Check; Greg M. Sarwa’s debut novel, The Cattle
Author: Greg M. Sarwa
ISBN: 0976620200
If you have any preconceptions about the Royal Identification Act recently enacted in the
USA, I wholeheartedly suggest that you read Greg M. Sarwa’s debut novel The Cattle.
Although the narrative is a work of fiction, it certainly reflects some of the
reality that is occurring in the US as a result of 9/11.
The United States enacted the Real ID ACT in 2005 which creates a “machine readable”
Federally approved identification card. Supporters of this card argue that the identification card
will help fight terrorism and will also follow the advice of some of the
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission investigation. What it boils down to is
that as of 2008, if you live or work in the U.S., you will need a
card approved by the federal government to travel by plane, open a bank account, charge
Social Security payments, or take advantage of almost all government services.
In other words, the Royal Identification Act would establish a national identity card. On
Also, what is alarming about these ID cards is the information that could
be stored in them. The Department of Homeland Security has the power to decide what
Information will be included. This may be more than just your name, date of birth,
gender, identification number, digital photograph and address. In addition, you will use a
common machine-readable technology. This could mean that it could end up being a
magnetic stripe, or a fancy barcode, or even a radio frequency
chip identification. Would they go so far as to implant a microprocessor in their
body?
The last possibility is the focus of the plot of Sarwa’s novel, where one day
Before the National Identification System becomes a reality, all hell
loose tears. A Level 3 IT Technician, Brian Warburton, serving the
Department of Homeland Security and working at O’Hare Airport in Chicago
discovers that when he does a final overhaul of the complicated system he was going to
be up and running the next day by putting the NIS into effect, you discover that
inexplicably it was already connected. In addition, the technology that you witness in your
The computer screen was only for those people with a level five clearance.
According to Brian, it was supposed to take years to get to the information and it should
they have never been allowed, it was in his words “against the law”.
Brian had to do something with this new information and decides to copy
on a computer disk so you can warn everyone. Nevertheless,
Unfortunately, having completed his copy, Brian mysteriously dies, but
not before he manages to place the disk in the luggage of Anna Tabor, a Polish
visitor who has just arrived in the US
Trevor Clifton, a senior official with the Department of Homeland Security in
Chicago and also working at O’Hare airport is informed by one of his
subordinates that there was unauthorized access to the higher level of the
computer system or as it was called, Digital Gabriel. He almost left
ballistic and immediately realizes that it could only be Brian Warburton who
I was making the copy.
While all this is going on, journalist Jacob Reed is working on his
editorial for the next day’s edition belonging to National Security
Identification law. Receives a phone call from Police Officer Ron Lacosta
requesting that they meet immediately because he has something extremely
important to tell. When they get together, Reed receives a video cassette.
That came from one of the video cameras at the airport. Apparently Lacosta
He received the tape from a colleague before the latter died in a mysterious car.
Accident in the airport parking lot.
What’s on the tape and the ensuing chase between Clifton and Reed’s men occupy
the rest of the novel, in which Sarwa weaves an energetic rhythm
Mystery thriller with the necessary elements of detection and threat.
Sarwa’s writing is peppered with some vivid detail and his characters are
very well drawn and distinctive. And although the novel sounds like the montage of a
routine thriller, the surprising ending is far from predictable. Cattle is
Sarawa’s first novel and has effectively set the hook for future thrillers.