(This column appeared in the August 31, 2008, Star-Herald)

It has been fun this past month to highlight local authors in the programming and displays at the Library and in this article. Today we wrap up with a review on the book The Peace Plan written by Phil Darley.

Darley, originally from Los Angeles, resides on a rural acreage outside of Scottsbluff. He switched his career from one of marketing and management to teaching and writing. He and his wife enjoy rural Scottsbluff living while raising four children, numerous foster children and Siberian Huskies.

Darley’s peaceful, rural life (if you can call raising kids and dogs peaceful—I’ve done both) gives way to another side. The Peace Plan is a novel of suspense and terrorism.

The Prologue starts out before 911 as an Iraqi nuclear scientist is escorted to a bunker to begin his work on one of Hussein’s "Special Research Programs".

Chapter 1 jumps ahead to October 2002. We are introduced to Spencer Libson, a family man much like Darley himself. Libson lives in Colorado with his wife and two young boys. Although Libson’s consulting work has attracted attention in Washington D.C., a call from the White House comes quite unexpectedly. One hour later, Spencer is boarding a leer jet heading for Washington, reading a packet of materials sent from the White House. It is quite clear that his doctorate Thesis is finally coming to life - a peace plan for Iraq.

The Peace Plan has many twists and turns, including a terrorist attack on a United Nations’ airliner, a kidnapping, and a global-minded conspiracy for a New World Order, spear headed, no less, in Washington.

Through all of this, Libson trudges forward with his dedication to a peaceful Iraq.

Will there be lasting peace in Iraq in the end and how will the discovery of Hussein’s "Special Research Program" effect what lies ahead in the future? Those questions are answered in Darley’s second book A New World Order. These two thrillers are proof that Darley has definitely done his homework as he takes his readers on a political, military and geographic journey of intrigue and suspense.

The Peace Plan is available for checkout at the Scottsbluff Library and we will soon have a copy of A New World Order, as well. Be prepared for continued suspense, as I am told there is a third book in the works.

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