reissued,repackaged and required Reading, 01 Sep 2008
How do you fill the void left after watching the final episode of one of the greatest tv shows of all time ? Go back to the source and that's what this is without this book there is no The Wire. It's a remarkable book and one that hasn't really dated unlike the TV series of the same name.
The premise is well described David Simon writes about a year in the life of the homicide department of Baltimore what suprised me was that it isn't written for the journalist point of view so instead we get informed what the detectives are thinking. It's hard to explain that for the veteran detectives we see that there is no personal crusade to solve the crimes it's a job and not a highly paid one so if it's not the money what compels these individuals to keep going especially when faced by some pretty daming statistics pointed out by Simon when it comes to actually securing convictions.
The less experienced detectives find it harder to be detached especially in the case of a murder of a young school girl that takes up a large amount of the book here the principal detective is haunted not so much by the crime but frustration to crack the case.

The politics, the court system , the lack of resource are all explored but without Simon preaching an opinion it shows just how much content is here when a scene from the wire season 5! Not an early season is in the book that to me showed just how much content there is that after 40 hours of tv there is still a gem to be pulled from the book
A powerful subject and probably as close as anyone is going to understand what freeman, bunk and mcnaulty would describe as true police
A must read for lovers of The Wire

Gritty and Realistic, 07 Jul 2008
A true "no over the top" crime book told with honesty and well worth a read.

Definately worth the time, 29 Feb 2008
I stumbled upon this book about 4 years ago whilst i was watching the tv series the wire. I didnt read it straight away but luckily i came down with flu and was bedridden for a week and thankfully because of that I read what I consider to be the best ever true crime literature ever written. This is a truly outstanding book and I couldnt recommend it highly enough, i just wish there were more books as engrossing, thought provoking and epic as this masterpeice

Wired Up, 31 Aug 2007
Led to this novel following my infatuation with David Simon's HBO television series - The Wire. Would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the television series. Has the same feeling of authenticity (I can't really tell - thankfully) as The Wire, the banter between the detectives is hilarious and the writing is at times Chandleresque. Given the nature of the job that they do and the way that Simon was embedded, he came to admire the homicide squad maybe too uncritically but - I have been wrong plenty of times before. If you liked The Wire.....

fascinating, 12 Sep 2005
I found the beginning a bit slow - there are a lot of characters to be described - but once he starts to introduce the homicides and describes in detail the techniques used at the crime scene, in the interview room, in court etc I was fascinated. It was a real eye-opener. David Simon's writing style is great - drama, a lot of humour, facts, tragedy - this book has got a little bit of everything.

I would love to read more by the same author.

reissued,repackaged and required Reading, 01 Sep 2008
How do you fill the void left after watching the final episode of one of the greatest tv shows of all time ? Go back to the source and that's what this is without this book there is no The Wire. It's a remarkable book and one that hasn't really dated unlike the TV series of the same name.
The premise is well described David Simon writes about a year in the life of the homicide department of Baltimore what suprised me was that it isn't written for the journalist point of view so instead we get informed what the detectives are thinking. It's hard to explain that for the veteran detectives we see that there is no personal crusade to solve the crimes it's a job and not a highly paid one so if it's not the money what compels these individuals to keep going especially when faced by some pretty daming statistics pointed out by Simon when it comes to actually securing convictions.
The less experienced detectives find it harder to be detached especially in the case of a murder of a young school girl that takes up a large amount of the book here the principal detective is haunted not so much by the crime but frustration to crack the case.

The politics, the court system , the lack of resource are all explored but without Simon preaching an opinion it shows just how much content is here when a scene from the wire season 5! Not an early season is in the book that to me showed just how much content there is that after 40 hours of tv there is still a gem to be pulled from the book
A powerful subject and probably as close as anyone is going to understand what freeman, bunk and mcnaulty would describe as true police
A must read for lovers of The Wire

Gritty and Realistic, 07 Jul 2008
A true "no over the top" crime book told with honesty and well worth a read.

Definately worth the time, 29 Feb 2008
I stumbled upon this book about 4 years ago whilst i was watching the tv series the wire. I didnt read it straight away but luckily i came down with flu and was bedridden for a week and thankfully because of that I read what I consider to be the best ever true crime literature ever written. This is a truly outstanding book and I couldnt recommend it highly enough, i just wish there were more books as engrossing, thought provoking and epic as this masterpeice

Wired Up, 31 Aug 2007
Led to this novel following my infatuation with David Simon's HBO television series - The Wire. Would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the television series. Has the same feeling of authenticity (I can't really tell - thankfully) as The Wire, the banter between the detectives is hilarious and the writing is at times Chandleresque. Given the nature of the job that they do and the way that Simon was embedded, he came to admire the homicide squad maybe too uncritically but - I have been wrong plenty of times before. If you liked The Wire.....

fascinating, 12 Sep 2005
I found the beginning a bit slow - there are a lot of characters to be described - but once he starts to introduce the homicides and describes in detail the techniques used at the crime scene, in the interview room, in court etc I was fascinated. It was a real eye-opener. David Simon's writing style is great - drama, a lot of humour, facts, tragedy - this book has got a little bit of everything.

I would love to read more by the same author.

I absolutely disagree, 07 Oct 2008
This is the worst book I've read for a long time. "Pacey" is not the word - in fact I have trouble staying awake. The Author frequently digresses from the main plot (which, all told would take up less than a quarter of the book) to examine in detail things like excerpts from 3 different newspaper articles saying more or less the same thing, quotes from Sigmund Freud, Whichers' previous cases (which although interesting rarely add anything to the progression of the story), and anything else which could possibly hinder the sloppy storytelling.

Then we have the fact that the story teller sees fit to remind us at every opportunity of previous stated clues - something she doubtless decided the story needed with all the frequent asides. The book honestly reads like an academic work like a thesis rather than the story it claims.

Well researched? Yes. Well written? Action packed? Pacey? Indeed not. I would avoid this book, and I feel slightly angry that I was tricked by the back cover into thinking it was something it wasn't, and buying it.

The Emperor's New Clothes, 06 Oct 2008
I have to say that this book, although much touted, is not the wonder the reviewers in the UK media have made it out to be. Most of them know nothing about true crime and they have seized on this book as though it were the Holy Grail. It's dull and plodding, and suggestive of segments that I have read elsewhere. There are many books about the Constance Kent case ("Cruelly Murdered", "Saint - with Red Hands?" are two that instantly come to mind) which are a lot more informative than this book and as for Mr Whicher and Constance Kent , Dickens' letters to friends about this case is the best place for the media information of the time and a great novelist's take on the case - not this mind-numbing piece of self importance.

history of a murder, 03 Oct 2008
Simply brilliant book. The fascinating storylines, quality of research and the craftmanship with which they were woven together has made this one of the best books I've read this year. This book will please both popular history buffs and crime fiction afficnados. Will definately be on the lookout for Kate Summerscales next book.

Absolutely Brilliant, 21 Sep 2008
I wanted to buy this book when it first came out but I did not get the opportunity until recently.

It was such a good read and it is impossible put down once you start. Immense amount of research has gone into the book and therefore praise goes to the author. She has achieved a master piece.

The book was delightful to the last page. This has to be one of the best books I have ever read.

Victorian Scandal - murder in middle class family - read all about it!, 14 Sep 2008
It's 1860 when a three year old boy is murdered in a country house and only someone inside the house, be it family or servant, could have been the perpretrator. Enter one of the first real detectives - Mr Whicher, who is called in to investigate.

Victorian society was scandalised by this case firstly that this brutal murder should have happened in a 'respectable middle-class family, and secondly that the police were now allowed to intrude on every aspect of the family's life to solve the crime. Society may have been disgusted, but echoing today's tabloid frenzys, they lapped up everything about the murder in the press, which followed the case in great detail.

Poor Mr Whicher though, is confounded by the family and the local police who won't give anything away - although he knows whodunnit. His failure to prove it gets him roasted by the press and hinders the fledgling detective department. In years to come, events are to take interesting turns, which keeps the case in the public eye, (at least until Jack the Ripper comes on the scene), and someone is jailed for the murder.

The author presents a meticulously researched and readable analysis of the case, which is compared and contrasted with the new genre of detective fiction - DIckens' 'Bleak House' and Collins' 'The Moonstone' were influenced by this particular case. What is fascinating, are the skeletons in their closets, the supposed madness in the family, and what happened next to them all.

reissued,repackaged and required Reading, 01 Sep 2008
How do you fill the void left after watching the final episode of one of the greatest tv shows of all time ? Go back to the source and that's what this is without this book there is no The Wire. It's a remarkable book and one that hasn't really dated unlike the TV series of the same name.
The premise is well described David Simon writes about a year in the life of the homicide department of Baltimore what suprised me was that it isn't written for the journalist point of view so instead we get informed what the detectives are thinking. It's hard to explain that for the veteran detectives we see that there is no personal crusade to solve the crimes it's a job and not a highly paid one so if it's not the money what compels these individuals to keep going especially when faced by some pretty daming statistics pointed out by Simon when it comes to actually securing convictions.
The less experienced detectives find it harder to be detached especially in the case of a murder of a young school girl that takes up a large amount of the book here the principal detective is haunted not so much by the crime but frustration to crack the case.

The politics, the court system , the lack of resource are all explored but without Simon preaching an opinion it shows just how much content is here when a scene from the wire season 5! Not an early season is in the book that to me showed just how much content there is that after 40 hours of tv there is still a gem to be pulled from the book
A powerful subject and probably as close as anyone is going to understand what freeman, bunk and mcnaulty would describe as true police
A must read for lovers of The Wire

Gritty and Realistic, 07 Jul 2008
A true "no over the top" crime book told with honesty and well worth a read.

Definately worth the time, 29 Feb 2008
I stumbled upon this book about 4 years ago whilst i was watching the tv series the wire. I didnt read it straight away but luckily i came down with flu and was bedridden for a week and thankfully because of that I read what I consider to be the best ever true crime literature ever written. This is a truly outstanding book and I couldnt recommend it highly enough, i just wish there were more books as engrossing, thought provoking and epic as this masterpeice

Wired Up, 31 Aug 2007
Led to this novel following my infatuation with David Simon's HBO television series - The Wire. Would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the television series. Has the same feeling of authenticity (I can't really tell - thankfully) as The Wire, the banter between the detectives is hilarious and the writing is at times Chandleresque. Given the nature of the job that they do and the way that Simon was embedded, he came to admire the homicide squad maybe too uncritically but - I have been wrong plenty of times before. If you liked The Wire.....

fascinating, 12 Sep 2005
I found the beginning a bit slow - there are a lot of characters to be described - but once he starts to introduce the homicides and describes in detail the techniques used at the crime scene, in the interview room, in court etc I was fascinated. It was a real eye-opener. David Simon's writing style is great - drama, a lot of humour, facts, tragedy - this book has got a little bit of everything.

I would love to read more by the same author.

I absolutely disagree, 07 Oct 2008
This is the worst book I've read for a long time. "Pacey" is not the word - in fact I have trouble staying awake. The Author frequently digresses from the main plot (which, all told would take up less than a quarter of the book) to examine in detail things like excerpts from 3 different newspaper articles saying more or less the same thing, quotes from Sigmund Freud, Whichers' previous cases (which although interesting rarely add anything to the progression of the story), and anything else which could possibly hinder the sloppy storytelling.

Then we have the fact that the story teller sees fit to remind us at every opportunity of previous stated clues - something she doubtless decided the story needed with all the frequent asides. The book honestly reads like an academic work like a thesis rather than the story it claims.

Well researched? Yes. Well written? Action packed? Pacey? Indeed not. I would avoid this book, and I feel slightly angry that I was tricked by the back cover into thinking it was something it wasn't, and buying it.

The Emperor's New Clothes, 06 Oct 2008
I have to say that this book, although much touted, is not the wonder the reviewers in the UK media have made it out to be. Most of them know nothing about true crime and they have seized on this book as though it were the Holy Grail. It's dull and plodding, and suggestive of segments that I have read elsewhere. There are many books about the Constance Kent case ("Cruelly Murdered", "Saint - with Red Hands?" are two that instantly come to mind) which are a lot more informative than this book and as for Mr Whicher and Constance Kent , Dickens' letters to friends about this case is the best place for the media information of the time and a great novelist's take on the case - not this mind-numbing piece of self importance.

history of a murder, 03 Oct 2008
Simply brilliant book. The fascinating storylines, quality of research and the craftmanship with which they were woven together has made this one of the best books I've read this year. This book will please both popular history buffs and crime fiction afficnados. Will definately be on the lookout for Kate Summerscales next book.

Absolutely Brilliant, 21 Sep 2008
I wanted to buy this book when it first came out but I did not get the opportunity until recently.

It was such a good read and it is impossible put down once you start. Immense amount of research has gone into the book and therefore praise goes to the author. She has achieved a master piece.

The book was delightful to the last page. This has to be one of the best books I have ever read.

Victorian Scandal - murder in middle class family - read all about it!, 14 Sep 2008
It's 1860 when a three year old boy is murdered in a country house and only someone inside the house, be it family or servant, could have been the perpretrator. Enter one of the first real detectives - Mr Whicher, who is called in to investigate.

Victorian society was scandalised by this case firstly that this brutal murder should have happened in a 'respectable middle-class family, and secondly that the police were now allowed to intrude on every aspect of the family's life to solve the crime. Society may have been disgusted, but echoing today's tabloid frenzys, they lapped up everything about the murder in the press, which followed the case in great detail.

Poor Mr Whicher though, is confounded by the family and the local police who won't give anything away - although he knows whodunnit. His failure to prove it gets him roasted by the press and hinders the fledgling detective department. In years to come, events are to take interesting turns, which keeps the case in the public eye, (at least until Jack the Ripper comes on the scene), and someone is jailed for the murder.

The author presents a meticulously researched and readable analysis of the case, which is compared and contrasted with the new genre of detective fiction - DIckens' 'Bleak House' and Collins' 'The Moonstone' were influenced by this particular case. What is fascinating, are the skeletons in their closets, the supposed madness in the family, and what happened next to them all.


The Book Should be Compulsory Reading..., 26 Sep 2008
I have never picked up a book written about the police force or written by a policeman. Not a subject I was particularly interested in, till I came across `Perverting the Course of Justice'.
I couldn't put it down. It is the most interesting - and disturbing - book I have ever read. If what IG (Inspector Gadget), says is true - and I have no reason to doubt his words - then the UK's criminal classes have never had it so good. There are guidelines and laws the police have to follow which are dreamt up by government officials and agreed by the powers that be, that are ridiculous. I can't think of a better word to use? There are targets - government targets/figures - to meet which means that one crime is worth more than one which might not be easy to solve.
So while the elderly couple are at home and being burgled, the police are not able to rush round as, if there are any free to attend (an unlikely situation on a weekend after dark), the few on duty will be breaking up fights in and around pubs or night clubs. If they arrest one of these yobs, it's back to the police station to book him/her in and at least four hours worth of paperwork which needs to be done in triplicate! No copying or pasting... Anything wrong and they would have to start again.
So it appears that more targets are met by breaking up a street disturbance than attending a house that's been burgled, where the culprit will have legged it. To reach the government targets and make the figures look good, crimes have to be solved. Arrest a drunken yob fighting another drunken yob, two for the price of one... Looks good on paper... Job done! The police don't have the man power to handle everything.
However... There is another hurdle to cross. Once back at the station they have to do the paperwork which is then sent to the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service), for their approval. There can be quite a lot of this paperwork sent backwards and forwards before a decision is finally made as to whether the yob is put before a Magistrate. It could be the yob's 150th offence... but that doesn't mean he's going to be punished this time. More often than not, he's sent home to continue his drinking the next time he 'acquires' a little money. And the cycle starts over again.
You need to read the book... I find it practically unbelievable that these trouble makers - thieves, drug addicts, drunken louts - are back on our streets the day after being arrested. I used to wonder why the police didn't take them off the streets? Surely they must know who some of them are? Yes... They do. They know them all, but the CPS either block the case from going to court (mistake in the paperwork or not likely to get a result). It can take months and months for decisions to be made on charging, with suspects out on bail all the time. Then the Magistrate gives out such ridiculous sentences like fines - seldom paid - community service - seldom done - and slaps the person on the wrists and sends them home. Even if told that it will be prison if they break the law again... Most law-breakers know this isn't likely to happen.
IG writes with a lot of humour. This is a good book and should be compulsory reading for every MP and anyone involved in shaping our criminal laws... like Judges and Magistrates, who are often so far removed from what actually goes on in our streets. And I include the Big Wigs who sit in offices in Police Headquarters.
Review by Jane Ellen (Auntie Jane - An OAP who is an MOP).

Shocking and important, 26 Sep 2008
There are a lot of good books out now explaining the sorry state of our nation, mostly written by people on the front lines like police, teachers, soldiers and medical personnel. However there are two books that should be read by every citizen of voting age and they are Squandered by David Craig and this book. Craig's book looks at government waste; Inspector Gadget shows what has happened to policing and justice in Britain thanks to years of insane mismanagement.

First and most importantly, this is not a rant but a very readable and entertaining book. Inspector Gadget is a good writer, he has a nice, dry sense of humour and some of his descriptions of his "customers" and his little victories over the bureaucrats got big laughs from me. Nevertheless I had to put the book down many times, sometimes in anger, sometimes in sheer disbelief, just because of what he's describing.

And let me say while I'm not a policeman, I'm not a newcomer to books by coppers. I've read David Copperfield and EE Bloggs' books and I recommend both. However, Gadget's is less of a day by day diary of life on the job and more a pretty comprehensive look at modern day policing.

Being of more senior rank, he goes into more detail about the problems Bloggs and Copperfield touch upon and he tackles a wider range of issues that the police face every day. Health and safety, home office targets, senior officers and their initiatives, magistrates, defence lawyers, the CPS, MISPERS, drunken hooligans, timewasters, diversity and social workers. I think my jaw fell the furthest on that last topic, although a close second would be the chapter where Gadget lists every last piece of paperwork that needs to be filled in to process a teenage boy who's broken a shop window.

Like I say, this is an important book. As Gadget says, it is utterly insane what our police have to spend their shifts doing. Slogging through pointless paperwork, pursuing trivial offences to reach arbitrary "detection" targets, risking life and health arresting and re-arresting the same vicious thugs our court system isn't prepared to put away.

Maybe this book will help change that. I'm going to be sending my finished copy to my MP and I suggest others do the same. Even if that doesn't work, at least the ordinary people who read it will come away less likely to blame the police for the crazy system they're doing their best to work within.

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime!", 25 Sep 2008
You may remember that statement, made back in 1997 by some grinning goon whose name escapes me.
Anyway, here we are eleven years later and Inspector Gadget, a frontline uniformed Police Inspector, tells us EXACTLY where a decade of Nu-Labour spin and soundbites have brought us to.
This book details the working life of a dedicated, conscientious Policeman. One of the ones we, the public, never seem to see patrolling the streets anymore (Gadget will tell you why this is.)
The Inspector's points are brilliantly written, matter-of-factly delivered and slam home like bullets. What could so easily have become a sub-Littlejohn rant is a thoroughly compelling (and, sadly, depressing) insight into the way the thin blue line has become entangled in paperwork, targets and political correctness.
As more and more of us become totally disillusioned with politicians on all sides of the spectrum, it's easy to see how any Party taking Gadget's words to heart and actually ACTING on them could walk straight into Number Ten courtesy of a landslide delivered a grateful public who are, like the good Inspector himself, so sick and tired of our Police Commissioners acting as glorified social workers, forever chasing Home Office targets instead of the underclass criminal vermin that infest our towns and cities.
This country has a Police Service. It desperately NEEDS a Police Force.
Read this book now.
Then buy another copy and send it to Jacqui Smith...

Scarily brilliant....., 22 Sep 2008
This book is brilliant, and should be read by everyone who believes the police are rubbish.
I did, and still do to some extent, but am heartened to know that there is at least one Inspector out there who is doing his best to change my mind.
Gadget has obviously been in the force for some time, so is able to compare today's PC shenanigans with what should be done. The scary thing is that his like are being replaced by fast-tracked twerps who haven't got a clue.

The whole truth, and nothing but the truth...., 21 Sep 2008
I want to keep this review brief...

This book is without doubt an awesome read.

It tells the truth in so much detail that it is almost painful for those that work in the industry. It shows just how bad the UK's public services have become after 10 years of a certain 'political party'.

I read in other reviews that people are recommending this book for senior officers. I fully agree, however just like every other bit of bad feedback, they will ignore it, and get back to their 6 figure salaried job of protecting criminals and disciplining police officers.

reissued,repackaged and required Reading, 01 Sep 2008
How do you fill the void left after watching the final episode of one of the greatest tv shows of all time ? Go back to the source and that's what this is without this book there is no The Wire. It's a remarkable book and one that hasn't really dated unlike the TV series of the same name.
The premise is well described David Simon writes about a year in the life of the homicide department of Baltimore what suprised me was that it isn't written for the journalist point of view so instead we get informed what the detectives are thinking. It's hard to explain that for the veteran detectives we see that there is no personal crusade to solve the crimes it's a job and not a highly paid one so if it's not the money what compels these individuals to keep going especially when faced by some pretty daming statistics pointed out by Simon when it comes to actually securing convictions.
The less experienced detectives find it harder to be detached especially in the case of a murder of a young school girl that takes up a large amount of the book here the principal detective is haunted not so much by the crime but frustration to crack the case.

The politics, the court system , the lack of resource are all explored but without Simon preaching an opinion it shows just how much content is here when a scene from the wire season 5! Not an early season is in the book that to me showed just how much content there is that after 40 hours of tv there is still a gem to be pulled from the book
A powerful subject and probably as close as anyone is going to understand what freeman, bunk and mcnaulty would describe as true police
A must read for lovers of The Wire

Gritty and Realistic, 07 Jul 2008
A true "no over the top" crime book told with honesty and well worth a read.

Definately worth the time, 29 Feb 2008
I stumbled upon this book about 4 years ago whilst i was watching the tv series the wire. I didnt read it straight away but luckily i came down with flu and was bedridden for a week and thankfully because of that I read what I consider to be the best ever true crime literature ever written. This is a truly outstanding book and I couldnt recommend it highly enough, i just wish there were more books as engrossing, thought provoking and epic as this masterpeice

Wired Up, 31 Aug 2007
Led to this novel following my infatuation with David Simon's HBO television series - The Wire. Would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the television series. Has the same feeling of authenticity (I can't really tell - thankfully) as The Wire, the banter between the detectives is hilarious and the writing is at times Chandleresque. Given the nature of the job that they do and the way that Simon was embedded, he came to admire the homicide squad maybe too uncritically but - I have been wrong plenty of times before. If you liked The Wire.....

fascinating, 12 Sep 2005
I found the beginning a bit slow - there are a lot of characters to be described - but once he starts to introduce the homicides and describes in detail the techniques used at the crime scene, in the interview room, in court etc I was fascinated. It was a real eye-opener. David Simon's writing style is great - drama, a lot of humour, facts, tragedy - this book has got a little bit of everything.

I would love to read more by the same author.

I absolutely disagree, 07 Oct 2008
This is the worst book I've read for a long time. "Pacey" is not the word - in fact I have trouble staying awake. The Author frequently digresses from the main plot (which, all told would take up less than a quarter of the book) to examine in detail things like excerpts from 3 different newspaper articles saying more or less the same thing, quotes from Sigmund Freud, Whichers' previous cases (which although interesting rarely add anything to the progression of the story), and anything else which could possibly hinder the sloppy storytelling.

Then we have the fact that the story teller sees fit to remind us at every opportunity of previous stated clues - something she doubtless decided the story needed with all the frequent asides. The book honestly reads like an academic work like a thesis rather than the story it claims.

Well researched? Yes. Well written? Action packed? Pacey? Indeed not. I would avoid this book, and I feel slightly angry that I was tricked by the back cover into thinking it was something it wasn't, and buying it.

The Emperor's New Clothes, 06 Oct 2008
I have to say that this book, although much touted, is not the wonder the reviewers in the UK media have made it out to be. Most of them know nothing about true crime and they have seized on this book as though it were the Holy Grail. It's dull and plodding, and suggestive of segments that I have read elsewhere. There are many books about the Constance Kent case ("Cruelly Murdered", "Saint - with Red Hands?" are two that instantly come to mind) which are a lot more informative than this book and as for Mr Whicher and Constance Kent , Dickens' letters to friends about this case is the best place for the media information of the time and a great novelist's take on the case - not this mind-numbing piece of self importance.

history of a murder, 03 Oct 2008
Simply brilliant book. The fascinating storylines, quality of research and the craftmanship with which they were woven together has made this one of the best books I've read this year. This book will please both popular history buffs and crime fiction afficnados. Will definately be on the lookout for Kate Summerscales next book.

Absolutely Brilliant, 21 Sep 2008
I wanted to buy this book when it first came out but I did not get the opportunity until recently.

It was such a good read and it is impossible put down once you start. Immense amount of research has gone into the book and therefore praise goes to the author. She has achieved a master piece.

The book was delightful to the last page. This has to be one of the best books I have ever read.

Victorian Scandal - murder in middle class family - read all about it!, 14 Sep 2008
It's 1860 when a three year old boy is murdered in a country house and only someone inside the house, be it family or servant, could have been the perpretrator. Enter one of the first real detectives - Mr Whicher, who is called in to investigate.

Victorian society was scandalised by this case firstly that this brutal murder should have happened in a 'respectable middle-class family, and secondly that the police were now allowed to intrude on every aspect of the family's life to solve the crime. Society may have been disgusted, but echoing today's tabloid frenzys, they lapped up everything about the murder in the press, which followed the case in great detail.

Poor Mr Whicher though, is confounded by the family and the local police who won't give anything away - although he knows whodunnit. His failure to prove it gets him roasted by the press and hinders the fledgling detective department. In years to come, events are to take interesting turns, which keeps the case in the public eye, (at least until Jack the Ripper comes on the scene), and someone is jailed for the murder.

The author presents a meticulously researched and readable analysis of the case, which is compared and contrasted with the new genre of detective fiction - DIckens' 'Bleak House' and Collins' 'The Moonstone' were influenced by this particular case. What is fascinating, are the skeletons in their closets, the supposed madness in the family, and what happened next to them all.


The Book Should be Compulsory Reading..., 26 Sep 2008
I have never picked up a book written about the police force or written by a policeman. Not a subject I was particularly interested in, till I came across `Perverting the Course of Justice'.
I couldn't put it down. It is the most interesting - and disturbing - book I have ever read. If what IG (Inspector Gadget), says is true - and I have no reason to doubt his words - then the UK's criminal classes have never had it so good. There are guidelines and laws the police have to follow which are dreamt up by government officials and agreed by the powers that be, that are ridiculous. I can't think of a better word to use? There are targets - government targets/figures - to meet which means that one crime is worth more than one which might not be easy to solve.
So while the elderly couple are at home and being burgled, the police are not able to rush round as, if there are any free to attend (an unlikely situation on a weekend after dark), the few on duty will be breaking up fights in and around pubs or night clubs. If they arrest one of these yobs, it's back to the police station to book him/her in and at least four hours worth of paperwork which needs to be done in triplicate! No copying or pasting... Anything wrong and they would have to start again.
So it appears that more targets are met by breaking up a street disturbance than attending a house that's been burgled, where the culprit will have legged it. To reach the government targets and make the figures look good, crimes have to be solved. Arrest a drunken yob fighting another drunken yob, two for the price of one... Looks good on paper... Job done! The police don't have the man power to handle everything.
However... There is another hurdle to cross. Once back at the station they have to do the paperwork which is then sent to the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service), for their approval. There can be quite a lot of this paperwork sent backwards and forwards before a decision is finally made as to whether the yob is put before a Magistrate. It could be the yob's 150th offence... but that doesn't mean he's going to be punished this time. More often than not, he's sent home to continue his drinking the next time he 'acquires' a little money. And the cycle starts over again.
You need to read the book... I find it practically unbelievable that these trouble makers - thieves, drug addicts, drunken louts - are back on our streets the day after being arrested. I used to wonder why the police didn't take them off the streets? Surely they must know who some of them are? Yes... They do. They know them all, but the CPS either block the case from going to court (mistake in the paperwork or not likely to get a result). It can take months and months for decisions to be made on charging, with suspects out on bail all the time. Then the Magistrate gives out such ridiculous sentences like fines - seldom paid - community service - seldom done - and slaps the person on the wrists and sends them home. Even if told that it will be prison if they break the law again... Most law-breakers know this isn't likely to happen.
IG writes with a lot of humour. This is a good book and should be compulsory reading for every MP and anyone involved in shaping our criminal laws... like Judges and Magistrates, who are often so far removed from what actually goes on in our streets. And I include the Big Wigs who sit in offices in Police Headquarters.
Review by Jane Ellen (Auntie Jane - An OAP who is an MOP).

Shocking and important, 26 Sep 2008
There are a lot of good books out now explaining the sorry state of our nation, mostly written by people on the front lines like police, teachers, soldiers and medical personnel. However there are two books that should be read by every citizen of voting age and they are Squandered by David Craig and this book. Craig's book looks at government waste; Inspector Gadget shows what has happened to policing and justice in Britain thanks to years of insane mismanagement.

First and most importantly, this is not a rant but a very readable and entertaining book. Inspector Gadget is a good writer, he has a nice, dry sense of humour and some of his descriptions of his "customers" and his little victories over the bureaucrats got big laughs from me. Nevertheless I had to put the book down many times, sometimes in anger, sometimes in sheer disbelief, just because of what he's describing.

And let me say while I'm not a policeman, I'm not a newcomer to books by coppers. I've read David Copperfield and EE Bloggs' books and I recommend both. However, Gadget's is less of a day by day diary of life on the job and more a pretty comprehensive look at modern day policing.

Being of more senior rank, he goes into more detail about the problems Bloggs and Copperfield touch upon and he tackles a wider range of issues that the police face every day. Health and safety, home office targets, senior officers and their initiatives, magistrates, defence lawyers, the CPS, MISPERS, drunken hooligans, timewasters, diversity and social workers. I think my jaw fell the furthest on that last topic, although a close second would be the chapter where Gadget lists every last piece of paperwork that needs to be filled in to process a teenage boy who's broken a shop window.

Like I say, this is an important book. As Gadget says, it is utterly insane what our police have to spend their shifts doing. Slogging through pointless paperwork, pursuing trivial offences to reach arbitrary "detection" targets, risking life and health arresting and re-arresting the same vicious thugs our court system isn't prepared to put away.

Maybe this book will help change that. I'm going to be sending my finished copy to my MP and I suggest others do the same. Even if that doesn't work, at least the ordinary people who read it will come away less likely to blame the police for the crazy system they're doing their best to work within.

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime!", 25 Sep 2008
You may remember that statement, made back in 1997 by some grinning goon whose name escapes me.
Anyway, here we are eleven years later and Inspector Gadget, a frontline uniformed Police Inspector, tells us EXACTLY where a decade of Nu-Labour spin and soundbites have brought us to.
This book details the working life of a dedicated, conscientious Policeman. One of the ones we, the public, never seem to see patrolling the streets anymore (Gadget will tell you why this is.)
The Inspector's points are brilliantly written, matter-of-factly delivered and slam home like bullets. What could so easily have become a sub-Littlejohn rant is a thoroughly compelling (and, sadly, depressing) insight into the way the thin blue line has become entangled in paperwork, targets and political correctness.
As more and more of us become totally disillusioned with politicians on all sides of the spectrum, it's easy to see how any Party taking Gadget's words to heart and actually ACTING on them could walk straight into Number Ten courtesy of a landslide delivered a grateful public who are, like the good Inspector himself, so sick and tired of our Police Commissioners acting as glorified social workers, forever chasing Home Office targets instead of the underclass criminal vermin that infest our towns and cities.
This country has a Police Service. It desperately NEEDS a Police Force.
Read this book now.
Then buy another copy and send it to Jacqui Smith...

Scarily brilliant....., 22 Sep 2008
This book is brilliant, and should be read by everyone who believes the police are rubbish.
I did, and still do to some extent, but am heartened to know that there is at least one Inspector out there who is doing his best to change my mind.
Gadget has obviously been in the force for some time, so is able to compare today's PC shenanigans with what should be done. The scary thing is that his like are being replaced by fast-tracked twerps who haven't got a clue.

The whole truth, and nothing but the truth...., 21 Sep 2008
I want to keep this review brief...

This book is without doubt an awesome read.

It tells the truth in so much detail that it is almost painful for those that work in the industry. It shows just how bad the UK's public services have become after 10 years of a certain 'political party'.

I read in other reviews that people are recommending this book for senior officers. I fully agree, however just like every other bit of bad feedback, they will ignore it, and get back to their 6 figure salaried job of protecting criminals and disciplining police officers.


Gripping, 28 Sep 2008
This is a great book, so much more information than the series on sky1. opens your eyes to things you'd never normally see...now reading gangs2.

Fantastic!, 17 Sep 2008
If you have watched the series on Sky1 then you will know what this book is about!!
Its fantastic...Ross travels around the world meeting dangerous gangsters and gives a unique insight into their lives. Would highly reccomend! Can't wait for the next book!!

Not Quite What It Sets Out To Be, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.

Terrifying, 26 Aug 2008
This is a must read book. Very easy to read; very difficult to put down. A terrifying account of a disaffected youth (around the world) with no families, no morals, no futures and no hope. The author deals with the issues with sensitivity and fairness. You begin to understand why young people (some of them of obviously high intelligence) have become affiliated to gangs. Read this book and ask, "what the hell has gone wrong with civilised society?". A superb,thought provoking book.

reissued,repackaged and required Reading, 01 Sep 2008
How do you fill the void left after watching the final episode of one of the greatest tv shows of all time ? Go back to the source and that's what this is without this book there is no The Wire. It's a remarkable book and one that hasn't really dated unlike the TV series of the same name.
The premise is well described David Simon writes about a year in the life of the homicide department of Baltimore what suprised me was that it isn't written for the journalist point of view so instead we get informed what the detectives are thinking. It's hard to explain that for the veteran detectives we see that there is no personal crusade to solve the crimes it's a job and not a highly paid one so if it's not the money what compels these individuals to keep going especially when faced by some pretty daming statistics pointed out by Simon when it comes to actually securing convictions.
The less experienced detectives find it harder to be detached especially in the case of a murder of a young school girl that takes up a large amount of the book here the principal detective is haunted not so much by the crime but frustration to crack the case.

The politics, the court system , the lack of resource are all explored but without Simon preaching an opinion it shows just how much content is here when a scene from the wire season 5! Not an early season is in the book that to me showed just how much content there is that after 40 hours of tv there is still a gem to be pulled from the book
A powerful subject and probably as close as anyone is going to understand what freeman, bunk and mcnaulty would describe as true police
A must read for lovers of The Wire

Gritty and Realistic, 07 Jul 2008
A true "no over the top" crime book told with honesty and well worth a read.

Definately worth the time, 29 Feb 2008
I stumbled upon this book about 4 years ago whilst i was watching the tv series the wire. I didnt read it straight away but luckily i came down with flu and was bedridden for a week and thankfully because of that I read what I consider to be the best ever true crime literature ever written. This is a truly outstanding book and I couldnt recommend it highly enough, i just wish there were more books as engrossing, thought provoking and epic as this masterpeice

Wired Up, 31 Aug 2007
Led to this novel following my infatuation with David Simon's HBO television series - The Wire. Would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the television series. Has the same feeling of authenticity (I can't really tell - thankfully) as The Wire, the banter between the detectives is hilarious and the writing is at times Chandleresque. Given the nature of the job that they do and the way that Simon was embedded, he came to admire the homicide squad maybe too uncritically but - I have been wrong plenty of times before. If you liked The Wire.....

fascinating, 12 Sep 2005
I found the beginning a bit slow - there are a lot of characters to be described - but once he starts to introduce the homicides and describes in detail the techniques used at the crime scene, in the interview room, in court etc I was fascinated. It was a real eye-opener. David Simon's writing style is great - drama, a lot of humour, facts, tragedy - this book has got a little bit of everything.

I would love to read more by the same author.

I absolutely disagree, 07 Oct 2008
This is the worst book I've read for a long time. "Pacey" is not the word - in fact I have trouble staying awake. The Author frequently digresses from the main plot (which, all told would take up less than a quarter of the book) to examine in detail things like excerpts from 3 different newspaper articles saying more or less the same thing, quotes from Sigmund Freud, Whichers' previous cases (which although interesting rarely add anything to the progression of the story), and anything else which could possibly hinder the sloppy storytelling.

Then we have the fact that the story teller sees fit to remind us at every opportunity of previous stated clues - something she doubtless decided the story needed with all the frequent asides. The book honestly reads like an academic work like a thesis rather than the story it claims.

Well researched? Yes. Well written? Action packed? Pacey? Indeed not. I would avoid this book, and I feel slightly angry that I was tricked by the back cover into thinking it was something it wasn't, and buying it.

The Emperor's New Clothes, 06 Oct 2008
I have to say that this book, although much touted, is not the wonder the reviewers in the UK media have made it out to be. Most of them know nothing about true crime and they have seized on this book as though it were the Holy Grail. It's dull and plodding, and suggestive of segments that I have read elsewhere. There are many books about the Constance Kent case ("Cruelly Murdered", "Saint - with Red Hands?" are two that instantly come to mind) which are a lot more informative than this book and as for Mr Whicher and Constance Kent , Dickens' letters to friends about this case is the best place for the media information of the time and a great novelist's take on the case - not this mind-numbing piece of self importance.

history of a murder, 03 Oct 2008
Simply brilliant book. The fascinating storylines, quality of research and the craftmanship with which they were woven together has made this one of the best books I've read this year. This book will please both popular history buffs and crime fiction afficnados. Will definately be on the lookout for Kate Summerscales next book.

Absolutely Brilliant, 21 Sep 2008
I wanted to buy this book when it first came out but I did not get the opportunity until recently.

It was such a good read and it is impossible put down once you start. Immense amount of research has gone into the book and therefore praise goes to the author. She has achieved a master piece.

The book was delightful to the last page. This has to be one of the best books I have ever read.

Victorian Scandal - murder in middle class family - read all about it!, 14 Sep 2008
It's 1860 when a three year old boy is murdered in a country house and only someone inside the house, be it family or servant, could have been the perpretrator. Enter one of the first real detectives - Mr Whicher, who is called in to investigate.

Victorian society was scandalised by this case firstly that this brutal murder should have happened in a 'respectable middle-class family, and secondly that the police were now allowed to intrude on every aspect of the family's life to solve the crime. Society may have been disgusted, but echoing today's tabloid frenzys, they lapped up everything about the murder in the press, which followed the case in great detail.

Poor Mr Whicher though, is confounded by the family and the local police who won't give anything away - although he knows whodunnit. His failure to prove it gets him roasted by the press and hinders the fledgling detective department. In years to come, events are to take interesting turns, which keeps the case in the public eye, (at least until Jack the Ripper comes on the scene), and someone is jailed for the murder.

The author presents a meticulously researched and readable analysis of the case, which is compared and contrasted with the new genre of detective fiction - DIckens' 'Bleak House' and Collins' 'The Moonstone' were influenced by this particular case. What is fascinating, are the skeletons in their closets, the supposed madness in the family, and what happened next to them all.


The Book Should be Compulsory Reading..., 26 Sep 2008
I have never picked up a book written about the police force or written by a policeman. Not a subject I was particularly interested in, till I came across `Perverting the Course of Justice'.
I couldn't put it down. It is the most interesting - and disturbing - book I have ever read. If what IG (Inspector Gadget), says is true - and I have no reason to doubt his words - then the UK's criminal classes have never had it so good. There are guidelines and laws the police have to follow which are dreamt up by government officials and agreed by the powers that be, that are ridiculous. I can't think of a better word to use? There are targets - government targets/figures - to meet which means that one crime is worth more than one which might not be easy to solve.
So while the elderly couple are at home and being burgled, the police are not able to rush round as, if there are any free to attend (an unlikely situation on a weekend after dark), the few on duty will be breaking up fights in and around pubs or night clubs. If they arrest one of these yobs, it's back to the police station to book him/her in and at least four hours worth of paperwork which needs to be done in triplicate! No copying or pasting... Anything wrong and they would have to start again.
So it appears that more targets are met by breaking up a street disturbance than attending a house that's been burgled, where the culprit will have legged it. To reach the government targets and make the figures look good, crimes have to be solved. Arrest a drunken yob fighting another drunken yob, two for the price of one... Looks good on paper... Job done! The police don't have the man power to handle everything.
However... There is another hurdle to cross. Once back at the station they have to do the paperwork which is then sent to the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service), for their approval. There can be quite a lot of this paperwork sent backwards and forwards before a decision is finally made as to whether the yob is put before a Magistrate. It could be the yob's 150th offence... but that doesn't mean he's going to be punished this time. More often than not, he's sent home to continue his drinking the next time he 'acquires' a little money. And the cycle starts over again.
You need to read the book... I find it practically unbelievable that these trouble makers - thieves, drug addicts, drunken louts - are back on our streets the day after being arrested. I used to wonder why the police didn't take them off the streets? Surely they must know who some of them are? Yes... They do. They know them all, but the CPS either block the case from going to court (mistake in the paperwork or not likely to get a result). It can take months and months for decisions to be made on charging, with suspects out on bail all the time. Then the Magistrate gives out such ridiculous sentences like fines - seldom paid - community service - seldom done - and slaps the person on the wrists and sends them home. Even if told that it will be prison if they break the law again... Most law-breakers know this isn't likely to happen.
IG writes with a lot of humour. This is a good book and should be compulsory reading for every MP and anyone involved in shaping our criminal laws... like Judges and Magistrates, who are often so far removed from what actually goes on in our streets. And I include the Big Wigs who sit in offices in Police Headquarters.
Review by Jane Ellen (Auntie Jane - An OAP who is an MOP).

Shocking and important, 26 Sep 2008
There are a lot of good books out now explaining the sorry state of our nation, mostly written by people on the front lines like police, teachers, soldiers and medical personnel. However there are two books that should be read by every citizen of voting age and they are Squandered by David Craig and this book. Craig's book looks at government waste; Inspector Gadget shows what has happened to policing and justice in Britain thanks to years of insane mismanagement.

First and most importantly, this is not a rant but a very readable and entertaining book. Inspector Gadget is a good writer, he has a nice, dry sense of humour and some of his descriptions of his "customers" and his little victories over the bureaucrats got big laughs from me. Nevertheless I had to put the book down many times, sometimes in anger, sometimes in sheer disbelief, just because of what he's describing.

And let me say while I'm not a policeman, I'm not a newcomer to books by coppers. I've read David Copperfield and EE Bloggs' books and I recommend both. However, Gadget's is less of a day by day diary of life on the job and more a pretty comprehensive look at modern day policing.

Being of more senior rank, he goes into more detail about the problems Bloggs and Copperfield touch upon and he tackles a wider range of issues that the police face every day. Health and safety, home office targets, senior officers and their initiatives, magistrates, defence lawyers, the CPS, MISPERS, drunken hooligans, timewasters, diversity and social workers. I think my jaw fell the furthest on that last topic, although a close second would be the chapter where Gadget lists every last piece of paperwork that needs to be filled in to process a teenage boy who's broken a shop window.

Like I say, this is an important book. As Gadget says, it is utterly insane what our police have to spend their shifts doing. Slogging through pointless paperwork, pursuing trivial offences to reach arbitrary "detection" targets, risking life and health arresting and re-arresting the same vicious thugs our court system isn't prepared to put away.

Maybe this book will help change that. I'm going to be sending my finished copy to my MP and I suggest others do the same. Even if that doesn't work, at least the ordinary people who read it will come away less likely to blame the police for the crazy system they're doing their best to work within.

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime!", 25 Sep 2008
You may remember that statement, made back in 1997 by some grinning goon whose name escapes me.
Anyway, here we are eleven years later and Inspector Gadget, a frontline uniformed Police Inspector, tells us EXACTLY where a decade of Nu-Labour spin and soundbites have brought us to.
This book details the working life of a dedicated, conscientious Policeman. One of the ones we, the public, never seem to see patrolling the streets anymore (Gadget will tell you why this is.)
The Inspector's points are brilliantly written, matter-of-factly delivered and slam home like bullets. What could so easily have become a sub-Littlejohn rant is a thoroughly compelling (and, sadly, depressing) insight into the way the thin blue line has become entangled in paperwork, targets and political correctness.
As more and more of us become totally disillusioned with politicians on all sides of the spectrum, it's easy to see how any Party taking Gadget's words to heart and actually ACTING on them could walk straight into Number Ten courtesy of a landslide delivered a grateful public who are, like the good Inspector himself, so sick and tired of our Police Commissioners acting as glorified social workers, forever chasing Home Office targets instead of the underclass criminal vermin that infest our towns and cities.
This country has a Police Service. It desperately NEEDS a Police Force.
Read this book now.
Then buy another copy and send it to Jacqui Smith...

Scarily brilliant....., 22 Sep 2008
This book is brilliant, and should be read by everyone who believes the police are rubbish.
I did, and still do to some extent, but am heartened to know that there is at least one Inspector out there who is doing his best to change my mind.
Gadget has obviously been in the force for some time, so is able to compare today's PC shenanigans with what should be done. The scary thing is that his like are being replaced by fast-tracked twerps who haven't got a clue.

The whole truth, and nothing but the truth...., 21 Sep 2008
I want to keep this review brief...

This book is without doubt an awesome read.

It tells the truth in so much detail that it is almost painful for those that work in the industry. It shows just how bad the UK's public services have become after 10 years of a certain 'political party'.

I read in other reviews that people are recommending this book for senior officers. I fully agree, however just like every other bit of bad feedback, they will ignore it, and get back to their 6 figure salaried job of protecting criminals and disciplining police officers.


Gripping, 28 Sep 2008
This is a great book, so much more information than the series on sky1. opens your eyes to things you'd never normally see...now reading gangs2.

Fantastic!, 17 Sep 2008
If you have watched the series on Sky1 then you will know what this book is about!!
Its fantastic...Ross travels around the world meeting dangerous gangsters and gives a unique insight into their lives. Would highly reccomend! Can't wait for the next book!!

Not Quite What It Sets Out To Be, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.

Terrifying, 26 Aug 2008
This is a must read book. Very easy to read; very difficult to put down. A terrifying account of a disaffected youth (around the world) with no families, no morals, no futures and no hope. The author deals with the issues with sensitivity and fairness. You begin to understand why young people (some of them of obviously high intelligence) have become affiliated to gangs. Read this book and ask, "what the hell has gone wrong with civilised society?". A superb,thought provoking book.

Four shotgun blasts that changed a town forever!, 05 Oct 2008
Recently re-read this disturbing factional story of unspeakable horror after some thirty odd years, re-visiting the pain of Holcomb, the scene of the tragic, senseless snuffing out of the Clutters. Contoversial on its publication due to its blending of fact and fiction, a hybrid composite that had not been done before, Capote's "In Cold Blood" reconstucts, in all their brutal detail, the 1959 grisly, cold-blooded murder of the Clutter family on their farm in the plains of western
Kansas when four shotgun blasts changed the town of Holcomb forever.

Capote's meticulous reconstruction covers the lead-up to the gruesome murders and the aftermath. In the lead-up, Capote builds suspense and tension by cross-cutting lntermittently between descriptions of the routine domestic life of the Clutters in their small farming community near Holcomb and the unstable lives of drifters Smith and Hickock what's chilling is their humaness in the picture Capote draws - as they drift cross-country to Holcomb. The aftermath comprehensively covers the search for and apprehension of the killers and their subsequent trial and incarceration on death row. WARNING - the amoral Perry Smith may make your blood run cold!

Capote's case-study is concerned not just with the who of the crime but the why, probing into every facet of the lives of the killers, the background influences that shaped them, taking us into their minds to give us the opportunity to get to know them, exploring the psyche of the criminal mind, to discover the psychological motivation that can turn men into monsters. Aforerunner of classic true-crime titles sush as "Fatal Vision" by Joe McGinnis and "Daddy's Girl" by Clifford Irvine, "In Cold Blood" is itself, an American classic.

Masterpiece of crime writing, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book over several weeks yet every time I picked it up I was able to get straight back into the story. I think this is slightly due to the style of writing giving out accurate information in a chronological order similar to a long running news story.

Capote's writing is always brilliant whatever he writes about. There is no word wasted here, no over the top descriptions just a very gripping true story told from every angle. He doesnt judge anyone involved but gives enough detail to make you sympathise 'almost' with the killers.

Before reading this book the only story I knew of Kansas was the Wizard of OZ which also evokes the huge plains where farming is the main source of income, windy and lonesome with god fearing, hard working farming folk making a living. Then one night this terrible crime takes place. Capote relives each and every minute of the crime, the getaway, eventual capture and the court hearing and outcome. A great book in every way.

Crime, punishment, and more, 15 Jul 2008
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote was published in 1966, and is based on events that happened almost fifty years ago. The events were real. This is not a work of fiction. The Clutters, an appropriately surnamed Kansas family, have their own complications within their rambling homestead. What family doesn't? Clutter the father is a farmer. Who isn't in these parts? Life is not so productive of late. Whose is? The two younger children, a daughter and a son, still live in. The others have left, happily.

And then, in November 1959, the four Clutters are found gagged, apart from the mother, all with their throats cut and their brains blown out by shotgun fire. The community is in turmoil. No-one can explain why anyone might have wanted to kill a whole family in Holcomb, a small, poor, rural community in the mid-West Bible belt.

Hickock (Hicock) and Smith are two lads on the move. Their families might be dysfunctional. On the other hand they might not. Their socialisation might have been lacking. On the other hand it might not. For whatever reason, individually and collectively they prey on others, prey in a way that renders them culpable, detectable and ultimately punishable. They know thieving is wrong. So, one of them says, we've stolen lives, so it must be serious. It was the two of them that pulled the trigger, that blew brains out, that slit throats, that did not quite commit rape. There are limits. And all for forty dollars and a transistor radio.

I give nothing of this book away when I reveal that the two lads did commit the murders - exactly how no-one ever admitted - and that, after years of litigious wrangling, both were hanged. The strength of In Cold Blood is not what happens, but how it happens.

Truman Capote offers us a vast book in just four sustained chapters, each of which is sub-divided as the narrative shifts between aspects of the different protagonists' lives. Throughout, the style is much more complex than mere journalism, but the clarity with which it communicates is at times breathtaking. We hear from those directly involved, both victims and perpetrators, their families, the police, the judiciary, the neighbours, the lawyers, the passers-by, the acquaintances, the cellmates. The detail is forensic.

It is essential that the reader is constantly reminded that this is not fiction. Truman Capote offers dialogue where a journalist would report, offers interpretation where an historian would defer, offer opinion where an observer might decline. And so In Cold Blood becomes and absorbing, multi-faceted, mid-twentieth century reworking of Crime And Punishment. The crucial difference that the intervening years have generated is that where the latter concentrated on the individual circumstances and motives of the perpetrator, In Cold Blood explores the social and the contextual alongside the psychological.

And this is where the book becomes deeply disturbing, because it seems to suggest that the individuality that contemporary society seems to demand of us might itself promote a degree of self-centredness, of selfishness, perhaps, that might give rise to nothing less than contempt for others. In the forty years since the publication of In Cold Blood, it could be argued that such pressures might have increased. Frightening, indeed.


A Truly Great Book, 07 Jan 2008
This is one of the finest books I have ever read. It is gripping and vivid from start to finish and evokes fascination and emotion. It is also cleverly worked in the structural sense in that a picture of the killers, the murdered family, the police and the community is painted through quotations from actual people who were there at the time.

Capote is also a very gifted writer and his penmanship adds great poignancy and heart to the gruesome story.

Terrifyingly Magnificent., 08 Sep 2007
'In Cold Blood' is one of the best books of all time. It should be required reading in all beginning college lit courses, if not in high school. I first read 'In Cold Blood' in high school (in the 80s), and I read it in one sitting- straight through the night- just because I couldn't put it down. I have recently purchased this newer edition, because this book is worth reading again.

To begin with, Truman Capote, for all his notoriety, was an incredible writer, and this book is one of his finest. The gritty and depressing existence of Dick and Perry that leads up to one terrifying night in Kansas is so vividly represented, you feel all the more frightened as you are reading it, because it seems you have become witness to the absolute terror and brutality perpetrated on an innocent family by these two men. Truman Capote not only presents in graphic detail the terror of this night, but he also reveals the personalities of Dick and Perry in such a way that, even though they are despicable human beings, you may feel a twinge of sorrow for them. The birth of each man's anger, and the inability of either one of them to integrate into society, was formed in childhoods of abuse. It truly is amazing how Capote got inside the heads of these pathetic men, capturing the pervasive sadness and despair, bizarrely coupled with hope for a "normal" future. The relationship of Dick and Perry is almost a symbiotic one. Separately, they may not have done what they did, but together, they are lethal. The gullibility of a person, who never felt like he belonged, combined with another person who thinks he needs to exact revenge on society- it's a sick combination of pack mentality and ignorance. Eventually, all of this culminates into a night of terror in Kansas wrought by these two men. The portrayal is so graphic in nature; no one could read it without being rendered silently stunned by the terror of it all. The sadness felt for this totally unsuspecting and wholly innocent family is overwhelming. Certainly there have been similar crimes, but the representation of it by Capote, and the intrinsic knowledge of these two men, makes you feel you had a front row view of the whole thing.

`In Cold Blood' is less about the particulars of that awful crime one terrifying night in Kansas; it is more about the insidiousness of what childhood abuse and feeling disenfranchised can do to a person. It would be easy to focus on the terror and sadness of this massacre, but the brilliance of Capote is that the focus is placed on the murderers and trying to engender compassion from the reader for them. With Capote's vision in writing, he almost gets us there. After the capture and imprisonment of these two men, you can physically feel the fear in their hearts for their own condemnation. Perry's fear of execution is especially haunting. This book is a must read for anyone who likes to read and makes no difference that it was written 40 years ago. It transcends all genres, because even though the story is terrifying, the writing is phenomenal, and you will NEVER forget it.

reissued,repackaged and required Reading, 01 Sep 2008
How do you fill the void left after watching the final episode of one of the greatest tv shows of all time ? Go back to the source and that's what this is without this book there is no The Wire. It's a remarkable book and one that hasn't really dated unlike the TV series of the same name.
The premise is well described David Simon writes about a year in the life of the homicide department of Baltimore what suprised me was that it isn't written for the journalist point of view so instead we get informed what the detectives are thinking. It's hard to explain that for the veteran detectives we see that there is no personal crusade to solve the crimes it's a job and not a highly paid one so if it's not the money what compels these individuals to keep going especially when faced by some pretty daming statistics pointed out by Simon when it comes to actually securing convictions.
The less experienced detectives find it harder to be detached especially in the case of a murder of a young school girl that takes up a large amount of the book here the principal detective is haunted not so much by the crime but frustration to crack the case.

The politics, the court system , the lack of resource are all explored but without Simon preaching an opinion it shows just how much content is here when a scene from the wire season 5! Not an early season is in the book that to me showed just how much content there is that after 40 hours of tv there is still a gem to be pulled from the book
A powerful subject and probably as close as anyone is going to understand what freeman, bunk and mcnaulty would describe as true police
A must read for lovers of The Wire

Gritty and Realistic, 07 Jul 2008
A true "no over the top" crime book told with honesty and well worth a read.

Definately worth the time, 29 Feb 2008
I stumbled upon this book about 4 years ago whilst i was watching the tv series the wire. I didnt read it straight away but luckily i came down with flu and was bedridden for a week and thankfully because of that I read what I consider to be the best ever true crime literature ever written. This is a truly outstanding book and I couldnt recommend it highly enough, i just wish there were more books as engrossing, thought provoking and epic as this masterpeice

Wired Up, 31 Aug 2007
Led to this novel following my infatuation with David Simon's HBO television series - The Wire. Would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the television series. Has the same feeling of authenticity (I can't really tell - thankfully) as The Wire, the banter between the detectives is hilarious and the writing is at times Chandleresque. Given the nature of the job that they do and the way that Simon was embedded, he came to admire the homicide squad maybe too uncritically but - I have been wrong plenty of times before. If you liked The Wire.....

fascinating, 12 Sep 2005
I found the beginning a bit slow - there are a lot of characters to be described - but once he starts to introduce the homicides and describes in detail the techniques used at the crime scene, in the interview room, in court etc I was fascinated. It was a real eye-opener. David Simon's writing style is great - drama, a lot of humour, facts, tragedy - this book has got a little bit of everything.

I would love to read more by the same author.

I absolutely disagree, 07 Oct 2008
This is the worst book I've read for a long time. "Pacey" is not the word - in fact I have trouble staying awake. The Author frequently digresses from the main plot (which, all told would take up less than a quarter of the book) to examine in detail things like excerpts from 3 different newspaper articles saying more or less the same thing, quotes from Sigmund Freud, Whichers' previous cases (which although interesting rarely add anything to the progression of the story), and anything else which could possibly hinder the sloppy storytelling.

Then we have the fact that the story teller sees fit to remind us at every opportunity of previous stated clues - something she doubtless decided the story needed with all the frequent asides. The book honestly reads like an academic work like a thesis rather than the story it claims.

Well researched? Yes. Well written? Action packed? Pacey? Indeed not. I would avoid this book, and I feel slightly angry that I was tricked by the back cover into thinking it was something it wasn't, and buying it.

The Emperor's New Clothes, 06 Oct 2008
I have to say that this book, although much touted, is not the wonder the reviewers in the UK media have made it out to be. Most of them know nothing about true crime and they have seized on this book as though it were the Holy Grail. It's dull and plodding, and suggestive of segments that I have read elsewhere. There are many books about the Constance Kent case ("Cruelly Murdered", "Saint - with Red Hands?" are two that instantly come to mind) which are a lot more informative than this book and as for Mr Whicher and Constance Kent , Dickens' letters to friends about this case is the best place for the media information of the time and a great novelist's take on the case - not this mind-numbing piece of self importance.

history of a murder, 03 Oct 2008
Simply brilliant book. The fascinating storylines, quality of research and the craftmanship with which they were woven together has made this one of the best books I've read this year. This book will please both popular history buffs and crime fiction afficnados. Will definately be on the lookout for Kate Summerscales next book.

Absolutely Brilliant, 21 Sep 2008
I wanted to buy this book when it first came out but I did not get the opportunity until recently.

It was such a good read and it is impossible put down once you start. Immense amount of research has gone into the book and therefore praise goes to the author. She has achieved a master piece.

The book was delightful to the last page. This has to be one of the best books I have ever read.

Victorian Scandal - murder in middle class family - read all about it!, 14 Sep 2008
It's 1860 when a three year old boy is murdered in a country house and only someone inside the house, be it family or servant, could have been the perpretrator. Enter one of the first real detectives - Mr Whicher, who is called in to investigate.

Victorian society was scandalised by this case firstly that this brutal murder should have happened in a 'respectable middle-class family, and secondly that the police were now allowed to intrude on every aspect of the family's life to solve the crime. Society may have been disgusted, but echoing today's tabloid frenzys, they lapped up everything about the murder in the press, which followed the case in great detail.

Poor Mr Whicher though, is confounded by the family and the local police who won't give anything away - although he knows whodunnit. His failure to prove it gets him roasted by the press and hinders the fledgling detective department. In years to come, events are to take interesting turns, which keeps the case in the public eye, (at least until Jack the Ripper comes on the scene), and someone is jailed for the murder.

The author presents a meticulously researched and readable analysis of the case, which is compared and contrasted with the new genre of detective fiction - DIckens' 'Bleak House' and Collins' 'The Moonstone' were influenced by this particular case. What is fascinating, are the skeletons in their closets, the supposed madness in the family, and what happened next to them all.


The Book Should be Compulsory Reading..., 26 Sep 2008
I have never picked up a book written about the police force or written by a policeman. Not a subject I was particularly interested in, till I came across `Perverting the Course of Justice'.
I couldn't put it down. It is the most interesting - and disturbing - book I have ever read. If what IG (Inspector Gadget), says is true - and I have no reason to doubt his words - then the UK's criminal classes have never had it so good. There are guidelines and laws the police have to follow which are dreamt up by government officials and agreed by the powers that be, that are ridiculous. I can't think of a better word to use? There are targets - government targets/figures - to meet which means that one crime is worth more than one which might not be easy to solve.
So while the elderly couple are at home and being burgled, the police are not able to rush round as, if there are any free to attend (an unlikely situation on a weekend after dark), the few on duty will be breaking up fights in and around pubs or night clubs. If they arrest one of these yobs, it's back to the police station to book him/her in and at least four hours worth of paperwork which needs to be done in triplicate! No copying or pasting... Anything wrong and they would have to start again.
So it appears that more targets are met by breaking up a street disturbance than attending a house that's been burgled, where the culprit will have legged it. To reach the government targets and make the figures look good, crimes have to be solved. Arrest a drunken yob fighting another drunken yob, two for the price of one... Looks good on paper... Job done! The police don't have the man power to handle everything.
However... There is another hurdle to cross. Once back at the station they have to do the paperwork which is then sent to the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service), for their approval. There can be quite a lot of this paperwork sent backwards and forwards before a decision is finally made as to whether the yob is put before a Magistrate. It could be the yob's 150th offence... but that doesn't mean he's going to be punished this time. More often than not, he's sent home to continue his drinking the next time he 'acquires' a little money. And the cycle starts over again.
You need to read the book... I find it practically unbelievable that these trouble makers - thieves, drug addicts, drunken louts - are back on our streets the day after being arrested. I used to wonder why the police didn't take them off the streets? Surely they must know who some of them are? Yes... They do. They know them all, but the CPS either block the case from going to court (mistake in the paperwork or not likely to get a result). It can take months and months for decisions to be made on charging, with suspects out on bail all the time. Then the Magistrate gives out such ridiculous sentences like fines - seldom paid - community service - seldom done - and slaps the person on the wrists and sends them home. Even if told that it will be prison if they break the law again... Most law-breakers know this isn't likely to happen.
IG writes with a lot of humour. This is a good book and should be compulsory reading for every MP and anyone involved in shaping our criminal laws... like Judges and Magistrates, who are often so far removed from what actually goes on in our streets. And I include the Big Wigs who sit in offices in Police Headquarters.
Review by Jane Ellen (Auntie Jane - An OAP who is an MOP).

Shocking and important, 26 Sep 2008
There are a lot of good books out now explaining the sorry state of our nation, mostly written by people on the front lines like police, teachers, soldiers and medical personnel. However there are two books that should be read by every citizen of voting age and they are Squandered by David Craig and this book. Craig's book looks at government waste; Inspector Gadget shows what has happened to policing and justice in Britain thanks to years of insane mismanagement.

First and most importantly, this is not a rant but a very readable and entertaining book. Inspector Gadget is a good writer, he has a nice, dry sense of humour and some of his descriptions of his "customers" and his little victories over the bureaucrats got big laughs from me. Nevertheless I had to put the book down many times, sometimes in anger, sometimes in sheer disbelief, just because of what he's describing.

And let me say while I'm not a policeman, I'm not a newcomer to books by coppers. I've read David Copperfield and EE Bloggs' books and I recommend both. However, Gadget's is less of a day by day diary of life on the job and more a pretty comprehensive look at modern day policing.

Being of more senior rank, he goes into more detail about the problems Bloggs and Copperfield touch upon and he tackles a wider range of issues that the police face every day. Health and safety, home office targets, senior officers and their initiatives, magistrates, defence lawyers, the CPS, MISPERS, drunken hooligans, timewasters, diversity and social workers. I think my jaw fell the furthest on that last topic, although a close second would be the chapter where Gadget lists every last piece of paperwork that needs to be filled in to process a teenage boy who's broken a shop window.

Like I say, this is an important book. As Gadget says, it is utterly insane what our police have to spend their shifts doing. Slogging through pointless paperwork, pursuing trivial offences to reach arbitrary "detection" targets, risking life and health arresting and re-arresting the same vicious thugs our court system isn't prepared to put away.

Maybe this book will help change that. I'm going to be sending my finished copy to my MP and I suggest others do the same. Even if that doesn't work, at least the ordinary people who read it will come away less likely to blame the police for the crazy system they're doing their best to work within.

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime!", 25 Sep 2008
You may remember that statement, made back in 1997 by some grinning goon whose name escapes me.
Anyway, here we are eleven years later and Inspector Gadget, a frontline uniformed Police Inspector, tells us EXACTLY where a decade of Nu-Labour spin and soundbites have brought us to.
This book details the working life of a dedicated, conscientious Policeman. One of the ones we, the public, never seem to see patrolling the streets anymore (Gadget will tell you why this is.)
The Inspector's points are brilliantly written, matter-of-factly delivered and slam home like bullets. What could so easily have become a sub-Littlejohn rant is a thoroughly compelling (and, sadly, depressing) insight into the way the thin blue line has become entangled in paperwork, targets and political correctness.
As more and more of us become totally disillusioned with politicians on all sides of the spectrum, it's easy to see how any Party taking Gadget's words to heart and actually ACTING on them could walk straight into Number Ten courtesy of a landslide delivered a grateful public who are, like the good Inspector himself, so sick and tired of our Police Commissioners acting as glorified social workers, forever chasing Home Office targets instead of the underclass criminal vermin that infest our towns and cities.
This country has a Police Service. It desperately NEEDS a Police Force.
Read this book now.
Then buy another copy and send it to Jacqui Smith...

Scarily brilliant....., 22 Sep 2008
This book is brilliant, and should be read by everyone who believes the police are rubbish.
I did, and still do to some extent, but am heartened to know that there is at least one Inspector out there who is doing his best to change my mind.
Gadget has obviously been in the force for some time, so is able to compare today's PC shenanigans with what should be done. The scary thing is that his like are being replaced by fast-tracked twerps who haven't got a clue.

The whole truth, and nothing but the truth...., 21 Sep 2008
I want to keep this review brief...

This book is without doubt an awesome read.

It tells the truth in so much detail that it is almost painful for those that work in the industry. It shows just how bad the UK's public services have become after 10 years of a certain 'political party'.

I read in other reviews that people are recommending this book for senior officers. I fully agree, however just like every other bit of bad feedback, they will ignore it, and get back to their 6 figure salaried job of protecting criminals and disciplining police officers.


Gripping, 28 Sep 2008
This is a great book, so much more information than the series on sky1. opens your eyes to things you'd never normally see...now reading gangs2.

Fantastic!, 17 Sep 2008
If you have watched the series on Sky1 then you will know what this book is about!!
Its fantastic...Ross travels around the world meeting dangerous gangsters and gives a unique insight into their lives. Would highly reccomend! Can't wait for the next book!!

Not Quite What It Sets Out To Be, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasio