Title: THE CAUSE
Author: Roderick Vincent
Genre: Dystopian Fiction
Release Date: November 28, 2014
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
* I received a free electronic copy of THE CAUSE from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.*
SYNOPSIS:
Set in the not too distant future, the year 2026, THE CAUSE takes it’s name from a group of freedom fighters formed in the 1700s.
“The year is 2022. America is on the verge of economic and social collapse. The government has made liberty its enemy. African American hacker Isse Corvus enters a black-ops training camp. He discovers the leaders are revolutionaries seeking to return the U.S. back to its Constitutional roots. He learns that if he doesn’t join The Cause and help them hack the NSA’s servers, it could mean his life.”
“A novel of juxtaposition, The Cause also tells the tale of NSA Director General Titus Montgomery. The President has told him that rule of law must be maintained at all costs. But something is wrong with the heartbeat of America. What will he do when Martial law meets revolution?”
REVIEW:
“When men take up arms to set other men free, there is something sacred and holy in the warfare.” —Woodrow Wilson
This book may be fiction, but large parts of it are based on fact.
In THE CAUSE the author states: “For some years they have had the ability to turn on your phone’s GPS, video and audio devices, tap in to your Google glasses, and use CCTV cams within the vicinity. Now, they can wire into everyone else’s devices too within your vicinity. They don’t even need feet on the ground anymore. They are following you with micro-UAVs. They are as small as a blue jay, and to the unsuspecting eye, can look like them too.” The scary thing is that this technology already exists and the United States government is already using it.
When the planes flew into the World Trade Center the government quickly instituted new privacy laws, or should I say ‘lack -of-privacy’ laws. They have the power to listen in on your phone calls, read your text messages, check your email and monitor your bank accounts. While some of the information these tactics have garnered has undoubtedly been used to identify and nullify suspected terrorists, it is what they are doing with the rest of the information they gather that should worry the American public.
It is that fear of ‘Big Brother’ that resounds throughout THE CAUSE. this book is more than just an interesting story. It is a warning. It can also be viewed as a wake-up call to the general public. The thing that I found so striking about this book is that is horrifyingly realistic and terrifyingly relevant to today’s society. There are real groups operating in the US today that are startlingly similar to the Minutemen in THE CAUSE. At present these groups are seen as fringe groups and are sometimes even labelled as domestic terrorists. This begs the question; are these people really terrorists or are they actually patriots? The government uses the public’s fear of terrorism to keep the public from complaining about the money spent to combat it. “Terrorism was the boogeyman, a propaganda tool to fund the programs.”
It is because of the issues I have listed and because of the questions this book poses that THE CAUSE is such a compelling read.
“The Cause” would make an excellent book club read. This book contains many discussion topics and offers readers the chance to open their eyes to what just might be happening in the world around them. It would also be interesting to discover which technologies being used in the Cause are fact and which are fiction. There are ready made Book Club discussion questions available on the author’s website.
Now, even though I say that many of the things in this book are happening already, readers must not forget that this book is FICTION.
Roderick Vincent’s writing is exquisite, with wording such as “The virtual world is a blaze that’s difficult to backburn, even if you wish you could.” The author has a gift for description and is able to paint pictures with words.
The author is able to evoke emotion in the reader. For example, when he writes “…my father’s whisper settled in my head, a voice rattling from years ago—Do right by your country and right by your family and life should be okay…” you can’t help but agree with the wisdom of the statement. And you can’t help but feel the love of the father for his son. You can almost picture the scene where he imparts this wisdom to his son, hoping that his child will grow into a good man.
THE CAUSE is the first book in a new series and I cannot wait to see how the story of Corvus and The Minutemen plays out. One thing I am sure of and that is that it will definitely be an interesting and thought-provoking read.
RATING:
I rate this book as 4 out of 5 stars. The only reason that I did not give it 5 stars was that I felt some of the scenes of the training at The Abbatoir could have been shortened. Also, there is an excessive amount of anti-government propaganda. At times it is just too much. It is like being hit over the head repeatedly with a club. The reader understands what the government is doing and that it is corrupt. This message comes through clearly without being repeated over and over again. However, even with the repetition this is still a great book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Photo and Author Information obtained from http://www.roderickvincent.com
Roderick Vincent is the author of the Minutemen series about a dystopian America. The first novel, titled The Cause, was published by Roundfire books on November, 28th 2014.
A good part of his childhood and young-adult years were spent living on the island of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.
In 1988, he participated in a classical guitar masterclass with Christopher Parkening while majoring in music at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
His short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in Writer’s Digest, Ploughshares Blog, The Nervous Breakdown, Straylight, and Offshoots.
Beyond his fiction writing, he blogs about the future, and the changing times of the world we live in.
To learn more about this author visit him online at http://www.Roderick Vincent.com
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