T.J. MacGregor Category Five

Category Five

T.J. MacGregor

Pinnacle, Oct 2005, $6.99, 384 pp.

ISBN 0786016809

Billy Joe Franklin and his girlfriend Crystal DeVries robbed a bank and he absconded with the money, leaving Crystal to take the fall. While waiting to go to trial, she, along with her friend Tia, transferred from the Dade County jail to the one on Tango Key. Billy successfully breaks her and Tia in a daring jailbreak. It looks like his planning will allow them to make a clean getaway until Hurricane Danielle turns into a Category Five storm, worse than even Hurricane Andrew.

Bookstore owner and psychic Mira Morales, her daughter Annie and her grandmother are preparing to survive one of the worst hurricanes on record when the escaped convicts and Billy take over the house and make sure the hostages are subdued. Mira's live-n-lover, Shep, an FBI agent, knows about the danger the women face but he is trapped in a cellar and is unable to get out. Mira has to take charge and see that her family is safe until someone can rescue them but when their situation looks hopeless, help comes from a most unexpected source.

It is a toss up to Mira which is worse the Category Five hurricane or dealing with the unstable Billy Joe. Both could get her killed and even her psychic powers are not strong enough for her foresee what kind of trauma and tragedy will result from the criminals and the storm. T.J. MacGregor has written a fantastic crime thriller, filled with action and suspense but the true antagonist in CATEGORY FIVE is Hurricane Danielle.

Harriet Klausner