Kill Time

TJ MacGregor's KILL TIME depicts the corruption of society as a mother is abducted by government agents and society's values turn extreme. Protection from outside threats and and medical maladies turn rogue as extremism and corruption enter the scene. Time travel heightens the suspense and characterization as the author reveals history and future influence. Nora's mother disappeared when she was a child. Now, as she prepares to tell her husband that she wants a divorce, her childhood fears come back to haunt her as her husband is taken away from her right in front of her in a restaurant by FREEZE (Freedom and Security). Labeled as a terrorist, there is no recourse and her attempts to find out the charge become much too similar to a Kafka novel. As she traces a trail of clues left by her husband, she uncovers medical research gone awry, disappearing dissidents, political corruption and power brokering, greed run rampant and an eerie connection to a television show from the past. The ending leaves some things unresolved but it works well here, giving a vision that makes the reader ponder. KILL TIME addresses issues of our current culture, indeed issues faced throughout history. By de-familiarizing them through time travel and a futuristic feel, TJ MacGregor gets down to timeless values, not specific political personalities or events, and in doing so, reaches beyond party politics into the heart of human values. I adore suspense that takes parts of culture perhaps good in the original intention and twists them, showing the underside when "good" things become too absolute, too fanatical. TJ MacGregor reveals the dark underside of aspects of today's society without preaching and without moralizing, leaving the reader to form their own ideas. As homeland security and medical research cross the boundaries into corruption and fanaticism, TJ MacGregor provides an eerie portrait. The references to Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone and Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead are just downright fun. TJ MacGregor's thriller amuses with its look into 1968 culture and chills as time travel brings an all too real look at the influence of television albeit through the twisted and delightful vision of TJ MacGregor's time travel suspense hunt. KILL TIME is both an amusing and thought-provoking tale of suspense with its vision of the world in 1968 and today's or a future world riddled in extremism.

I have read all of Macgregors books. At the heart of everyone is a mystery. And yet she continues to push the boundaries of fiction...is it psychic fiction...science fiction...or a little bit of the truth that some folks don't want to look at...I take it back..I did not read Category 5 because I live on an island. And if there is one thing I know about her books it is that she presents the present and the future in a way that can make you sit up and take notice...That said I hope the Freeze guys aren't right around the corner.....

Kill Time, like the Tango Key Mysteries, is a fun ride. I love the pacing of T.J.'s books, and Kill Time kept me reading way past my bedtime. Kill Time creates a model of time travel that is very tight, intricate in its detail, and works within its own reality. This author has some imagination! It is also a story about a shadow government who uses time travel to "disappear" subversives. It is topical, in that respect--and thought provoking. T.J.'s novels are so visual, it makes it very easy to enter the reality presented. If it can be imagined...could it really happen?

In Blue River, Massachusetts, college psychology professor Nora McKee knows her marriage of five years to the English Department Chair Jake is over. As she struggles with telling him so, two federal agents Curtis and Sargent from the Department of Freedom and Security grab Jake to take him into custody. Nora is stunned not just because he was snatched, but it reminds her of the pivotal incident of her childhood when twenty-three years ago Feds abducted her mom whom she never heard from again. Nora calls college librarian Alex Kincaid, her former lover and Jake's best friend. The Fed already told her to get a lawyer as she is guilty by association of violating Section 14 Code 3. No warrant is needed to snatch people off the street by this shadow top secret agency. With Alex at her side, Nora begins an odyssey through time as they learn of an experiment that crossed the line when all they seek is the truth of the "legal" kidnappings of her mom and her spouse while also remembering Jake's last words to her: "Run, Nora, run". From the beginning when the Feds snatch Jake until the climax, fans will be hooked to keep on reading to learn what Nora and Alex will learn next. The suspense never slows down as the lead couple dodges dangerous agents who legally can eliminate them without a judge or jury. As they uncover the truth about the kidnappings of her loved ones and other snatches as well as the experiment in which Nora is the link tying the abducted together, they struggle to survive. Thus the audience receives a cautionary tale to beware of out of control government agents using security issues to take people off the street as happened a few decades ago in Argentina while readers also receive a warning subplot on scientific experimenting going wrong. However, the bottom line is KILL TIME is an exhilarating suspense thriller. Harriet Klausner