The Istanbul Puzzle by Laurence O'Bryan .

Alek, a photographer is beheaded in Istanbul. A video of his murder is posted on You Tube. Sean Ryan, who works with Alek, tries to find out why he was killed.

There is a nice mix of chapters in this book, with the bad guys having a brief one to keep the reader in the loop and longer chapters written in the first person as Sean tries to solve this mystery. This novel has a good plot where you read what the bad guys are up to something but Alek got in the way. With Sean investigating what went wrong, will he become a victim?

I enjoyed reading this book which is a good conspiracy tale. It is very thought provoking with a realistic scenario. The story is very current day and has an engaging plot involving the war on terror. The reader develops a good expectation that Sean will discover just what Alek had found. But a find worth killing for? You learn to understand Sean's motivation and thoughts because most people would abandon this dangerous search to solve the mystery...

What his father told him afterwards had stuck in his mind; when you’ve done things that can never be forgiven, you become free, because you can never go back, never undo them.

...The story is very realistic with lots of knowledgeable background thrown in...

Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5, the largest free-standing building in the UK, looked as busy the following morning as it had during the nightmare snow storm the previous winter.

The report confirmed the existence of a Yersina Pestis bacterium in the doctor’s blood. That fact alone would not be enough to ring warning bells. Every year many thousands of cases of plague ended up being reported to the World Health Organisation.

... The ending of this story was well explained and reasoned. This book raises issues of fear within our society...

‘Today,’ he began, dispensing with any opening pleasantries, ‘the Muslim faith is the fastest growing of all Europe’s religions. By some projections, within some of your lifetimes, it will be the faith of the majority, given the comparative birth rates. An Islamic Europe may not aspire to tolerance, either. It may well be fundamentalist. And they don’t usually take kindly to dissent. When they offer your granddaughter a burqa, she may have to put it on.’

‘People used to believe the world was full of evil spirits,’ I said. ‘They had no other way to explain things they didn’t understand. That’s my explanation for evil spirits. And I’m sticking to it.’

...The Istanbul Puzzle was written in 2011 and I purchased the 1631 KB Amazon Kindle version. I thought it was a good book and I shall vote it 4 stars on Goodreads .

Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures by Ian Stewart .

This book was written in 2009 and I bought the 3285 KB Amazon Kindle edition published in 2010. Sadly there is no structure to this book, there is no theme, it is more like a collection of magazine tit bits. Ian may be a good mathematician but he is not a good author. This book was a big disappointment for me and I did not enjoy reading it. The text does not engage or inspire the reader. It is quite dull, which is a shame because of how mathematics explain our world. This book is very bitty, made up of little short sections. There is an awful lot of algebra to read through, making this book very easy to put down.

I did not find any mathematical treasures at all, just a collection of bits and pieces. I thought this book a poor read and shall only be voting it 2 stars on Good Reads . I took very little away from this book, the best snippet being...

Traces of sexagesimal arithmetic still linger in our culture. We divide an hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds. In angular measure, we divide a degree into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds, too - same words, different context.

Boston Manor Viaduct now open to all.

Since April the Boston Manor Viaduct has been closed to ALL vehicles over 7.5 tonnes maximum gross weight. All buses, coaches and lorries were banned from using the M4 motorway between junctions 3 and 2 eastbound and junctions 1 and 3 westbound. This  involved a time consuming diversion along the A312 and A4 adding over 20 minutes to your journey time in each direction.

For all our government claims to promote the use of public transport, this weight restriction became a class divide with Johnny big pockets thundering along the motorway in his car towards London, whilst the plebs crawled along the A4 in their buses and coaches. For a motorway to have a 7.5 tonne weight restriction is obscene. For the repair work to take over 6 months shows our government is not bothered about people travelling on public transport or the increased costs put on operators.

Was this 7.5 tonne weight restriction really necessary? I doubt it because ALL official Olympic Games Vehicles were allowed to ignore this restriction and their buses and coaches used the M4 motorway without diversion, whether they had passengers or were empty.

Think about the total weight of all those cars thundering over the Boston Manor Viaduct. Some of these  Chelsea Tractors are running around 2 tonne, so 9 of these gas guzzling monsters would equal 1 coach. Safety is important but was the motorway in such a risk of collapse that the odd coach could bring it down but the constant stream of private cars were not at risk?

I think the decision to impose the 7.5 tonne weight limit was political. If the government banned all vehicles from the motorway, then the protest would be huge and something would be done. By imposing a 7.5 tonne weight limit, passenger and haulage contractors did not dare challenge the restriction in case VOSA come down heavy on vehicle maintenance and drivers hours. Any company challenging this weight restriction would be subject to extra inspections by VOSA in a revenge attack ordered by the politicians.

If this closure of a motorway to vehicles over 7.5 tonne was in France, I am sure protests would have been made, with the region's roads in gridlock until the restriction was removed. But the British suffer from apathy and simply do not challenge a silly restriction.

Touch by Mark Sennen.

Follow Detective Inspector Charlotte Savage with an enquiry into rape, missing persons and murder. Touch is a crime thriller set in Devon. This novel follows both the police and Harry, the perpetrator along the same time line. I liked the way the plot developed, getting the story from both sides. I enjoyed this creepy tale that had a good pace. The story deals with the darker side of pornography...

‘Some sort of snuff film?’
‘It is the stuff of fiction, respectfully, sir. There is very little evidence of real snuff movies ever being made. Certainly not for distribution.’

...and deals with men's relationship with images and pornography. Touch offers a good explanation of Harry's motives and desires.

There is some good banter between police officers...

‘Result, ma’am. You don’t have three big screens connected to one machine just to waste your life on Facebook.’

... and this book is a good mix between police procedure, the perpetrator and a good social commentary. It is also good at describing how people relate to one another. This is a murder story but it is very British in it's attitude...

The line of mid-range cars – some new – parked on the road testified to the fact that the area had aspirations. Still on-street though, Savage noted. Only once you parked your car on your own land could you finally say you had arrived in true middle class suburban heaven.

... Mark also wrote a lot about the weather, very British but unnecessary! Harry's last actions were however unrealistic and made a disappointing end to this novel.

Touch is a good book and I shall be voting it 4 stars on Good Reads . It was written in 2011 and I bought the 729 KB Amazon Kindle version.