This book makes a significant contribution to the study of focus group interactions and its applications in applied sciences. Specifically, the book makes a novel contribution to the field by implementing linguistically-oriented methodology (i.e., microanalytic study of talk and interaction) to a specific sociocultural communicative setting between an institution—police, and citizens within an evaluative context. The book covers a wide range of disciplines as they discuss criminal justice within a program evaluative stance, from an interactive approach, and researchers and scholars of both language and criminal studies will benefit from reading it.

- Hanbyul Jung, Seoul National University, in Journal of Pragmatics 186 (2021).,

<i>Multimodal Performance and Interaction in Focus Groups</i> is an insightful reading and offers an original take on how to analyse focus groups, considering them as deeply moral events that have practical implications to participants. In the context of community policing, it helps us to take a step back; before evaluating policing training, we should understand participants’ sense of community and how they achieve this by bringing different kinds of meaning-making resources together. Even though the authors do not explicitly mention a particular audience, the book will certainly benefit discourse scholars in a broader sense as well as those interested in conducting focus groups as part of their research. Additionally, the discussions generated about community and tensions involving police expertise and jurisdiction may appeal to researchers studying police settings and practices, particularly those working closely with law enforcement.

- Fabio Ferraz de Almeida, University of Jyväskylä, in Discourse and Society 32(6),