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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Right Hand Of Allah

The Right Hand Of Allah

1 rating: 3.0

A book by D. E. Dawning

After a terrorist bomb takes covert agent, Kelly Rogers' life, he awakens in the hospital, in his Arab killer's body, also killed but brought back to life by the doctors. This extraordinary occurrence leads him on a bizarre odyssey, thwarting terrorist … see full wiki

Tags: Books

Author: D. E. Dawning

Publisher: BookSurge Publishing

1 review about The Right Hand Of Allah

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Strangely compelling and fun...

Mar 10, 2007

by duffbert
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

I was recently contacted by the author D. E. Dawning asking if I would like to review the book The Right Hand Of Allah. It's a self-published novel with an unusual premise, and it was strangely compelling despite some of the typical flaws often found in self-published works.

Kelly Rogers is a covert agent in the Middle East, and he's the target of an assassination attempt by a terrorist group. His bodyguard, Saleem Rhamsy, is part of the plot, and is the person designated to deliver the bomb. But an unexpected move by Rogers right before the bomb goes off means that Saleem takes more of the bomb blast than expected. The net result is that Rogers is killed, and Rhamsy dies twice before the doctors are able to stabilize him. But when he regains consciousness, a strange thing has happened. Kelly Rogers is in Saleem's body, with no explanation on how it happened. He's able to convince his CIA handlers that he really has switched bodies, and a plan is formed to turn Kelly/Rhamsy into the greatest undercover asset ever. He's taken for "questioning" in the assassination attempt, where he undergoes intense training for his new role. He's released back to the terrorist group, who believes him to have talked directly with Allah during his momentary deaths. As an icon in the fundamentalist world, he has access to a number of terror plots that he can prevent. He's also recovering some of Saleem's real memories, so it's becoming somewhat easier to fool others. The goal is to prevent the killings without blowing his cover. But there's one plan in particular that has everyone worried, and it involves a nuclear bomb and a neo-Nazi group.

Probably the biggest thing to overcome is the body-switching premise. But hey, it's a story... It's OK to suspend disbelief in things like this. Once you get to that point, then the story line becomes interesting. The plot has a number of points where you wonder exactly what happened. For instance, he's careful at the beginning to maintain the appearance that he is who everyone thinks he is, but by the end that caution is completely absent during the final rush to prevent the bomb from going off. Saleem/Kelly's wife also seems to accept the whole body switch/CIA operative situation with nearly no hesitation or disbelief. And there's more sex and seducing than you can believe. Normally I'd be a little more harsh in my assessment, but for some reason I found myself enjoying the book in spite of all the quirks. I stayed up later than I should have finishing it up, and when I got done I was glad to have had the opportunity to read it. While there's plenty of room for improvement, Dawning does a pretty good job in drawing you in and keeping you hooked...

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