Well, what can I say about this book?
The first thing is that I haven't laughed out loud so much reading a book since I read Tom Sharpe's Wilt about 25 years ago. The book is crammed with stories from Donoghue's first year as a police officer in the town referred to as Sandford to retain anonymity. The other regular characters in the book are mostly pseudonyms of his other colleagues on shift with him, with the occasional recurring criminal.
It's well written, and rattles along at a very good pace. There are a few asides during some of the tales, some of them are relevant to the story in hand, all of them add to the comedy. I would imagine that this book would be best received by those with experience of policing, but should be a humourous read for all. There is an absolute minimum of police terminology and jargon. At various points the author explains the origins of common sayings or practices, however by the end of the book I was beginning to wonder if I wasn't being "had" by some of them. They are told with the literary version of a straight face, but I'm not entirely sure I trust the author to be truthful about all of them!
I can't think of another book that I've read that tells a personal story with such humour. Donoghue is clearly a mischievous character who enjoys looking for the joke in any given situation. That is common in the police service, especially dark humour, as that is a great way of relieving the stress of the situation. It's clear from the book that he is an educated, well rounded and experienced person who no doubt does an excellent job.
All humour aside, it's a great insight into the "people" side of the job, the fact that you deal with all sorts of people. This can be the most rewarding part of the job as well as the most dangerous.
I hope that there will be other books in the series in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and recommend it to anyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment