Sometimes the publishing universe provides us with coincidences that add up to a trend. Or in this case a trendlet, consisting of multiple books titled The Last fill-in-the-blank released around the same time. I have no idea what the popularity of this ominous adjective signifies—maybe an attempt to induce FOMO in the prospective reader? (The outlier here is To Catch a Storm, which shouldn’t be punished for its failure to be called The Last Storm.)
Luckily, they happen to be quite good; you would miss out if you skipped them. The first of the Lasts is also the funniest. English writer Mark Billingham, known for his Tom Thorne series, has moved on to a new police detective, Declan Miller, who’s a wiseacre, a joker, a smart aleck—he can’t help himself. He keeps two pet rats, plays guitar, favors garish ties, and is a competitive ballroom dancer. Or was, until his wife and dancing partner Alex, who worked for Blackpool’s organized-crime division, was fatally shot in the head six weeks earlier.
