The Breath Of Allah - Tempest O'Rourke

The Breath Of Allah
Tempest O'Rourke
Synergy Books
September 1, 2009
978-0982314036

The Amazon.com Product Description:

The appearance of an ancient Koran—one of the original twelve transcribed after Mohammed’s death—sparks questions about the authenticity of current Islamic practices and teachings. A deadly race begins as the American who inherited the historic text works to keep it safe while being hunted by the CIA, Islamic terrorists, and Jewish Secret Police. As the death toll rises, a mysterious Muslim prophet appears—a prophet who might be the leader Islam needs to restore peace among its followers. Together, the American and the prophet endeavor to reveal the true meaning of Mohammed’s Breath of Allah, but to do so they must overcome the deadly agendas of extremist clerics and terrorists, who are willing to silence the true Koran at any cost.

The first thing I should say is that I was sent a copy of this book to read and review. That now said, on with the review:

The Breath of Allah is an exciting thriller, one I was surprised that I liked so much given my track record with such books in the past (not very good). The author,Tempest O'Rourke weaves together a very plausible future for the world, given the way things are going today, as the book is set ten years in the future. Might be interesting reading in 2020, to see how much of a forecast the book turns out to be. It's definitely not a world I want to be living in, either!

On the other hand, looking at the little told about Tempest O'Rourke's background on the back jacket of the book, it looks as though he knows what he's talking about in the story, adding another layer of plausibility to the character's actions and the world politics described.

There is an element of history to the book, but less so than I thought there would be, not that it really needed more. Aside from the prologue and the very end, which involves Lawrence of Arabia, the rest of the book is all concerned with the 'present day' of the story. There are numerous references to events of the recent past - Iraq, 9/11 etc however.

Although there are a lot of characters, for the most part they seem to be well created and integral to the story, especially the main characters. I would have liked more of the prologue, more of Lawrence, but that's possibly just me. I know it wasn't critical to the story being told after the introduction of the Koran.

I will say that the politics of the story probably won't be to everyone's liking. I found after a while that they got on my nerves a bit, given the number of times that statements like "liberal do-gooders" and other negative references of the sort are scattered throughout the story. But then, I notice things like that when I'm reading.

The final thing of the book is that the ending doesn't seem to be especially resolved. It does leave lots of room for sequels though.

If you like an exciting read, The Breath of Allah could be the perfect book for you. I give it four out of five stars.