[.ca] The Cattle (ISBN 0976620200)

An electrifying, 21st-century science fiction thriller:
The Cattle is a fast-moving, tightly-packed science fiction nightmare grown from the seeds of modern-day events. Greg M. Sarwa takes the idea of a national identification card one step further - to a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchip crammed full of personal information and injected under the skin of the hand. Everyone in America - including foreign visitors - will be required by law to receive such an implant, and - surprisingly - there's almost unanimous approval for the new law in both Congress and among the American people. It is, after all, only to be used for means of identity verification. Or is it? In the murky depths of the federal government, a much bolder agenda is put into play around these harmless little microchips, and no one outside the inner cabal is the wiser. No one, that is, until a computer programmer, in the wrong place at the wrong time, sees more than he should during the final tests and indirectly leads an intrepid reporter on the pathway to the hidden truth behind the implants (if, that is, he can survive long enough to discover that well-hidden truth). The mysterious death of a young computer programmer at O'Hare Airport on the eve of the implementation of the new National Identify System exposes a weakness in the government conspiracy, and the local office of Homeland Security is unable to respond immediately to the events surrounding it. By the time their guys arrive, a videotape of the dead man's final moments has left the building in the hands of a cop, and a very damaging computer disk has seemingly disappeared into thin air. The video tape finds its way into the hands of Jacob Reed, a prominent reporter for a national news network - who, ironically, had just completed a big story about the many benefits of the new national identification law. Unsure what to make of the tape initially, he knows he has something big in his lap, as the tape has left a bloody trail on its way to him. With the help of a hacker friend and a young immigrant woman from Poland who finds herself mixed up in the whole nefarious business for no reason other than incredibly bad luck, Reed begins to put together the pieces as he comes ever closer to getting his hands on the tell-all computer disk that Homeland Security agents are desperately trying to find reclaim. Amazingly enough, The Cattle never devolves into a political diatribe or take on religious overtones - and that's pretty darn refreshing for a book with "Mark of the Beast" overtones and an insidious government conspiracy at the heart of things. It also hides its kernel of truth until close to the very end, keeping the level of suspense up and growing with each passing chapter. As for the ending, it doesn't follow the standard formula of what you would expect, and that makes it all the more effective. You won't be bored, as the story moves much too fast to ever stall. Personally, I would have liked to see some pauses along the way to better appraise the main characters (on both sides of the conflict) and reflect on the implications of events. The plot is built on fast-moving twists and turns that take place over the course of one long night, though, and that does much to prescribe the pace at which events are revealed. The science fiction genre has a long tradition of "it can't happen here" novels, and The Cattle is firmly in that tradition - although I do consider the premise of the book rather far-fetched. Still, it's an electrifying read you'll have a hard time putting down.