The Cause is set in a not-to-distant future of America that has fallen into financial ruin. The police employ high-tech, military style weaponry to control the populace, and the skies are filled with drones engaged in constant surveillance. Main character, Isse Corvus, enters a highly secretive CIA training program whose leader is focused on demonstrating to the American public that THEY are the ones who truly hold the power, not the government.

The Cause is an excellent novel. It is a combination of military suspense and espionage, set against a backdrop of a dystopian America. The book is intelligent and well-written. It is rich in detail about some of the more questionable tactics employed by the American government in the name of national security.

The story moves quickly and delivers intensity and suspense in a myriad of ways throughout, including a pulse-quickening ending. All of the major characters were so very well developed, and the exchanges between them were intelligent and thought provoking.

The author's message was delivered with strength and enthusiasm from start to finish. I thought the placement of quotations at the start of each chapter from individuals regarding liberty, country and patriotism was a nice touch.

I did have difficulty with much of the terminology used in the novel though. There were mention of various government entities and/or computer "snooping" programs (StellarWind, HumInt, SigInt, DARPA, Turbulence, StormBrew, etc...) that I was not familiar with. I was able to infer some things contextually about what these things are and I wasable to Google some others. However, I felt they were not clea r ly explained in the novel and, as such, I felt a little lost at times. It should be noted that, at the end of the book, there is a section called, "Truth In The Cause" that provides some background on some of these government programs.

The Cause is an excellent and intelligent read, which I highly recommend. ( )

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, it had some really great characters and i loved the dynamic between Isse and See. I though t the future (being not to far into it) was believable enough for the states. I would have liked it if we knew more about his ex Rose, she was mentioned multiple time but remained vague.

I would recommend this to anyone wanting a little thrill, looking forward to the next installment ( )

Solid all the way through

Mind blowing.
The scenes, the characters, the game of rules against higher rules.
A plot both hot and cold, but never crude even in the knifest parts. ( )

Didactic, clichéd, chauvinistic and likely predictable, but I quit before the end

The Cause depicts a future America where the gap between rich and poor has become a chasm, and the government uses brute force and disinformation to maintain a semblance of order.

This is hardly original, so it’s not surprising the hero, Isse Corvus, is an ex-military, ex MMA fighter, and is now being trained in black ops by a secret unit of the CIA.

This seems to be the standard resume of characters in this type of novel, as well as being muscle-bound receptacles of testosterone, with cynical, chauvinistic attitudes, and an IQ verging on genius. A philosopher-warrior which, when you think about it, is an oxymoron.

When author, Roderick Vincent, tries to instill depth in the character of Corvus it’s with very, very broad and unbelievable strokes and comes in the form of great chunks of info dump.

Much of the philosophical ramblings smack of author intrusion and more than often don’t advance the plot nor develop character.

The characters are clichéd and the narrative, when not didactic, reads like a violent video game. I never did find out what the “the cause” was. At about a third of the way through I couldn’t find “cause” to continue.

I received this book free from Story Cartel in return for an honest review. ( )