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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 A Plausable Spy Thriller. A Rare Thing, Indeed Oct 13, 2006
By Gary Malmberg
"garym"
The Right Hand Of Allah was a pleasant surprise for the pragmatic reader that I am. The novel is a clever blend of spy thriller, contemporary terrorism, compelling action, and a vital bit of science fiction. By page 50 or so, I was comfortable with the sci-fi and happily hooked.
The basis of the book is that a CIA operative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is betrayed by his bodyguard at an outdoor cafe. Things go wrong for the bodyguard and both of them take a close hit from a planted bomb placed to kill Kelly, the spy. The victim and betrayer are transported by ambulance to the hospital. En route, the bodyguard and the operative die at approximately the same time. The doctors are able to bring the bodyguard, Saleem, back to life after he had been certifiably dead. Saleem eventually regains consciousness, but he is speaking English and insisting that he is Kelly. Well, it turns out that, in essence, he is Kelly, with the bodyguards body and a growing familiarity of the former's life. When Kelly is able to meet with a US ambassador/CIA friend, and convince him of his altered reality, the real thriller begins.
The writer, D.E. Dawning did a remarkable job of satisfying my sci-fi skepticism and actually managed to sell me completely on the mind/body transition to the point where I began to literally (DOH!) fall under it's spell. The Right Hand Of Allah now is able to put Kelly/Saleem into the bowels of Middle Eastern and European terrorism as Saleem (thanks to the given circumstances, combined with well planned intelligence planning) is judged by most of the Moslem world as the true right hand of Allah. He becomes a powerful force in the Arab world and uses that power not only to save the world from a series of major worldwide terrorist attacks, but also use his credibility and what may be a certain supernatural wisdom to advise his growing army of believers that terrorism isn't the way. To the chagrin of his handlers, Kelly/Saleem also speaks for the believer victims of his new religion, especially women.
Dawning manages to outwit me at several turns with his adept ability to plot out a convincing conclusion to difficult situations. I learned early on not to assume the responses to critical circumstances would be solved in hokey Hollywood fashion. I bought into story throughout. No mean feat. He handles action like the original Clancy, as opposed to the later Op-Center rip-offs that later came out in Clancy's name, ghost written, in effect, by a second rate writer.
Much as with Clancy, Dawning is dealing with contemporary issues. The scenes are familiar, right down to brownstone safe houses in London. The Right Hand Of Allah ends up in Las Vegas, where a very plausible catastrophic terroristic act is dealt with in a running action sequence that involves many of those U.S. who agents who would come into play in a true domestic incident. Plausable is a word worth repeating. I was impressed and sold on the plausibility of this novel.
The Right Hand Of Allah ends with an implied promise of a sequel, or sequels. As regards to this novel, and this writer, that is a good thing.
That is all.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Spy Story with a bit of a Paranormal Twist Oct 13, 2006
By Lonnie E. Holder
"The Review's the Thing"
African-American Kelly Rogers is out with his bodyguard Saleem Rhamsy when he makes a mistake and picks up a woman's handbag, only to get blown up by the bomb in it. You can imagine Rogers' surprise (and ours) when Rogers wakes up in Rhamsy's body. Rogers is a spook, and he is quick to recognize a great opportunity to infiltrate Islamic terrorist organizations.
After convincing his bosses that he really is Kelly Rogers rather than Saleem Rhamsy, Kelly-Saleem then goes through a series of adventures that are full of action and sex, all in the name of trying to halt a series of planned terrorist attacks without getting himself, Saleem's wife Mariam, or his new hot handler, Jane, killed.
Part of this book is wishful-thinking. Kelly-Saleem points out that the Islam was once the forefront of the most powerful empire in the world. However, Islam stagnated and many Muslims have convinced themselves that it is the fault of western nations rather than their repressive and regressive religion. Kelly-Saleem, as the proclaimed Right Hand of Allah, attempts to redirect the Islamic world into a more progressive direction. However, that attempt is a momentary discretion from the fight against terrorism.
Kelly-Saleem and his handlers learn more about a series of planned terrorist events, and Kelly is forced to become more directly involved with stopping complex plots involving neo-Nazis and Islamic terrorists. One of the plots involves nuclear weapons and another involves a major attack on a U.S. city.
This book was enjoyable in a male, testosterone-driven way. There is lots of gunfire and beautiful women. Dawning sprinkles graphic sex liberally throughout the book, so much so that I wondered whether this book was about the sex or was an action-adventure story that just happened to have a lot of sex in it. I suppose it is both; James Bond with an over-active libido and imagination; this book was kind of a guilty guy pleasure.
There is a lot of action in this book, much of it involving violence. The violence is often intense and fun for guys living in a fantastic spy world that has few, if any, rules. There is sex. All of these things occur in abundance. In other words, this book is a perfect guy book.
This review is based on a copy of the book provided to me by the author.
Enjoy!
I totally enjoyed it. May 21, 2007
By Reader Views
"Reviews, by readers, for readers"
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (5/07)
"The Right Hand of Allah" has my favorite fictional elements contained within it: science fiction, erotica, and suspense. When counterterrorist agent Kelly Rogers is blown up by his bodyguard Saleem Rhamsy, they both end up dying. Saleem actually dies twice. During this event, Kelly's consciousness and soul are transferred into Saleem's body. Once Kelly adjusts to this idea, he is able to make good use of the tall, dark and handsome killer's body. Through some difficulty, he is able to convince the CIA that he is really Kelly Rogers and that they should use his new appearance to their advantage for gathering information on the terrorists.
Kelly is aided by two beautiful, sexy women. The first is Jane. She works with him. She trains him on how to use his new physique to his advantage. This doesn't just involve the art of killing; it also involves the art of seduction. Kelly is able to access memories from Saleem and this helps him to fool more people, including Saleem's beautiful wife Mariam. Mariam isn't fooled for too long and she starts questioning who Saleem really is. Kelly has to find out if she will help him or hurt him.
Because of Saleem's experiences with death, the Islamic factions believe that he is the true right hand of Allah. He infiltrates their group and is able to get information on upcoming terrorist attacks on the United States. He also discovers that a neo-Nazi group has some involvement with the attacks. He is forced to use his seductive arts of persuasion to get information from a beautiful German neo-Nazi. He discovers that the plot against the United States is bigger than can be imagined and that many of the mid-eastern terrorist groups have banded together in their plans.
"The Right Hand of Allah" was a blast to read. I totally enjoyed it. What made it the most fun was that Kelly's character starts out as a fairly modest, humble man. When he is thrown into Saleem's body, he has to learn to use it to his advantage. His enjoyment of the situation made it more fun to read, than if he started out as an egotistic superhero. I also liked the paranormal elements in the story. As the plot was thickening, Kelly discovers that he has more physical abilities and he is able to use them to protect the people close to him. I also really liked Jane. She is a very confident woman, who has mastered both the art of seduction and killing. I like a good suspense with a strong woman! I also enjoyed the plot. The Islamic terrorists didn't appear too bright, but then they don't in real life either. This is a great story to read that is very up to date with our current times.
Book received free of charge
A building vortex of action and adventure May 08, 2007
By Midwest Book Review
Written by home designer and builder D.E. Dawning, The Right Hand of Allah is an action-packed novel about a counterterrorism agent thrust into an extraordinary position. When a terrorist bomb claims Kelly Rogers' life, he reawakens in the injured body of his Arab killer. Rogers is propelled into international counterterrorism intrigue, supported by two extraordinary women (one, the wife of his killer and the other his handler as well as possibly the most deadly woman alive) and hailed as a 'Chosen One' prophet who allegedly met with Allah in Heaven. A building vortex of action and adventure forms the heart of this fast-paced, thrilling odyssey.
Strangely compelling and fun... Mar 11, 2007
By Thomas Duff
"Duffbert"
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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