Take the Fourth
refers to the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It’s
the one which protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures,
along with requiring a warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by
probable cause. However, in today’s
bar-coded computer-transaction cell-phone techno-society, each of us gives out
more information on a daily basis than the government actually needs to profile
and learn all about us through old fashioned invasive actions. In essence, as a bi-product of our
willingness to carry an iPhone, Droid, BlackBerry, even just a cell phone for
that matter, or when we surf the web from a computer in our home, we
inadvertently and willingly relinquish many of our constitutional rights. Jeffrey Walton points out in Take the Fourth so many ways information
is gathered and compiled; even I was astounded by the depth of this data
trail. Walton uses his techno-savvy
character, Jorja Carson, as she peels the onion of the technological layering
of the government databases, to uncover a truth far more sinister than
imaginable. From the network servers of
the CIA in Langley Virginia, to the Oval Office of the White House, Jeffrey Walton’s
plot is creatively original with its exposition. He provides a sophisticated layering of many
clandestine technologies transcending to the depths of binary analysis while he
interleaves incredible factual knowledge into his storyline of terrorism,
governmental power, crime and secrets.
Writing in a style reminiscent of the late Michael Crichton,
with governmental overtones similar to a Tom Clancy novel, along with research
analogous to what Dan Brown puts into his work; Jeffrey Walton carries his
storyline with excellent realism, unparallel character development, clever
foreshadowing and expertly conceived plot machinations. Keeping to relatively short chapters, easily
imagined into a movie’s storyboard sequence, his novel is fast paced, engulfing
the reader into a visual track while revealing more and more background about
our unknowing loss of personal privacy.
When a gang of terrorists shoot up a shopping mall, causing
carnage and mayhem, the public becomes willing to step down a wrung of private
personal rights to allow the government to protect them against further
terrorist attacks. As flu and pandemic
health concerns bring risks to the general public, people forgo their
individual rights and allow for governmental inoculations, not truly knowing
what in fact is within the serum they so willingly allow to be injected into
their bodies. Are we sure the government
isn’t performing the highly publicized terrorist act to sway public opinion to
allow for metal detectors and searches at public places? Does the CDC allow for an outbreak of a
disease to scare the population; thus in turn causing a frenzy of people wanting
inoculations of what the government might secretly put into the serum? How else could they persuade people to
willingly get injections? For the
benefit and greater good of the masses, individual rights are systematically
dwindled away. Some knowingly, and many others
without our slightest knowledge. These
are the messages within Jeffrey Walton’s writing.
As subliminal as a picture within a picture, as for example
the “arrow within the FedEx logo,” (really – look carefully and you’ll see it) Jeffrey
Walton’s Take the Fourth will haunt
you long after finishing the book. I
certainly recommend this to all sophisticated readers of suspense, espionage
and technology novels. I can see this
book becoming a block buster movie as well as a series of adventures of his
well developed characters. This is a
"must read" for any freedom loving American.
Now that your computer has clicked on the web link for this
review, the government knows of your interest in this genre of reading
material, and may have moved you into a category for further observation. You now must be careful where you go, what
you buy, what you type online and definitely what you say! By not paying attention to Take the Fourth, you may someday have to
“Take the fifth.”
