'Moments In Time, Police Stories' by TheAlvarezChronicles

Choosing this book to review was not hard for me. Putting pen to paper, or rather, fingers to keys, was much harder to do...

If you don't follow TheAlvarezChronicles, you're missing out. His book Chasing Wattpad is brilliantly funny. Using the users of Wattpad for his material, you often finish a chapter with a smile on your face and shaking your head marveling at the words people choose to write down for the whole world- or few hundred followers they have- to see.

His funniest book, in my opinion, is his book 'Blonde Moments' and it is a favourite of mine, all about the conversations that go on between him and his 'blonde teenage daughter.' If you are looking for light, funny reads then check these out, because the book I am recommending to you today is definitely not light and funny. 

TheAlvarezChronicles is a former homicide detective. His nonfiction book 'Moments In Time' are short memories, each showing the reader what life was like as a detective. There are five memories there altogether, with heart-wrenching topics including murder, rape, suicide, miscarriages and domestic violence. So, I warn you now, if you are easily triggered by these topics, stay away!  

I'm reviewing this book because it isn't often you come across a person writing about their own life, in such a brilliantly observational, matter of fact, and humble way. So why was this review hard for me to write? Because, when it comes to stories about the topic that he covers, there is nothing nice about them. 

From the first sentence, it is like being offered a secret doorway into someone else's life. His observational skills (Shown best in his book 'People of Starbucks') are such that even Sherlock Holmes would be jealous. I have tried to do what he does. I sit on the train and watch, and come up with nothing. It's a skill to be jealous of!

He writes in such a way that it feels as though you are there, standing next to him, experiencing what is happening with him. How he kept himself together, got the job done... it really is beyond me. In those situations, I would have been a sobbing mess! But it does make me feel safer, knowing there are people out there in the world, who choose to be police officers to do some good in the world, to help people.

These are sad stories. There isn't another way to say it really, they are the harsh truth of humanity shoved in your face, and yet, they are the stories that make you FEEL the most. They make you feel human.

It really is rare to find a book like this, on Wattpad and on shelves.

So why should you read this book?

It gets you thinking. It makes you look around your own life and say, I am thankful. For my family, friends, my upbringing, my respect- all things you can take for granted.

It gets you feeling. Things like the events that happened in these stories 'don't happen to me.' But that isn't the case. Words can impact someone. Actions can hurt someone. Everyone can be taken advantage of.

It just... gets to you.

Here is a doughnut, for when you read these and need reminding there are sweet things left to enjoy in life. And also, doughnuts... police... geddit?