Blue: A Memoir – Keeping the Peace and Falling to Pieces

About the Book

A Sunday Times top-five bestseller

A searingly honest memoir of life, policing and falling apart

'Every contact leaves a trace'

John Sutherland joined the Met in 1992, having dreamed of being a police officer since his teens. Rising quickly through the ranks, and compelled by the opportunity to make a real difference to people's lives, he worked across the capital, experiencing first-hand the enormous satisfaction as well as the endless trauma that a life in blue can bring.

There were remarkable, career-defining moments: commanding armed sieges, saving lives and helping to take dangerous people off the streets. But for every case with a happy ending, there were others that ended in desperate sadness.

In early 2013, John suffered a major breakdown and consequent battle with crippling depression. After a career spent racing to be the first at the scene of crimes and catastrophes, he found himself in pieces, unable to put one foot in front of the other.

Blue is a memoir of crime and calamity, of adventure and achievement, of friendship and failure, of laughter and loss, of the best and the worst of humanity, of serious illness and slow recovery. With searing honesty, it offers an immensely moving and personal insight into what it is to be a police officer in Britain today.

About the Author :
John Sutherland is a father of three, who lives with his wife and children in south London. For the best part of twenty-five years, he has served as a Metropolitan Police Officer. He won the Baton of Honour as the outstanding recruit in his training-school intake. Over the course of his career, in which he has been awarded several commendations, he has worked in seven different London boroughs, in a variety of different ranks and roles, and he has also been posted to Scotland Yard on three separate occasions. His most recent operational job was as the Borough Commander for Southwark. John can be found on Twitter and Wordpress as 'policecommander'. Blue is his first book.

Review :
This courageous and finely written book is a timely invitation to think more deeply about what we ask of our police A stark account of a talented police officer's breakdown . . . This is a startlingly honest book and the final two chapters are heartbreaking I read BLUE more or less in one sitting. I thought it was wonderful - very powerful, deeply moving and utterly honest Admirably honest and movingly human . . . Sutherland asks us to look behind the faceless blue and see the individual people A remarkable book: a magnum opus on belief and success, on depression and despair. It is well written and intellectually demanding, profound and deeply moving. In places, it is funny; everywhere, it is thoughtful. It has as much to tell us about mental illness as it does about policing. And there is much love in it: for friends, for family, for life An honest look at the vulnerability that comes with bravery Brave and very honest The effect of this honesty is to leave us both more appreciative of police officers and more concerned for their well-being, as well as encouraged that such a compassionate man was promoted so vertiginously. [Sutherland] describes police work as "fulfilling, humbling, inspiring, daunting, shattering, rewarding and soul-stirring" which is also a fair description of his book Courageous and moving John Sutherland lays out the human cost of working as a police officer in simple, devastating terms A gripping book . . . moving and really powerful . . . I highly recommend it Will expand people's understanding of what it means to be a police officer in Britain today, revealing the truth about the toll that a career in policing can have on those tasked with the responsibility of tackling crime. This is a brave and compelling account of policing from a very senior officer in the most renowned police force in the world I commend it to the public. It's a great book A superb book A remarkable, revealing and inspiring insight into the worlds of the police and the policed. The stories told are by turns heart-warming and saddening, moving and maddening - it is an account of the very best and the very worst of our society. It is a book which should be required reading for all who aspire to public office, in any sector and at every level A fascinating, powerful and beautifully written insight into the life of a police officer A remarkable, honest account of twenty years in policing