#Review : Police, Arrests & Suspects - Screamingly Hilarious! @JohnDonoghue64 #ASMSG #BookBoost

Police, Arrests & Suspects: The True Story of a Front Line Officer by John Donoghue
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Donoghue, Donoghue, Donoghue…” You’ve gone and done it again. If you’re looking for something to lift your spirits, this author has the ability to tickle your funny bone until it hurts. Looking at the true life of a front line officer, Police, Arrests & Suspects is just as screamingly hilarious as John Donoghue’s other books: Police, Crime & 999, Police, Lies & Alibis and Shakespeare My Butt. I’ve spotted a few tweets and read reviews on this author’s books, where readers have claimed to be caught in the embarrassing situation of laughing out loud on public transport. Hands up! Guilty. I now have my official local transport looney badge. How Donoghue combines razor sharp wit with subtle delivery and superb timing leaves me in awe. His ability to communicate the less savoury side of everyday policing and the real danger response officers often face, making it obvious that they ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’, only makes the book more compulsive reading. The recognisable traits of certain criminal types are genius. You can feel the despair emanating from the officers and see every roll of the eyes. The characterisation, along with the writing, is simply brilliant. The CBT incident (no spoilers) literally brought tears to my eyes – Ouch! – and the “killed myself in the mirror” line and the image that created will stay with me for a long time. There are many such nuggets of pure gold. I’m smiling as I type. If ever you spot someone laughing uncontrollably on a gloomy, grey day, ask them what they’re reading. I bet it’ll be John Donoghue. If they’re just looking as miserable as sin, recommend them a JD tonic. No, not the amber coloured stuff. In fact go one further, make a kindly donation to the humourless and buy them a John Donoghue book. Uniquely witty, eye-openingly informative and fabulously entertaining, I would highly recommend any one of them.

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#Review : Police, Arrests & Suspects - Screamingly Hilarious! @JohnDonoghue64 #ASMSG #BookBoost

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#Review: Shakespeare My Butt - @JohnDonoghue64 #ASMSG #HLP #Kindle #Bookboost

I’ve been a bit quiet. I know, this is as rare an occurrence as a "blue moon" and, personally, I blame John Donoghue. If you doubt how distracting the antics of a front line police officer with a wicked sense of humour can be, read my reviews here and here. Being a dog-lover and foster mum to a straggle of odd dogs with disabilities ranging from blindness and spinal injuries to missing limbs, I couldn’t resist diving straight into another of his books, Shakespeare My Butt!, which turns around our hero’s first foray into dog-ownership and the arrival in his life of his BFF, Barney. Keen to implement correct dog-training techniques, John’s read the manuals. He’s even created his own list of rules, his Ten Commandments, setting boundaries and reinforcing himself as top dog within the family the dog will see as his ‘pack’. Cue arrival of “rolling, barking, nipping” eating machine that ejects food from one end as fast as it goes in the other.  

So what do we think?

Snoops’ opinion:

RULES???

YOU MEAN ... I'M NOT TOP DOG?

As usual, John Donoghue has me glued to the pages, thus my silence. The man is pure therapy, I can’t remember laughing so much (except at myself, joining in the general merriment as a girlfriend wet herself laughing whilst regaling our bemused then boyfriends with tales of my general accident-proneness. Never was she going to let me forget walking into a bollard at the Three Counties Show. It was midriff level, but lower. Or the time my ancient Ford Escort self-combusted on the motorway. It was summer. I was on my way back from aerobics. Dress code: Lycra leggings and leotard. No coat. Eat your heart out Olivia Newton John, or possibly not).

Anyway, “I digress”. Back to Shakespeare. So, Barney has arrived. He will know his place in the pack hierarchy. He will obey simple, one word commands. Get too verbose and you will confuse him. He’s a dog. Ye-es. No spoilers (I hope) but ‘the surprised’ game in the mornings? The grimace whilst JD and companion search for place name signs? Again, no spoilers, but I am wondering whether the calendar the names would be adorning was actually age appropriate? This is another must-read from Donoghue. A lovely, uniquely witty story of father, daughter (and dog) bonding, with a sprinkling of entertaining historical facts thrown in. Talking of entertainment, how does it work?? The grey elephant thing? I’m still pondering that one.

Would I recommend it? Yes, highly. I defy anyone, even those with a sense of humour bypass, not to snort wine, hooting with laughter reading these books. Save time, order a job lot, tuck up and enjoy is my advice.

Amazon UK
Amazon US

~~~

Right, suitably re-energised, I now have to resurface and get on and put myself about a bit, again. Blowing my own wee trumpet (it’s not very loud. I shall have to invest in a new one!), I have not one but two imminent releases. Towards the end of 2014, I was signed with Choc Lit for my upcoming contemporary romance. This development is all the more special because the book was brought to the attention of Choc Lit's MD, Lyn Vernham, by Head Fiction Buyer at WH Smith Travel, Matt Bates. Matt read the manuscript after we met at the Romantic Novelists' Association's Annual Conference, and recommended it as a good fit for the publisher's list. I am soooo glad that he did.

COMING in May 2015 from Choc Lit

The Rest of My Life - Two damaged hearts, a sizzling sexual connection. Can love find a way to bring Adam and Sienna together?

Other breaking news: I also have a new thriller due for publication with Safkhet Publishing, the title of which was suggested by a chief constable, no less, who also kindly offered me some advice around forensics and police procedural. Death Sentence is due for publication in June.

After too many years writing (I’m a little insane, can you tell?) and a pretty awful start to the year which saw my partner undergoing two ops (he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in 2014 and is doing amazingly well, still sharing his progress with Prostate Cancer UK, encouraging other men to seek help early. I am slightly in awe of him, I have to say), I’m at last feeling as if my efforts have been worthwhile. That’s mainly down to readers, reviewers, and those who have believed in me. Thank you. It’s hard out there – and it would be an awfully lonely place to be without my friends.

Finally, I’ve been playing, making videos.  Here’s a sneak peek of Death Sentence. I hope you likey! 

Keep safe all!

Lots of love, 

#Review: Shakespeare My Butt - @JohnDonoghue64 #ASMSG #HLP #Kindle #Bookboost

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