"A Scary Five Days"

PLAGUE JOURNAL is the second novel in Michael D. O'Brien's trilogy about the Delaney family and their interaction with their nation's government that becomes increasingly intolerant of Biblical revelation and the God revealed in Scripture. PLAGUE JOURNAL covers about six years in the life of Nathaniel Delaney, but most of the story centers on five crucial days. This novel is sandwiched between two longer novels. All three cover four generations of the Delaney's. The overall plot of PLAGUE JOURNAL is more understandable if one is aware of the other two novels, but it is not necessary to read the other two to understand and enjoy PLAGUE JOURNAL.

PLAGUE JOURNAL begins on New Year's day, 1999. Delaney makes his first entry into a homemade journal his daughter gave him on Christmas. The first half of the novel contains journal entries and reminiscences over the next five 1/2 years. Nathaniel Delaney published "The Echo," a small conservative newspaper critical of the growing acceptance of abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, and explicit sex-ed in grade schools. Delaney's articles criticized the government's rejection of Judeo-Christian views about God and the purpose of human life. The people controlling the government, strong enough now to harshly discipline dissenters, forced the closure of Delaney's newspaper and accuse Delaney of "hate crimes" for speaking against abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia. His children Zoe (ten) and her nine year old brother, Tyler live with Delaney and attend public school. Delaney confronted the school about the explicit sex-ed in their "Social Engineering" classes. He and other parents do not want their children attending the classes.

The school excused the children but make them stand in the hallway while the classes were in progress. Delaney objected. The school consented to the children using the library as study hall during Social Engineering classes. Part of Social Engineering is asking the children if their fathers ever sexually molested them, even placing a hand on them. Delaney realizes that this could be an attempt to brand some fathers as child molesters, perhaps himself. By time he realizes it, the principal had already taken custody of his children. Delaney storms in and takes his children before state authorities arrive. He flees with his children to the back woods, to an old, abandoned cabin owned by his grandfather. Now the authorities charge him with kidnapping.

The government's efforts to punish Delaney and capture his children make chilling reading. A Vietnamese family, the Thus, help Delaney escape. Their son, Anthony, plays an important role. Maurice L'Oraison, a government investigator, also plays a key role, likewise Bertham Woolley, a doctor who once did partial birth abortions. Delaney writes his experiences into his journal. The journal entries are narrative. O'Brien also builds characterization through expert dialog. After five harrowing days on the run, Delaney is captured. His children escape. After Delaney's arrest, he makes another journal entry in his jail cell and hides the journal under his prison mattress. Years later, a retired R.C.M.P., who was a young corporal in charge of Delaney when Delaney was arrested, types the journal entries into his computer and mails a copy to the Delaney family. The R.C.M.P. officer explains that he was moved to new assignment after Delaney's capture and never heard anything more about Delaney. The corporal's final sentence says: "Things have a strange way of just disappearing lately, things and people."

PLAGUE JOURNAL is a gripping novel that makes you wonder how you would act if your government became so oppressive that you lost your freedom, your civil rights, and the privilege of teaching your children the traditional values your parents passed on to you. O'Brien portrays a man who fought hard against this injustice, but the perpetrators became too powerful and tried to destroy him. This is reminiscent of what the Germans and Russians might have experienced when the Nazis and Communists came to power. Could this happen in our countries? If the world really is approaching the end times, and the Antichrist will soon assert power, will we experience something similar? You can't help wondering how you would act under these circumstance? All three novels in this series make fascinating reading.

Reviewed by Maurice A. Williams
Posted November 2, 2003