Aiden's Sphere by Jonathan Brizendine.

This book gets off to a good start with twin plot lines about a strange forcefield and a mysterious virus, divided into short chapters. Aiden's Sphere was written in 2013 and is available as a 408 KB ebook. It is lightweight reading that is enjoyable and fun.

Aiden Walker is a 17 year old living in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a bright kid with a "can do" attitude who can get things done. This novel has a good storyline that maintains a mystery of how the forcefield and the virus will turn out. Aiden is lucky at how things are easily available for him to use and how he can go straight to the top among government agencies.

Aiden's Sphere is not a challenging read or a literary masterpiece. It is second rate science fiction where you wonder whether the forcefield or the mystery virus will kill them first. This novel is not true to life but a fun make believe story. There is no realism but plenty of escapism in a kids story way.

This is a good book that I will vote 4 stars. The ending is rather predictable in a sugary sweet way. It is a funny, sweet American story where the good guys win in the end.

Walk a Mile In My Shoes (I'm a Survivor NOT a Victim) by Kristie Romero

This book is a short memoir of just 161 KB that was written in 2013. Kristie just wanted to be a normal kid growing up with her single mum. Kristie had a bad start in life. Sadly her childhood was not normal and Kristie fell victim to abuse, harassment, imprisonment, neglect, rape, self harm and violence.
Kristie was a victim of her circumstances, over which she had no control. No sooner had Kristie escaped one abusive encounter, had she stumbled into another abusive situation. You then realize how unlucky some people can be when family lets them down. You discover how easy it is for victims of all types of abuse to be targeted by other abusers and the cycle of abuse continues.
Kristie stood strong through all that life could throw at her and after all the trauma, this memoir has a happy ending. Walk a Mile In My Shoes is a very good book and I vote it 5 stars. There are quite a few typos within the text but do not let them spoil this amazing story. I am pleased that Kristie has put her story into the public domain, as I feel it will help other victims of abuse recover from their ordeal. Her memoir is a true inspiration to victims of all types of abuse. This is an exciting story for readers of a regular childhood and adult life, I really enjoyed reading it.

Underneath by Kealan Patrick Burke.

Dean is being bullied at school and his bully has set him the challenge of having a date with the school freak. Stephanie has a badly scared face and other pupils poke fun at her. Dean asks her out in the hope that the bullying will stop if Stephanie agrees to a date. Stephanie gives Dean a keen and wanting look as she is normally ignored by all the other boys.
Underneath is a short story of just 205 KB and was written in 2010. It is a quirky read all the way to the end and it is rather refreshing. Dean is apprehensive about going on his first date but is spurred on by the look in Stephanie's eyes. I developed a lot of empathy for both characters and wondered where this novella was going.
There is a lot of intrigue in this story which addresses a lot of social issues. Underneath is not just about the menace of bullying but also about how people judge others only by what is on the surface rather than what is underneath. People's surface can hide both sadness and joy.
Underneath is a good read and I vote it 4 stars. There is a twist at the end and this novella has a strong social message to take away with you.

Looking Good Dead by Peter James.

Tom Bryce finds a CD on a train and inserts it into his laptop. Then the trouble starts and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is on the trail to solve a murder and more. This novel is set around Brighton and has a good plot with a plausible background. This entertaining story gives a nice insight into the work of the Police High Tech Crime Unit and how criminals may use computers.

Looking Good Dead is another crime thriller in the DS Roy Grace series. Although the main character in this series is DS Roy Grace, it is all about networking and working as a team. Lots of favours are asked between various people, who respond and together save the day. There is a nice dry gallows humour between the Police Officers...

A good choice of location for a safe house, Grace thought, except for one minor detail that appeared to have been overlooked. Who in their right bloody mind would put a paedophile in a house a few hundred yards away from a school playing field? He shook his head. Didn't anybody ever think?
'Is Mr D'Eath expecting us?' Nicholl asked.
'With morning coffee and a box of Under Eights I expect.' Norman Potting said, following this with a throaty chuckle.

...This book is a brilliant illustration of the wonders of team work. Without the flagging and passing on of tiny bits of information between many Police Officers, these crimes would not have been solved. Peter James is very good on police procedures in this book of 519 pages which was published in 2006.

Looking Good Dead is a good story and I vote it 4 stars. This is a stand-alone novel, although reading it straight after Dead Simple, it is a seamless follow-on. I am a little disappointed at how much appeared to be brought over from Dead Simple, which is quite lazy as this was not new content. There is another dramatic ending in the style of an action hero movie.

Looking Good Dead shows how ordinary acting and looking people could be involved in the darker side of society, without anyone suspecting.

Dead Simple by Peter James.

Michael Harrison is on his stag night and 4 of his mates are playing a prank on him. This prank goes wrong and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace leads the hunt to find Michael who is now missing.

But there is more to this tale than a missing person and a stag night prank. Dead Simple is a thriller about when things go wrong and efforts to fix things backfire. There are many twists and turns in this story with plenty of important details woven into the plot. It is set around Brighton and is an enjoyable tale where you do not know how it will pan out. It keeps the reader guessing. There is a good plot and motives are developed from actual true cases in the past when criminals have been brought to justice. It deals with jealousy and the hold women can have on men.

Dead Simple is one in a series of Roy Grace novels. These books can be read as standalone novels because there is plenty of back story to make them work. They give a clear illustration of police culture, although it does seem that Peter James attended an open day at Sussex Police HQ taking loads of notes to use in his novels. He is very good at describing police procedures. There is some lovely dry humour between the characters. A good example is on page 47 when Roy Grace is being cross-examined in court...

'So you regularly turn to the dark arts in your work as a senior police officer, do you, Detective Superintendent Grace?'
An audible snigger rippled around the courtroom.
'I wouldn't call it the dark arts,' Grace said. 'I would call it an alternative resource. The police have a duty to use everything at their disposal in trying to solve crimes.'
'So would it be fair to say you are a man of the occult? A believer of the supernatural?' the silk asked.
Grace looked at Judge Driscoll, who was staring at him as if it was he himself who was now on trial in this court. Desperately trying to think of an appropriate response, he shot a glance at the jury, then the public gallery, before he faced the silk again. And suddenly it came to him.
Grace's voice notched up a gear, more strident, more confident, suddenly. 'What is the first thing this court required me to do when I entered the witness stand?' he asked.
Before the silk could respond, Grace answered for him. 'To swear on the Holy Bible.' He paused for it to sink in. 'God is a supernatural being - the supreme supernatural being. In a court that accepts witnesses taking an oath to a supernatural being, it would be strange if I and everyone else in this room did not believe in the supernatural.'

...Dead Simple was written in 2005 and has 457 pages. This is a good book which entertains and is awfully British. I vote it 4 stars. The ending is rather far fetched but Peter James is a big fan of the paranormal.

divine justice by David Baldacci.

Follow Oliver Stone in another adventure. This time he is being hunted for the two murders he committed. divine justice is another Camel Club novel, this time set in Divine, a small mining town in Virginia. This book continues the brand but it can be read as a standalone novel as there is loads of back story about Oliver.

You start reading divine justice and you wonder, why has Oliver stumbled across this or that? It is because that detail will be used later in this story. There are a small cast of suspects involved in the darker side of Divine. This novel is light reading and you know that our hero, Oliver, will turn out okay. There is a steady progression with the plot of this book and it is a simple tale of circumstances. The ending is okay and is just what you would expect.

There is nothing radical about this book, it is just like a made-for-tv movie. It is a run of the mill novel, not quite a thriller. It is rather drab. David Baldacci is a best selling author but his writing has become lazy. This tale is sloppy and at one point Reuben has a puncture on his Indian motorcycle. Not having a spare wheel with his sidecar, he wheels his outfit into Caleb's van. Later on Reuben takes his motorcyle out of the van and rides happily away. No puncture repair or tyre change had been done!

divine justice has 534 pages and was written in 2008. I took nothing away from this novel. It was a disappointment. This book is a poor read and I vote it only 2 stars. I suggest you give it a MISS as divine justice is not one of David's best. This was the last of David's paperbacks that I purchased a while ago and I will not be buying another. David Baldacci seems to ride on his best selling status and does not bring anything new to the game.

Big Brother can be rather dumb.

Traffilog is a vehicle data recording system used by National Express on all their coaches. This technology has many functions like GPS tracking and interior coach temperature recording. It is also used to record driver performance and monitors braking, acceleration, cornering and engine idling. Each driver has a Traffilog score depending on how well he has driven the coach. Every passenger comfort event is given a point, the more points against a driver lowers his grading. No or just a few points would give a Gold grading. A small amount of points would give a Green rating. A fair amount of points would give an Amber rating and a lot of points a Red grading.

This colour coded Traffilog grading system is then used by managers to discipline drivers. The goal is to ensure all drivers give their passengers a comfortable ride. However, Traffilog is a dumb system that does not work in the real world.

Driver - Brakes - Acceleration - Turns - Idling - Grade

A               3                   0                  5          1         Gold

B               1                   1                  2          1         Green

Surely driver A with more sharp braking and turns should have a higher score and a Green grading plus driver B with less sharp braking and turns should have a Gold grading. That would be a fair assessment of the data. Traffilog rates highly events of high acceleration. But high acceleration is simply not possible in a coach with a 9 litre engine pulling an unladen weight of 13,570 kgs. Therefore these acceleration events are FALSE. What happens is the automatic gearbox changes as the coach is going uphill and Traffilog records this as a surge. Traffilog penalizes drivers who drive comfortably and have done nothing wrong. Traffilog does not grade drivers fairly.

I think National Express have been sold a pup with this Traffilog motion sensor technology as the above grading example clearly shows.