Happy Policeman

by Patricia Anthony

Book Overview

It began six years ago, on Bomb Day, when the aliens put up the Line to block out the rest of the world. On all the radio bands there is nothing now but static, and beyond the glowing paisley barrier... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441003214
• ISBN13: 9780441003211
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.1" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Once again, the science fiction is a minor aspect

As in her latest work, "God's Fires" (a highly-recommended book about the Inquisition and aliens), the science fiction aspects recede into the background. Patricia Anthony's focus has always been with relationships and the human experience - some might say dilemma. She highlights these two elements by using aliens as background noise...they are not so different from us after all OR they are so different we can only relate to one another. Post-nuclear Texas, a small town has been cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible shield erected by aliens who live among them. The incongruous element was that life went on as normal without a lot of consternation. It is a typical town with an evangelistic preacher, love affairs, law breakers and a tired, guilty Chief of Police. A murder has occurred at the start of the book and the search for the killer forms the germ of the plot. Yet...and this is the reason for the four stars, when all is said and done, there is more said than done. (WARNING -SPOILER) One could almost sense that the entire six years of the barrier was surreal. What is even more perplexing is that everything that occurred in the town actually happened only in another setting. Instead of hanging a condemned man, we discover he has hung himself in his prison cell in the "real world". No one understands, least of all the people involved, and when they emerge they discover that the world has carried on as before. So, is it a commentary over taking life for granted, over what is possible in the universe of reality, on the meaning of reality itself. Your guess is as good as mine. But read the story for the richness of the characters (the moment when he finds out about his wife and deputy is a classic) and the effectiveness of the dialogue.

her most underrated book

Patricia Anthony is underrated in general, but this is her most overlooked book. Too bad, because it's THAT GOOD. Although the premise is a simple twist on an old ghost town of sorts, it is sci-fi/specu-fic at its best.

Happy That I Found Happy Policeman

I just discovered Patricia Anthony and boy am I glad! Great characterization and dialogue. Great style that keeps you turning the pages. I hated time away from this book! Then hated that I finished it. The alien Torkus are so deliciously creepy and philosphical. I am so glad I found Happy Policeman. I looked foward to reading Brother Termite and Cold Allies.

UPS Aliens

It's a locked-room mystery, folks, with all the action taking place inside "the line." Who killed the pink lady? Pastor Jimmy? Foster, the dope-smoking banker? Billy, Loretta's estranged husband? Or maybe she was murdered by the aliens in the UPS truck. The Happy Policeman is the story of police chief DeWitt Dawson's struggle with duty and rebellion, responsibility and truth. Oh yeah . . . and adultry.One of Anthony's best.

Who's really the law in the last town in America?

Things haven't been going well for Earth lately; in fact, it may no longer exist. The Bomb fell, the aliens came, the Line went up, the town went into six years of complete isolation -- too bad things are starting to deteriorate. The Policeman is losing his grip on the townspeople at the same rate he's losing his grip on sanity, and this time he can't depend on the Aliens for help. The town's brittle peace is crumbling and folks are turning up dead. A seemingly simple murder case ignites the citizens and sets a chain-of-events in motion that threatens to destroy what may be the only human settlement left on the planet. They been told that the Line keeps danger out, but no one is sure of that explanation anymore. Rage and distrust turn against the Aliens as the situation reaches a fevre point. If they appear to threaten the enigmatic creatures, action will be swift, dispassionate, and deadly. Can the Policeman find a solution and the happiness the alien leader promises, before the final confrontation? Exquisite tension and unique characters drive this novel at a deceptively sedate speed that sneaks up on the reader with devastating impact. The hero is all too human; a man trapped in the most thankless law enforcement job since Clarke County, Space. A riveting study of emotions in a pressure-cooker existence