The Cattle is a timely and creepy tale that gives a taste of what might happen if the sleeping masses allow a corrupt government to use terrorism as an excuse for total control of the public. And if you think we, the people, are too savvy to let that happen, then you have not been paying attention.

In the wake of a call for a National I.D. System, which will no doubt be taken up again by the Bush administration in the very near future, author Sarwa takes a look at what could occur should each and every citizen be forced to have a chip implanted in their bodies, a chip that will allow the government to track their every move.

That terrifying intrusion of personal privacy happens with the development of RFID, Radio Frequency Identification, and when the Real ID Act of 2005 passes, the system gets underway and the first round of people are implanted. But there is a dark secret agenda to what is being touted as a way to curb terrorism, and only a handful of people know about it. Those that shouldn’t mysteriously turn up dead.

That’s when reporter Jacob Reed gets wind of the horrifying truth, and with the help of a gorgeous Polish woman named Anna and a computer whiz named Eric, he desperately tries to get the truth out to anyone who might be able to stop the corrupt government from turning human beings into weak, powerless cattle.

The problem with The Cattle is that it reads way too fast, and comes in at a too short 212 pages. I wanted so much more depth and examination of what this chilling plot to own civilians could and would lead to, and we are only given a tantalizing taste of the possible outcomes. The characters are believable, but seem to be more reactive than proactive at times, and the ending will leave readers wanting so much more.

Still, I got a few chills reading this fact-based thriller, especially knowing how close we as a society are getting to crossing that fine line where fear makes us do really insane things – like give over our privacy and our very lives to government leaders who care nothing about us, and who would turn us into obedient cattle for their own obscenely wicked ends.