Review: The real story, entertainingly told.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 14, 2012
Bad luck OfficerJoining the cops should be done when you have the energy to deal with the ridiculously wearing hours. You should also join when you have enough innocence left to get it smushed around a bit, but not entirely destroyed. Joining at the age of 45, which is about when I retired from the profession is a mad, wild thing to do. Something only a complete nutter would do, surely?Surely.This is the premise for Suzie Ivy's entry into the world of blue at age 45, and the subject of this book.I'd already read, with howling belly laughter, her faltering steps on the slippery stage of police academy in Bad Luck Cadet. That convinced me that the woman is without doubt, as sane as a box of frogs. What she would do, when set free on the street, would be anyone's guess.I've read a lot of blue blogs, memoirs and heard most of the stories that arise from those experiences. Far too many of them take the quite natural view that only a vast change of political landscape in society will FIX THINGS. Quite naturally, they then rant endlessly about their politics rather than discussing what people do, which is the interesting stuff.What people do, the mad, wild, heroic and cruel things they do is the stuff of daily entertainment and heartbreak. However cynical or experienced you are in life, they surprise you every day. Well, they surprised me.Suzie handles this like a real human being, like me and you. Not Superwoman, but a real, living, breathing, crying and laughing thing with blood in her veins.Suzie is tough, of that have no question. Her humanity is retained, and here is the glory of this book. In it's well-written pages you'll find that tea-bag being placed continuously in hot water, each time coming out stronger. It is the story of a hero of modern society. Someone who retains the good bits, while dealing with the nasty bits.I'd never thought a police memoir would enthuse me like a pep rally. This one does. A wonderful story, beautifully written and told with a sense of humour. I've never completed a book that left me wanting to meet the writer so much. This is real police work, recounted by a real police woman.This is a rare treat, enjoy:)brendan stallard