The steradian trail by M.N. Krish

"The steradian trail" by M.N. Krish. This book is published by Westland Ltd in 2013 and has ~356 pages. This is Book 0 of The infinity cycle.

Joshua, a professor at MIT, has developed a new fast shortest path algorithm based on Sulba sutra, the ancient Indian scriptures. He is on tour of India visiting his friend Prof. Lakshman in Madras. His assistant, Jeffery, is murdered and leaves a clue before dying.

Who killed Jeffery? Why was he killed? Who killed him? What was the clue? Where will it lead?

The story takes place in Tamilnadu. It starts with an algorithm, them moves to ancient Indian scriptures like Sulba sutra and then moved on to the brilliant mathematician Ramanujan and his work.

The story is narrated well, it has a good pace. It contains a number of clues from the life of Ramanujan, who was one of the most talented mathematicians and who has done work in his short life of 32 years that is still being studied and decoded.

It's a different kind of thriller where action and surprises are not the only tricks used by the author. He has used a number of mathematical concepts like Shortest path algorithm, Traveling Salesman Problem, P Vs NP Problem for the story.

Characterization is good. Joshua, Lakshman, Divya, Venus, Durai etc are clearly defined.

The book leaves some things open like what was Jeffery's coded message? What happened to the pages from diary of Ramanuja's wife? Probably left for the sequel.

Since this is Book 0 of infinity series, we can expect more books by the author with same characters.

A good book. Recommend reading.