Official Review: Ruff Justice by Neville Higgison

[Ngozi Onyibor]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Ruff Justice" by Neville Higgison.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Hilarious in places, grave in others, Ruff Justice by Neville Higgison is a memoir of sorts. It is a curation of Neville's experiences of over thirty years as a police officer in New Zealand and his sojourn to the other side as a criminal attorney. 

As someone that has experienced both sides of the criminal justice system, Neville is privy to the shortcomings of the law on both ends. This is clear in the well-thought-out proactive measures he proffers to curb crime and reduce recidivism amongst other things. 

Neville writes as he talks, so his writing style is informal and stark. Narrated in the first person, he relays the story in brief bouts with headings reminiscent of short stories. The book is just eighty-eight pages long, but it mostly contains a medley of investigations the author did during his career. 

Barely a year ago, there was a mass protest against police brutality and indiscriminate arrest in my country. Many people lost their lives; however, not much has changed. Recent events have shown that police brutality is more common in other countries than I thought; so I appreciate that the author talked about the police use of "ultimate force" when dealing with offenders.

I also got clarity on why the police are often evasive with the public about the details of investigations. I'm glad he provided a logical reason they shield some details from the public. Again, I have always believed that early childhood and environmental factors are major contributors to adult criminality. It feels good to know that a professional in the field shares my views. Alcohol and substance abuse were common elements of motivation in most of the crimes he investigated. I'm flabbergasted by the levels of heinous violence people are capable of under the influence. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book; the author intersperses humour and grave concerns seamlessly. However, the editing and sentence structure could be better. The book contains lots of one-word sentences; they aren't errors per se, but I consider them distracting and unnecessary. Also, I spotted enough genuine errors to strike off a star, so I rate it 3 out of 4 stars. I would advise another round of editing to improve reading flow and sentence structure. 

The book is a crime documentary lover's dream. Even though I would like to recommend it to everyone, it's not an easy read by any standard. It contains disturbing details of actual murder incidents and investigations. The title is a tribute to one such victim. So if you don't have an appetite for gore, sit this one out. In contrast, it contains minimal vulgarity. 

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Ruff Justice
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[Kavita Shah]

Its a good memoir. To read about both sides of the system and understand the crimes from their perspective will be a interesting read. Thank you for the review!

[WADonnelly]

This sounds like a really good read. Thanks for writing such a detailed and intriguing review! I will have to give this book a look.

[C3cilia]

It is great for neville to state that there are shortcomings for both justice systems.He goes ahead to set preferences that may curb crimes.Thanks for the great review.

[Eddy E]

This is a good memoir. Very informative, curious to know more and hear the police side or view of brutality. It's a great to be able to see criminal justice from both sides.

[Burnyourmaps]

I read your review to get an idea of how to write my first review. It was a pleasure to see how well written and informative a review can be. Thank you for a great example of how it should be done.

[Becca Olsson]

I hope the author fixes the editing problems you’ve mentioned because this sounds like it has the potential to be a great book detailing both sides of today’s argument regarding law enforcement

[Mtibza eM]

Thank you for such a well detailed review, I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing.