The Islamist by Ed Husain.

Ed is a young Muslim living in London. Ed tries different flavours of Islam, becomes a radical Islamist and later changes his mind. This book is Ed's memoir and it's 288 pages were written in 2007.

This book is easy to understand as it is clear and well written. Although it is a memoir, your reading experience and enjoyment is the same as from reading a regular novel. This is a story of growing up, rebelling against your parents and society, plus finding your place in the world.

Ed does not preach at the reader, he just tells his story and let's you form your own opinion of Islam. I am an Atheist and I thoroughly enjoyed his book. You do not need to be a religious scholar of any religion to understand and enjoy this book. Apart from being a wonderful story, it enlightens the reader about the HUGE differences between Muslims. This book made me laugh when Ed details the infighting between different mosques and Muslim groups.

There is a good timescale to this memoir as Ed grows up and lives through the Twin Towers terrorist attacks of 2001 and the London bombings of 2005. He has to reconcile his faith each time after both terrorist attacks committed by fellow Muslims.

This book gives a much needed transparency to a very closed world lived by Muslims among us in Britain today. This story really enlightens the reader by showing the huge breadth in the interpretation and worship within Islam.

I have found nothing wrong with this lovely book, it is very good and I vote it the top score of 5 stars.

Elf and Safety gone mad.

Here are 3 images taken at the National Express coach station in Birmingham. When passengers are getting off their coach, they are greeted by this sign...

"High visibility clothing must be worn in this area".

This is the waiting area for passengers in the flagship coach station. Where is the danger? Passengers can not walk infront of or behind coaches. There are no conflicting paths. There is a place for high visibility clothing to be worn, in places where people are vulnerable in the path of moving vehicles. But here there are no moving coaches within the boarding and waiting areas.

One guy is sat in the waiting area wearing his high visibility vest and this just looks silly.

There is no chance of an accident in this very controlled area. The passenger entrance doors from the waiting area into the boarding area can only be opened by a controller when no coaches are moving. This sign therefore just gives an example of Health & Safety gone mad.

sara's game by Ernie Lindsey.

Sara Winthrop is an ex-programmer now working as the head of marketing for LightPulse Productions, a video game company in Portland, Oregon. Her husband Brian disappeared 2 years ago without warning and now her 3 children have been kidnapped from 2 separate schools at the same time, just like an Al-Qaeda operation.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride! This thriller is told from 2 points of view, Sara Winthrop the mother and Detective Jonathan Johnson the policeman on the case. It is really good that you get these 2 separate views of the same story, the victim and the police. I enjoyed reading these 2 paths on the same time line.

Sara makes a decision to play the game along with the kidnapper at the start of this story. I was very surprised at her decision as it seemed an impossible task to play a game against the kidnapper and save her children. Most mothers would realize that entering a game against a kidnapper is foolish and they would leave the search for their children to the police. But Sara is a "badass chick" and uses her gaming experience to challenge the kidnapper before her children are put in further danger. There are some nice tasks given to Sara, especially in the first game level! This makes you wonder which direction this story will take. There is great suspense as Sara plays the kidnappers game which builds a nice, nagging tension. The story line leads the reader along a path thinking about the kidnappers, who they are and what is their motive.

In addition to the basic story there is a lovely banter between Detective Jonathan Johnson and his superior, Inspector Barker, This dialogue gives a good insight into police work and the games they play.

The ending of sara's game is okay but the thrill of this novel is the search for her children and the games the kidnappers play on Sara. I downloaded this 379 KB eBook from Amazon, which was written in 2012. I think it is a good book and I vote it 4 stars.

Just One Look by Harlan Coben.

The rear cover of this book reads...

Grace Lawson is living a happy, straightforward life in the suburbs with her husband, Jack, and two young children. But then Grace picks up a set of holiday snaps, amongst which is a faded shot she doesn't recognise of her husband as she never knew him. Within twelve hours, Jack has disappeared and a brutal hitman is stalking his family.

...This is a stand alone novel although it does have links to the Myron Bolitar series. The writing style is the same. Just One Look has 386 pages and was published in 2004. This novel is a thriller that is entertaining and has a good pace and structure. Harlan is great at creating suspicion about all the characters and has you guessing who is the real villain here? You can try and work things out from the clues or simply enjoy the ride as Grace finds the truth behind the photo. This book has a great plot and it is a great story that is a pleasure to read. Harlan is very good with the detail and those little details are important because everything has consequences. At the end of this book you think "WOW!".

Just One Look is very good and I can find nothing wrong with it, so I will be voting it the maximum of 5 stars on Goodreads. If you ever wanted to know how to stop a woman from talking on a car journey, then turn to page 316...

She kept peppering him with questions - where is my husband, what do you want with us - but he continued to ignore her. When they reached a stoplight, the man did something that she did not expect.
He rested his hand on her knee.
'Your leg was damaged,' he said.
Grace was not sure how to respond to this. His touch was light, almost feathery. And then without warning his fingers dug down with steel talons. They actually burrowed beneath the kneecap. Grace buckled. The tips of the man's fingers disappeared into the hollow where the knee meets the shinbone. The pain was so sudden, so enormous, that Grace could not even scream. She reached out and grabbed his fingers, tried to pry them out of her knee, but there was absolutely no give. His hand felt like a concrete block.
His voice was barely a whisper. 'If I dig in a little more and then pull...'
Her head was swimming. She was close to losing consciousness.
'...I could tear your kneecap right off.'
When the light turned green, he let go. Grace nearly collapsed in relief. The whole incident had probably taken less than five seconds. The man looked at her. There was the smallest hint of a smile on his face.
'I'd like you to stop talking now, okay?'
Grace nodded.
He faced forward. 'Keep driving.'

Sisters of the Veil by Bryan M. Powell.

Shi'a Muslims flee from Lebanon and Iran to America. Jared Russell, a happy clappy Christian is building a mosque in Stanford, near Michigan. This is a multicultural novel which explores it's characters relationship with their god. It also illustrates how different religions can mix and co-exist.

Sisters of the Veil shows great promise and you wonder if there is romance in the air for Jared. But there is little drama and this story does not really go anywhere. Nothing much happens, there is just potential and a lot of posturing.

Jared is not a likable person. He is a gun obsessed god botherer, who bible bashes away with his beliefs. You can however laugh at Jared's church and faith.

Sisters of the Veil fails as a novel and disappoints the reader. This book fails to entertain. The ending is bad as it simply paves the way to the sequel. It is part of the Jared Russell series and is a 2nd class read with the feel of a happy clappy young person's bible weekend encounter group. This Amazon Kindle eBook is 253 KB long and was written in 2012. I will vote it 2 stars as it is such a poor read and I suggest you give it a MISS.