I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a memoir of a paramedic called Jake and his experiences working in the NHS. There was absolutely nothing in this book that surprised me. What is apparent is from this and other similar books that I have read is that the country’s biggest problem is mental health. I get frustrated that there are people like Jake who really want to help but there are no resources to do so I quite enjoyed this book but I didn’t think it was anything special.

Really enjoyed Can You Hear Me? Along the same vein as Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt, I really enjoyed the format. Thought provoking and at times hard to read, I found it a really engrossing read, and I'd definitely be interested in reading similarly written books in the future.

This is a memoir written by a paramedic. It is always refreshing to read something new and I found it interesting, believing that I already understood the role of the paramedic/ambulance driver as I was a nurse for over forty years myself, how wrong I was. As I started the book I felt frustration that we didn't hear the outcomes in many of the situations, then it struck me that must be what the paramedics/ambulance drivers deal with. My respect went up and I read the book from a very different perspective. I really like to know about the work of others and this was new for me, in a way reassuringly comfortable. Jake Jones writes with clarity, it feels very honest to me and even better I hope that someone like him comes to my aid if I need it.

My thanks to Netgalley and Querus Bks for a copy of Can you hear Me ? For an honest review.

I love books that give you an insight to different peoples lives . I’ve always had a high regard for those in the medical field , Ito their selflessness and compassion. Unfortunately over the past few years my family have had need to use the paramedic service on several occasions, so I’ve seen first hand how hard they work.
One of Jake Jones’s chapters was a very hard read for me as it mirrored a situation I had been in .
Like the family in the book we sought out the paramedics after , and thanked them for the way they had tried to save my father and the care they had shown him..
A hard read but I would recommend

Being quite a fan of TV programmes such as 'Inside the Ambulance' etc I thought this book written by a paramedic would be an interesting read. Overall it was quite interesting although I found it a bit too introspective. I would have liked to have read more about his 'shouts' and less about the author. However that is just my take on it. It was not really what I expected but it is well written and does give a glimpse into the difficult world of the paramedic. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

. A truthful insight to the realities of life as a paramedic, both fluently and humourously expressed. This book gives a renewed appreciation of the trials and tribulations of dealing with people in their worst scenarios - or, more often than not, not their worst scenario after all!

In the last few years I have become absolutely obsessed with medical memoirs, so I was really excited to get my hands on this one. It's an excellent addition to the genre, and I really enjoyed the different perspective of a parademic versus, say, a hospital doctor.

My one small neg would be that it didn't have quite the same emotional impact on me as some others of this type (e.g. This Is Going To Hurt). That isn't to say that I didn't engage with the stories - there are still some excellent and thought provoking passages here.

"A memoir of the chaos, intensity and occasional beauty of life as a paramedic." This book gave great insight into the life of a paramedic and the strains and challenges that they face on a daily basis. Some of the anecdotes that were told have certainly stayed with me since my reading of the book and I have always had the utmost respect for those who work on our ambulances, even more so now. Definite 5 stars read for me.

Paramedics really are the front line when it comes to emergencies and even when it's not so much an emergency but much needed attention of many kinds.

Our NHS takes a bashing but reading this memoir makes you realise the scope of what these professionals achieve, often with few resources and a whole host of work- this is at times heartbreaking, occasionally amusing and really paints a vivid picture of the sheer length and breadth of the different situations encountered.

The writing is sharp and involving, the events described as real as they come. I finished this with a new found respect for all of our medical staff who save lives every day. An important book to read.

Can You hear me by Jake Jones is a book with his memoirs of his time as an paramedic.

I found the stories he told were interesting and informative. My only issue was that I felt some of the writing was disjointed and it confused me a bit.

Would recommend the book if you like medical memoirs.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the ARC.

This is a solid memoir and one that I enjoyed reading, but it was just that, an enjoyable read. I didn’t find it to be earth shattering nor something that I feel I need to tell everyone they must read. Having said that, if you’re interested in the NHS ambulance service, and the lives of the paramedics that work for this service, in what these people do every day, in what type of call outs they receive and what type of injuries they attend to, then you’ll enjoy this read. Many different call-outs and cases are discussed in the book, and I found most of them to be interesting, from a woman giving birth in her tiny flat to a man who fell off a construction scaffolding and landed on his back a long way down and in among a pile of construction debris.

This is also a book that highlights the misuse of this necessary service, about how ambulances and paramedics get called out to cases that are anything but serious, and that amount to total abuse, as in one instance where the patient just needed someone to confirm that paracetamol was in fact the correct drug to take for their ailment. Very often the people who call for an ambulance just need advice, or company, or reassurance, meaning that genuine medical emergencies are put on the back burner while the ambulance is chasing around town on non-urgent calls.

What I really liked about this memoir was the fact that the author never thought of himself as any sort of hero. He often highlighted the fact that he’s just an ordinary man who got sick and tired of his office job and who needed a change. He never leads the reader to believe that helping people or becoming a paramedic was any sort of “calling”, or that it was his life-long dream.

So, overall I would say that this is a pretty good read. I liked it. I’m not sorry that I read it, but I’m now ready to move onto something else. It’s one of those books. Good (if you’re interested in the subject matter) but not necessarily memorable.

As a paramedic we see how Jake and his fellow paramedics have had to deal and cope in certain situations such as car crashes, births, drug abusers, time wasters, hoarders, asthmatics, copd sufferers, deaths, car accidents, babies, suicide attempts and psychotic episodes too the book is full of drama filled real life experiences and tough situations Jake has been forced into facing.



I have always been intrigued into life as a paramedic as we hear all too often of them getting abused on the front line of care which to me is horrifying. I wanted to be a paramedic or midwife growing up and personally having been helped by paramedics previously have had my eyes opened with this book how horribly they can be treated and the awful situations they can have to be in. Jake has written a fantastic raw book about life as a busy paramedic in this demanding role and hope more people will pick this up to see what life can be like as a paramedic too.

Can you Hear Me by Jake Jones - Published by @quercusbooks.
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We have all seen those Ambulance programmes where your take behind the scenes of the work a paramedic does and hospitals etc but it never gives you a true picture of what is ACTUALLY going on. How the cases effects the paramedics themselves. At the end of the programme we get an update on how the patient is doing (good or bad) and that’s it....NEXT!!!!
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Here is a warts an all book about like as a paramedic, the cases and feelings that occur.
Jake has given us a pretty comprehensive account of his life as a paramedic. Not only that but he has also shared he inner feelings about the various cases and society’s characters that he meets along the way.
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It isn’t your fluffy lovely cases there are some pretty tough ones as well so be prepared for some tears. You will laugh and cry with this book.
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What Jake has achieved in writing this book is to make us the general public look in orr at the work that paramedics undertake and how they don’t have time to digest what’s just gone until the next call comes through.
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Excellently written and extremely interesting. Highly recommended read .
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Thank you so much to @anabooks and @quercusbooks for gifting me a copy. It is one book that I shall re read and pass onto others.
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This was a hard-hitting look at the life of a paramedic, which is humorous, touching, sad, gritty and above all very realistic. Jump into to Jake’s world as he goes about his paramedic duties meeting and treating people from all walks of life. I absolutely loved it, and it is one of the best of this genre that seems popular at the moment – the fly on the wall diaries of a person working in the emergency services.

I love a bit of non fiction. Thus was right up my street and thanks to @netgalley for the advanced copy. I always find it fascinating to hear the stories of patients. To hear of the paramedics side of the job just grips me in and cant even imagine half the things they go through. I've read a few books like this style and they never disappoint. The book was written well and was easy to follow

Another medical memoir and another shocking insight into the strain our services are under. If it weren't for the wonderful people to who do these jobs, I dread to think where we'd be. But it's time to stop exploiting the dedication of those who go beyond the call of duty because there is inadequate provision. Here is another one who still gets on with the job despite this, but I'm left feeling both secure and concerned. Took me a little while to get into the writing style, but soon warmed to this deeply personal and well written account.

An in-depth memoir, beautifully written and heartfelt. The writer did a wonderful job depicting the participants. Highly recommended

I do like this style of books immensely. The anticipation when you pick it up to see how Jake gets on in this chapter is immeasurable.
I thought his personality is the sort that I would want with me or my family in an emergency when you all go blank and you put your trust in their hands.
It also saddens me at the inept mental health provisions that we have in this country and people like Jake face every day.

An excellent book.

There are a lot of medical related autobiographies on the shelves at present and I have read most of them. This is like many more a reflection of the individual's thoughts rather than case after case after case. In fact I felt there should have been more actual incidents included. An interesting read but if you are after an ambulance chasing book then this is not the one for you.

“Every occupation carries its own mythology. This one has the sparkle of excitement, but don’t be dazzled. Not all flashing lights mean there’s a disco going on.”

In Can You Hear Me?, Jake Jones (writing under a pseudonym) draws on his decade of experience as a paramedic in the UK to share the reality of what he encounters each day (and night) when he dons his green uniform.

The stories are told with compassion and humour, representing the mundane and miraculous, the triumphs and tragedies. Jones effortlessly evokes emotion as he relates tussling with an uncooperative drug addict, helping an ill man into clean pyjama’s, kneeling beside a man without a pulse, and cradling a newborn in his arms.

Jones also writes of the physical and emotional stress he (and his colleagues) experience, and must learn to manage, to avoid burn-out. I found some of his musings a little tedious, interrupting the flow of the narrative, but I appreciated his honesty. Of particular note are the author’s comments about the increasing strain placed on the ambulance service caused in large part by non-emergent calls, including those which require mental health, rather than medical, intervention.

Can You Hear Me? is an interesting and thought-provoking memoir exposing the challenges of paramedic work