A Sunday Times top-five bestseller

'This is a remarkable book . . . profound and deeply moving . . . It has as much to tell us about mental illness as it does about policing' Alastair Stewart

John Sutherland joined the Met in 1992, having dreamed of being a police officer since his teens. Rising quickly through the ranks, he experienced all that is extraordinary about a life in blue: saving lives, finding the lost, comforting the broken 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, and in 2013 John suffered a major breakdown.

Blue is his memoir of crime and calamity, of adventure and achievement, of friendship and failure, 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 more than twenty-five years he served as an officer in the Metropolitan Police, rising to the rank of Chief Superintendent before his retirement on medical grounds in 2018. John is a sought after public speaker and commentator on a broad range of issues, who regularly appears on TV and radio and writes for major newspapers. His first book, BLUE, written and published while he was still serving in the Met, was a Sunday Times bestseller. It tells the remarkable stories of his policing life and describes his long road to recovery following the serious nervous breakdown that ended his operational policing career.

Reviews
This courageous and finely written book is a timely invitation to think more deeply about what we ask of our police -- Jane Shilling * DAILY MAIL *
A stark account of a talented police officer's breakdown . . . This is a startlingly honest book and the final two chapters are heartbreaking -- Richard Morrison * THE TIMES *
I read BLUE more or less in one sitting. I thought it was wonderful - very powerful, deeply moving and utterly honest -- Henry Marsh, author of DO NO HARM
Admirably honest and movingly human . . . Sutherland asks us to look behind the faceless blue and see the individual people * SPECTATOR *
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 -- Alastair Stewart
An honest look at the vulnerability that comes with bravery * THE I *
Brave and very honest -- Bear Grylls
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 * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
Courageous and moving -- Tom Harper, THE SUNDAY TIMES Home Affairs Correspondent
John Sutherland lays out the human cost of working as a police officer in simple, devastating terms * HUFFINGTON POST *
A gripping book . . . moving and really powerful . . . I highly recommend it -- Jumoke Fashola * BBC LONDON *
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 -- Colin Taylor, author of LIFE OF A SCILLY SERGEANT
I commend it to the public. It's a great book -- Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service
A superb book -- Charles Cumming
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 -- John Nichol, author of TORNADO DOWN
A fascinating, powerful and beautifully written insight into the life of a police officer -- Dan Walker, journalist and broadcaster
A remarkable, honest account of twenty years in policing -- Sophy Ridge, journalist and broadcaster



Book Information
ISBN 9781474606066
Author John Sutherland
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 260g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 26mm