's job. 
    Why, then, has he been ordered to the front lawn of a Los Angeles mansion, where the body of a roofer has fallen, irrefutably dead? 

At the same time Laszlo is given this unexpected job that feels like it doesn't fit the normal parameters of his work, he's assigned a rookie to train. But, the rookie appears to be much more talented at sensing lies than he is. Is there something more to this accident than meets the eye?

Of course there is. But, obviously I'm not going to say any more because I don't want to ruin it for you. 

Highly recommended - Wildly creative and clever writing about a society where lying is the greatest crime but the truth that is known is built upon lies. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the ending. But, then I sat with it for a while and decided it was actually perfect in that it fit the storyline and was just . . . right. It simply wasn't how I'd imagined it would end and I had to adjust my expectations to fit. 

Notably: this book appears to be a response to years of an American administration in which lying became the norm and the division between the parties so deep that one had to choose to either believe the lies and continue to feed them or choose to refute them — and there was no in-between. So, I guess it's also a satire in that it pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the current political state in the US and possibly serves as a warning that lies can only last as a foundation for so long before everything comes crashing down. That's my interpretation, anyway. 

I've also read the "Last Policeman" series by Ben H. Winters. Golden State made me want to read everything he's ever written and go for a reread of The Last Policeman. Here's a link to my review of the final book in the Last Policeman series which also contains links to the first two, for anyone who may be interested:

World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters

World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters
Book 3 in the Last Policeman series
Copyright 2014 - Mystery/Apocolyptic
Source: Quirk Books
Today is release day (July 15, 2014)!

I didn't mark a single passage in World of Trouble because I was too busy barreling through the book, enjoying the reading and anxious to see how Ben Winters would end the Last Policeman series. The verdict: perfect ending. I honestly don't remember a single series I've ever felt was as completely satisfying as the Last Policeman series. And, World of Trouble is available today!!  For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting release day, I suggest a lot of coffee because you'll want to read World of Trouble in one sitting. Plus, coffee is mentioned frequently enough that you might end up with a craving.

In World of Trouble, only 14 days remain until the asteroid hits Earth. Hank Palace could have easily waited out the end with his friends in Massachusetts but he's determined to find his sister, Nico. So, instead, Hank traveled to Ohio, where he's been told the radicals Nico has been hanging out with have converged to wait for the man they believe will save them by shattering the asteroid.

In Ohio, Hank and a traveling companion find two bloody knives, spatters of blood, a body and a clue to where the radicals may have gone into hiding. To find the missing group, though, he must track down a local man who does concrete work.

With the clock ticking down, Hank tries to solve the crime and find his sister. Will he find Nico before it's too late? What will happen when Hank discovers the "body" has a pulse? Can he solve the attempted murder, uncover the mystery of what's become of Nico's friends and stay alive long enough to find out whether or not the world will truly end?  Well . . . you'll just have to find out. And, I promise you it's worth buying all three books if you haven't already begun reading this series.

Highly recommended - The Last Policeman series is absolutely hands-down, my all-time favorite series. I don't even like mysteries! But, I adore Hank Palace. I love his "just keep living life while you can" attitude. I love the moments of levity, the action, the author's wit. And, the ending is absolutely everything I hoped for and more.  Great series, perfect ending, terrific hero, well worth owning.

My reviews of the first two books in the series:

The Last Policeman
Countdown City

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini time! Countdown City by Ben H. Winters and You Can Date Boys When You're Forty by Dave Barry

Someday I'll catch up on reading and reviews and then my life will be complete, right?  RIGHT?  Okay, I know better but I can dream.  In the meantime . . . some mini reviews.

You've already seen the kit I've prepared for the upcoming fictional apocalypse in the Last Policeman series (and maybe my review of The Last Policeman). On to the second installment.

As Countdown City opens, a mere 77 days remain before an asteroid will collide with Earth. Hank Palace no longer has a paying job as a detective but his former babysitter begs him to locate her husband, who has gone missing -- or "bucket list" as they say in the pre-apocalyptic lingo. Hank has a lingering affection for his old babysitter so he agrees, in spite of the fact that it's no longer possible to do things that were once common like buy gas, use a phone, find coffee.

Hank is tenacious and smart, though, and the missing man is so beloved that he's certain there must be more to the story.

Ben Winters is such a sharp writer.

I squeeze up and down along the edges of my arm and feel nothing and meanwhile my breath is ragged and uneven. At a certain point I will cross a threshold where it won't matter either way; "loss of limb and/or death," that double-conjunction pivot point will resolve decisively on "and."  

~p. 220 of Countdown City

Seriously, how can you not adore his writing? I love the way he can toss out a line of dialogue like, "Love is a bourgeois construct," and in those few words inform you about a character with surprising depth. I love Hank and his wonderful, upbeat attitude. I love the fact that Winters' world building is believable -- the human choices, the way the infrastructure is crumbling.

About 1/2 - 2/3 of the way in, Countdown City becomes seriously edge-of-your-seat exciting. As in the first installment, the story is wrapped up in a satisfying manner -- no cliffhangers, just the knowledge that the end of the world is still coming and, ohmygosh, you have got to get that next book which, by the way is gorgeous ---->

Recommended and, so far, I think the Last Policeman series is worth owning for the sake of revisiting that snappy dialogue. I cannot wait to read the last book.

Dave Barry's latest release, You Can Date Boys When You're Forty is, unfortunately, pretty disappointing, and I don't say that lightly.  I've been a fan of Barry since I was a kid. My father has been gone for almost 24 years but I'll always think of Dave Barry as one of the authors we bonded over, reading passages aloud to each other, laughing, trading his books and giving them as gifts. You Can Date Boys When You're Forty made me laugh out loud a couple times but it also occasionally made me cringe (the section on grammar . . . just, no . . . horrifying, not funny).

I did like the silliness of the essay "Manliness":

Here's what my homeowner tool collection consists of: duct tape, a smallish hammer and 283,000 tiny random pieces of hardware for hanging pictures.  Hanging pictures is my only real manual skill. If we have a global nuclear war and civilization is wiped out and I happen to be one of the small band of surviving humans, I will not be a big help.

First Survivor: I'll forage for edible roots.
Second Survivor: I'll look for water.
Third Survivor: I'll build a shelter from fallen trees.
Me: And I'll hang the pictures!
First Survivor: We'll eat him first.

~p. 32 of You Can Date Boys When You're Forty, ARC (some changes may have been made to the final print copy)

My favorite essay is "Seeking WiFi in the Holy Land," about his family's journey to Israel. His current wife and daughter (if I recall right, he's on his second marriage) are Jewish and their vacation sounded pretty adventurous. The essay is both funny and touching. When Barry left the Yad Vashem museum with tears in his eyes I choked up a bit, myself.

Iffy on recommendation - I liked some of the essays but a few of them were just flat awful so I gave You Can Date Boys When You're Forty an average rating of 3/5. I'd recommend checking it out from the library if you're a fan.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

Copyright 2012 

Quirk Books - Fiction/Mystery/Pre-apocalyptic

316 pp.

First sentence:

I'm staring at the insurance man and he's staring at me, two cold gray eyes behind old-fashioned tortoiseshell frames, and I'm having this awful and inspiring feeling, like holy moly this is real, and I don't know if I'm ready, I really don't.

In The Last Policeman, Hank Palace is a young detective who thinks a death by hanging is actually a murder.  He is, however, the only officer who gives a flip about solving the case (if it really is a murder) because the world is going to be hit by an asteroid in approximately 6 months and everyone's going to die, anyway. 

The Last Policeman is pre-apocalyptic in the manner of On the Beach by Nevil Shute (although, the apocalyptic event has already occurred in On the Beach) in that everyone's going to die and they know it. So, The Last Policeman not only explores a possible murder but the reaction of the characters to their impending doom.  But, what makes The Last Policeman really special is the fact that the author has a terrific sense of humor.

I can picture him, the thug resplendent: loops of chain drooping from black jeans, skull-and-crossbones pinky ring, scrawny wrists and forearms crawling with several species of tattoo snakes.  The rat-eyed face twisted with melodramatic outrage, having to answer the phone, take orders from a stuck-up egghead policeman like myself.  But look, I mean, that's what you get for being a drug dealer, and moreover for getting caught, at this juncture in American history. Victor may not know by heart the full text of the Impact Preparation Security and Stabilization Act, but he's got the gist.

~p. 50

No one is really sure--even those of us who have read the eight-hundred-page law from beginning to end, scored it and underlined it, done our best to keep current with the various amendments and codicils--not a hundred percent sure what the "Preparation" parts of IPSS are supposed to be, exactly.  McGully likes to say that sometime around late September they'll start handing out umbrellas.

~p. 53

"You know what I'm doing right now?" I say, watching the muddy liquid rush toward the edge of the table. "I'm thinking: Oh no! The coffee's going to spill onto the floor! I'm so worried! Let's keep talking about it!"

And then the coffee waterfalls over the side of the desk, splashing on Andreas's shoes and pooling on the ground beneath the desk.

"Oh, look at that," I say. "It happened anyway."

~p. 174

You can view the book trailer for The Last Policeman, here.  

Highly recommended - This is such great writing: sharp, hilarious, an instant favorite, the kind of rare book that is so quotable I found myself reading excerpts to my husband (with whom I will only share a passage if I think he'll laugh or a quote will generate a decent discussion -- he laughed, every time).  I particularly love the fact that Hank Palace's attitude to the question, "What do you do when you're going to die in 6 months?" is, "Might as well just keep on working." Whenever someone says something particularly positive about just getting on with life, he always says something to the effect of, "I like that person. Him, I like." Cool.  It's been a few weeks since I read The Last Policeman and I still have that "bounce, bounce, bounce, can't-wait -for-the-next-in-the-series" feeling.

The Last Policeman is a book that was added to my personal collection recently, thanks to the generosity of my friend Sandie. Thanks, Sandie!

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.