Ben H. Winters writes speculative crime and science fiction that use familiar genre structures to ask what people do when society’s rules are changing or collapsing. The Last Policeman begins a trilogy about detective Hank Palace, who insists on investigating an apparent suicide even though an asteroid is expected to destroy Earth within months. Countdown City and World of Trouble continue the story as institutions disappear and the practical meaning of police work changes. Underground Airlines imagines an alternative United States in which slavery remains legal in several states and follows Victor, a Black man forced to work as a tracker of escaped enslaved people. Winters writes with the pace of crime fiction but keeps the speculative premise active in everyday choices, bureaucracy and moral compromise. His books fit dystopian crime, alternate history and apocalyptic mystery. The Last Policeman keeps the detective form most visible, while Underground Airlines is more overtly political and built around an alternative-history premise. Read more Less
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