A Cop's Life: True Stories from the Heart Behind the Badge (Hardcover)

~ Sgt. Randy Sutton (Author), Cassie Wells (Editor) "MY LIFE AS A COP BEGAN WITH A DEATH ON A MUDDY LOCKER room floor..." (more)
Key Phrases: Las Vegas, Doris Bentley, Johnny Rogerson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Veteran Las Vegas police sergeant Sutton, who edited the acclaimed True Blue, brilliantly evokes the tormented inner life of the average cop with 20 short but powerful autobiographical sketches. With a novelist's skill, Sutton makes fresh situations that could, in lesser hands, come across as hoary clichés. The broken lives Sutton encounters—the suicides, gangbangers, the mentally ill, the burnt-out officers tempted to eat their guns and the innocents in the wrong place at the wrong time—come vividly to life. The memorable figures include a boy who attempts to protect the grandmother who cares for him from violent punks, and a young girl whose trust in the cynical Sutton helps him gain perspective on his job. The author doesn't minimize the temptation to respond with force that is often the officer's instinctive response to mindless cruelty, and unflinchingly portrays the stresses that plague him when his best efforts to protect or save lives fell short— stresses that led him to consider ending his life. Some may find the closing section, a fictional Christmas parable, slightly sappy, but that doesn't diminish Sutton's achievement in enabling the reader to pound the pavement in his shoes. (July)
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Review

"If you want to enter hearts and minds of the men and women sworn to protect us, read True Blue. These intimate episodes, written by the law officers who lived them, are funny, sad, moving and powerful. With proceeds going to those law enforcement families who lost a hero on 9/11, everybody should own this memorable book."
--Joseph Wambaugh, author of The Onion Field and Fire Lover

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312338961
• ISBN-13: 978-0312338961
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #854,292 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ, July 7, 2005

By	Jacklyn Craft (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is many things - amazing, shocking, overwhelming and so much more. It was written with unflinching honesty and emotion and will give you an intimate view of the life of a police officer. We see them almost everyday of our lives and are often oblivious to the pain, emotional scars and demons they face on our behalf. This will open your eyes to their world and, hopefully, will help all who reads it appreciate them for all they do for us. They pay a very high price in their efforts to keep us safe.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've ever read on police life , January 3, 2007

By	T. M. Dees (Laurel, Maryland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Cop's Life: True Stories from the Heart Behind the Badge (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought the book on the recommendation of a friend, and didn't expect it to be much different from other cop memoirs, which are generally amusing, but formulaic. Randy's book was none of that. Having been a cop for fifteen years, I knew that Randy was writing what I felt, but he said it like no one else I've read. I finished the book on an airplane, while returning from a business trip. I was self-conscious, looking around me to see if anyone had noticed the tears running down my face. I can't remember any other book having that effect on me. If you want to know what being a cop feels like, you need to read this.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS COP CAN WRITE!, August 1, 2005

By	Eric Cooper (Gardnerville, Nevada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I served as a Las Vegas cop for thirty years, and I can tell you, Sgt. Sutton got it right. This is a gritty book that episodically depicts the author's experiences as a rookie city cop in New Jersey and as a veteran officer in Las Vegas--one of America's toughest cities to police. He doesn't just take us on patrol with him, he takes us into the dark corners of his mind and tells us how his street experiences affect him. This is not a summer book for escapist reading at the beach; it is a dark look at a good cop's life on the street. If you have ever worn a badge, you'll recognize a lot of yourself in these stories. If you are a "civilian," you will get an in-depth look at the grim reality of police work and the emotional toll it can take on the men and women behind the badge.