Plague Journal
Michael D. O'Brien is a masterful storyteller. He has compiled a stunning series, Children of the Last Days, of which Plague Journal is the second. I am now just beyond half way through Eclipse of the Sun, the third. I have two more to go, and by then perhaps he will have written some more. While I'm reviewing his work, I'd like to applaud his latest work : Island of the World. That was a "watershed" book for me.There are not words to convey the power and authority which which he strings words together. It is compelling fiction. Any one choosing to read Michael D. O'Brien's work will be in for a major treat as well as learning experience.
More bang for the buck than "Left Behind"
O'Brien's "Children of the Last Days" series shows what the apocalypse might be like through Catholic eyes. "Plague Journal" shows what an average man would go through when he sees the very land he loves slowly but surely choke off all joy and life in the name of an efficient government. The main character's actions and thoughts make you slow down and wonder what you'd do. Also, not all the characters automatically do the right thing. Each of their actions has a consequence, whether good or bad, and they have to put up with those consequences, which is more realistic. There's no flashy deux ex machina, but God works through the characters in a way that's somehow more majestic than simply suspending laws of nature to make sure the good guy wins. I highly recommend this book no matter what religion you follow. You will laugh, cry, and think.
Don't believe everything you hear
As I'm sure most reviewers have said, be sure you read Strangers and Sojourners first; PJ is the second in the series. Also, it is good to read Father Elijah too; it occurs about the same time as PJ.
I read PJ in a week. It is one of the most moving books I've read, but I was reluctant to heed its message in the beginning. In this world of half-truths and deceptions where everyone is a partially educated philosopher and politician, PJ really does show the need to not believe everything we heard or read.
Should we be constantly paranoid? Not really. But a healthy skepticism is necessary.
O'Brien's best
Michael O'Brien has a tendency to overwrite his books (one of his very few flaws as a writer). But in Plague Journal, he reined himself in (or finally got an editor who did) and the result is a book that is no less packed with plot tension, cultural criticism, and character development than his other tomes.The middle book of a trilogy of books about the Delaney family (starting with Strangers and Sojourners and ending with Eclipse of the Sun), Plague Journal also fits within O'Brien's larger series, which he calls Children of the Last Days. The first of those is the explosive novel Father Elijah.
While Plague Journal is my personal favorite. I recommend reading it after Father Elijah and Strangers and Sojourners, since it needs the other two to provide its context in O'Brien's view of the Last Days.
And O'Brien's view is a bleak one. The government has become the tool of the antichrist, whether it knows it or not, and an honest journalist (even one who doesn't have a living faith in God) can't get an honest shake, but is hunted down.
Swift, sharp, and poigniant, O'Brien provides his readers with everything that Left Behind readers should have gotten but didn't and without all of the silly speculations. This is good literature that shapes the heart and the mind Christianly.
Plague Journal Review
The book was quite excellent. I was used to and enjoyed some of the mainstream thriller authors. I hope Michael O'Brien would continue on this excellent course. I wish more people would read this with a wide open mind.
