LONGLISTED FOR THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON FICTION 2024

5 ***** Mail on Sunday
'An absolutely gripping read' Andrew Marr

'Probably the most important book on the state of British policing you'll ever read' Graham Bartlett

Jess McDonald was a true crime junkie and Line of Duty sofa sleuth with a strong sense of justice. Under a year later, thanks to a controversial new initiative, she was a detective in the London Metropolitan Police Service.

The Met Police's Direct Entry Detective scheme was aimed at turning people with no experience of the police into detectives.

When it was launched, to tackle an unprecedented recruitment crisis, over 4,500 people, Jess included, applied.

But why, within just a year of qualifying, had the majority of Jess' cohort resigned?

No Comment is Jess' candid, eye-opening and often shocking account, exploring the reality of being a detective in the Met and responsible for 'keeping London safe for everyone'. In her incisive book she explores the challenges of life on the front line, dealing almost exclusively with serious crimes against women, and what that reveals about the Met Police now.

Jess McDonald grew up in Cheshire, attended Durham University and had a huge range of jobs before she turned 30. Then the big one. At the age of 31, Jess was one of the very first people to gain a place on the Met Police's controversial Direct Entry Detective scheme and, after just 5 months of training, started work as a Detective Constable tackling serious crime in a busy east London borough.