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Thank you to Raven Books and The Reading Agency for providing Macclesfield Library Reading Group with free copies of the book to read and review. These are the thoughts of some of our members -

We felt that this was a very easy read and, despite its flaws, a bit of a page turner
We did feel that McDonald went into her new role in the police very naively – if you’ve watched any news at all, not to mention all the true crime documentaries she claims to have binged, you’ll know that policing involves shift work, that you’ll have to see unpleasant things on an almost daily basis and that the paperwork is relentless. On top of that, it wasn’t exactly a shock for any of us to have it confirmed that sometimes, there is no justice for victims. So, we found McDonald’s struggle with each of these elements of her job really surprising. That being said, it was obvious that she received zero support from her bosses and that some of them were actively working against her, almost to the point of ensuring the failure of the Direct Entry programme. It wasn’t her fault that she along with her Direct Entry colleagues were not offered the opportunity to properly shadow an experienced officer and that she in particular was left to sink or swim in a unit which was known to be one of the more high-pressured and harrowing. It also wasn’t McDonald’s fault that much of the process relating to the CPS appears to be a series of box-ticking exercises which just take way too long and ultimately serve no-one
• McDonald seemed genuinely to care about her job and the people she came across in her working life, so she could have been an asset to the police force but anybody in that position would have been frustrated by the shortcomings of the system and systematic undermining and resentful behaviour of superiors
McDonald initially came across as a bit flighty and chaotic, never having settled into a job, and she demonstrated a poor attitude by not even attempting the CS gas training at the beginning of the book. The unnecessary mentions of her love life added to this image of her really not being a good fit for the police. At our most cynical, we could even make the argument that she went into this whole experience specifically to write a tell-all exposé of modern policing. But the book didn’t really include the social commentary you’d expect from a true exposé or a whistle-blower type situation. However, McDonald’s honesty about her mental health and her bravery in asking for time off from an incredibly toxic situation must be respected and commended, and it was mentioned that this book would be particularly valuable for people wanting to work in any blue light job. If, given the proper support, McDonald could have developed into an excellent police officer so we decided that the system let her down, just as much as it can let victims of crime down
Unsurprisingly we came to the conclusion that the scheme itself was at fault – there are simply no shortcuts to becoming a successful police officer because there’s just too much to learn which all needs to be experienced at ground level. There were probably government recruitment targets to be hit but retention figures don’t seem to matter so recruits were dropped in at the deep end without the infrastructure in place to support them