Playing the Grey Man

When the rest of us run away, it’s the police officers up and down the country who run into danger and into some of the messiest and most tragic events imaginable. But there’s a price to pay. Robert Moon’s vivid description of how he left the SAS for a life in the Scottish police gives a shocking insight into the toll that police life can take on even the toughest individuals. At times funny, at other times almost unbearably sad, and often both at the same time, this heart-rending account will leave you with awed respect for the ordinary police men and women, the cops on the front line – and not a little concern about some of those higher up the ranks. When Robert Moon joined the police he was enthusiastic and idealistic; when he resigned and refused his long service medal, he was disillusioned and broken by a job that betrayed the public and had been betrayed by the managers who seemed to have forgotten how to look after the people who really keep us safe.