On an ordinary night deep in the heartland of America, two men striving for recognition in the their chosen fields will be thrustinto the national spotlight and become famous beyond their wildest imaginations. One will be celebrated as the journalist who broke the most astonishing story of the century. The other, an unassuming associate professor, will become a hunted man, reviled the world over...

Hank Thorwald is the youngest member of the faculty at Indiana State University. Struggling for a measure of security for his wife, Rebecca, and their daughter, he arrives at the party wanting only to make an impression on the members of his tenure committee.

Alan Weston is a burned-out television reporter whose early promise as a hard-hitting investigative journalist has stalled. The party offers him a chance to see his mentor-the esteemed, eccentric host, psychology professor Perry Wilson-and perhaps regain the confidence that has begun to elude him.

To amuse his guests Perry will hypnotize one of them. He chooses Hank. The game begins with a series of light questions that become more probing as they take Hank further back in time. And then, in a room grown eerily quiet, Hank will make a shocking admission that, at long last, will give Alan Weston the big story he's waited a lifetime for.

Within hours Alan will make Hank a hated and hunted man. Confused and desperate-his family under siege, his life in jeopardy-Hank will go on the run to escape a bizarre and dangerous cabal that believes him to be the torchbearer of an evil legacy they long to revive.

Mesmerizing and ingenious, Katastrophe is both a spellbinding thriller with a stunning conclusion and a surprisingly intimate portrait of a seemingly ordinary man and a family driven to the brink when their world unravels.