... of course a pandemic would be an absolute calamity, some deadly virus stalking the land, and you would huddle up with your family and shut out the world until it ended, but then it would—it would have an ending. A pandemic runs its course and then the world recovers. [loc. 1687]
At the opening of World of Trouble, only fourteen days remain before the Maia asteroid is forecast to plummet into the Malaysian archipelago and destroy what's left of civilisation. Between the bucket-listers, suicide cults, urban unrest and collapsing infrastructure, civilisation has made a good start on its own demise already. Hank Palace, former police detective who's still determined to try to find meaning by doing his job, is one of the few who has not succumbed to the lure of despair. In this novel, he's searching for his estranged sister Nico, who tried to convince him that salvation was possible (via the group with which she was involved) and that the asteroid could be knocked off course. They parted angrily, and Hank wants to be reconciled.
But it's evident, as he cycles through New England searching for Nico and helping those he encounters, (an Amish community, a survivalist group, a boy treed by the zoo tiger he set free) that Hank's stoicism, common sense and desire to see justice done is slowly metamorphosing into something more rigid. 'I can’t solve the crime unless I know everything and the world can’t end with the crime unsolved, that’s all there is to it.' He's becoming less rational, more violent, a reckless man who realises that 'the odorless colorless presence of the future' is missing, and has very little left to hope for, or to lose, or to love. He's overfocussed, obsessed and under pressure. And, Winters reminds us near the end, he's not yet thirty years old.
This novel moved me to tears more than once, not least because of Hank's bond with his dog Houdini. The final few chapters felt a little rushed (or perhaps I was rushing through them) but the ending is absolutely perfect. It's odd to say that this is an uplifting read, given the oncoming apocalypse: somehow, though, it left me feeling drained but peaceful.
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