The premise of this book is that an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth and everyone knows they have less than a year left to live. Most people do rational things: bucket list items, move to be with family, quit their jobs, etc.

Our protagonist, Detective Palace, is the one asshole who is enamored with the need to enforce the rules, especially the petty ones. He doesn't think he's the asshole, but he is.

And I love that character setup, because there's going to be that kind of asshole in that kind of situation, and the book is going to lean in to it, it seems.