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Whatever your usual genre of choice, Life Expectancy has enough of a level of romance, comedy, excitement and terror to suit all tastes and it's a highly recommended read.
If you're looking for any clues as to "who dunnit", the only thing I shall say is: syndactyly. ... Read review
Life Expectancy confirms that one of the pleasures of reading Dean Koontz is that he is ... more
never especially likely to do the same thing twice in a row. Here he gives us a suspense novel with a supernatural element--Jimmy's dying grandfather prophesies at...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Check Site.
Life Expectancyconfirms that one of the pleasures of reading Dean Koontz is that he is ... more
never especially likely to do the same thing twice in a row. Here he gives us a suspense novel with a supernatural element--Jimmy's dying grandfather prophesies at ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Life Expectancy confirms that one of the pleasures of reading Dean Koontz is that he is ... more
never especially likely to do the same thing twice in a row. Here he gives us a suspense novel with a supernatural element--Jimmy's dying grandfather prophesies at...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Check Site.
Life Expectancy confirms that one of the pleasures of reading Dean Koontz is that he is ... more
never especially likely to do the same thing twice in a row. Here he gives us a suspense novel with a supernatural element--Jimmy's dying grandfather prophesies at his birth that he will have five really bad days in his twenties and we watch these with real concern that he may not survive them. Even on the day of Jimmy's birth things go badly--a mad clown loses his wife in childbirth and massacres hospital staff; a bizarre feud between clowns and aerialists is a significant part of what follows. One of the strengths of Koontz's writing is that he works out in finely-blocked detail precisely how his average characters get themselves out of desperate situations by ingenuity and pluck, and without suddenly becoming super-powerful; even at his most wildly inventive, he remembers to be plausible. And this is one of his best books for a while simply because he has fewer axes to grind--this is pure story-telling of the smoothest kind. --Roz Kaveney.
Postage & Packaging:refer to website Availability:Check Site.
Advantages: Fast-paced, gripping thriller with light moments of comedy Disadvantages: Some loose uses of poetic license in the wrong years.
...
As the Tock's life becomes inextricably entwined with the history of the circus, as the might of the clowns and the aerialists comes to bare on Jimmy and his beautiful wife, they are forced to make life changing decisions in order to keep their loving family together. Koontz writes the story so well that you find yourself willing the Tocks to succeed, not to fall foul of the traps the Beezos and the Vivacementes may be setting for them in ... ...usual genre of choice, Life Expectancy has enough of a level of romance, comedy, excitement and terror to suit all tastes and it's a highly recommended read.
If you're looking for any clues as to "who dunnit", the only thing I shall say is: syndactyly. ... more
We all know that clowns are evil. Almost as evil, in fact, as sheep. But throughout the history of horror movies and from Stephen King's IT to the clown that resides under your five year old's bed, we've all learned that clowns are not the funny, face-painted entertainers we're lead to believe, but cruel, ruthless killers of satanic birth.
But as Dean Koontz weaves the story of Jimmy Tock, he intricately includes a clown like you've never seen one before - without make up, without funny nose or sinister smile, without self-imploding car, but just as murderous as the next slightly insane clown.
On the night of his birth, Jimmy Tock's grandfather makes ten frighteningly accurate predictions, then he died the very moment little Jimmy's mother gave birth. The older Tock predicted that the baby would be twenty inches in length, would weight eight pounds ten ounces, would be born at ten-forty-six pm, would suffer from syndactyly; he predicted everybody would call him Jimmy despite his birth name being James and he predicted five terrible days that the little Tock would suffer during his life: September 15th 1994; January 19th 1998; December 23rd 2002; November 26th 2003; April 16th 2005. And then he died.
At the same time, Jimmy Tock (nobody ever called him James, even people he'd only just met) was born. But while Rudy Tock, son of Josef Tock and father to Jimmy, was both grieving for his dead father and elated at the arrival of his son, in the maternity suite next to the Tock's a far greater drama was playing out.
Natalie Vivacemente Beezo, wife of arguably the world's greatest clown - Konrad Beezo - and daughter to the greatest aerialist that ever did live - Virgilio Vivacemente - was struggling with a traumatic childbirth, one that ultimately killed her.
Konrad, unable to contain his grief, blamed the doctors for her death, saying they were agents for the evil Virgilio who hated the fact his daughter, a beautiful aerialist, had married a clown! He grabbed the newborn baby from a nurse and shot her and the doctor delivering the news of his wife's death, before going on the run.
Jimmy Tock grew up with the loving guidance of his parents, Maddy and Rudy, and became a master baker. But as September 15th 1994, the family came together, apprehensive of what that day might bring...
To tell you what happened on those days would be to spoil the story line. The scene is set and if you're a fan of thrilling fiction or Dean Koontz, then this novel is one I can highly recommend. The narrative is written as if the story teller, Jimmy Tock, is uncomfortable with telling stories yet Koontz weaves his magic with the prose and the story flows quickly and entertainingly. The chapters are short but fulfilling and the page-turning effect of Koontz's latest story had me through 400-page hardback in just a handful of nights.
As the Tock's life becomes inextricably entwined with the history of the circus, as the might of the clowns and the aerialists comes to bare on Jimmy and his beautiful wife, they are forced to make life changing decisions in order to keep their loving family together. Koontz writes the story so well that you find yourself willing the Tocks to succeed, not to fall foul of the traps the Beezos and the Vivacementes may be setting for them in the future.
By chapter 63 your heart is in your mouth as you try to understand just what has happened to the hero of the story; to find out, you have to keep turning the pages.
To a pedant like me, the only negatives in this novel were a couple of inadvertent uses of poetic license. In 1994, Lorrie Lyn Hicks makes a reference to e-mail as if everybody is using it, yet in '94 e-mail was still in its infancy and was the realm of academics, scientists and the rich, who could afford the gargantuan fees to connect to their 9.6kb Internet providers.
Likewise, in 1998, friends and neighbours bring the Tocks piles of DVDs to watch to see them through a period in their life, yet in '98 DVD players and discs were as rare as e-mail was in '94 and the cost of players, not to mention the films themselves, were still extraordinarily high, yet Koontz writes as if the Tocks have a player in every room. The notion was as absurd as houses having more than one TV in the nineteen fifties.
Neither of these inadvertent uses of technology detracts from the story, however, and it is incredibly well written, incredibly enthralling and, above all, it contains a level of light-hearted humour that is often missing from dark tales; this humour makes you love the brilliantly woven characters more.
Whatever your usual genre of choice, Life Expectancy has enough of a level of romance, comedy, excitement and terror to suit all tastes and it's a highly recommended read.
If you're looking for any clues as to "who dunnit", the only thing I shall say is: syndactyly.
Advantages: Intriguing Story, Easy Read. Disadvantages: Not enough character motivation and rather simplistically told.
...a very clever and disturbing life ahead of him.
Sadly I found the writing style a bit clunky and disappointing given the expectations I had of Dean Koontz as an author. Later it occurred to me that this style, which lacked much character development and a real feel for the locations and motivations in many parts, was due to the story's autobiographical protagonists telling it, rather than Koontz as a writer. Perhaps it wasn't representational of ... ...faith in the books momentum and to be sufficiently absorbed in this fictional world in order to really feel for the characters.
As the story progressed I found this inexperienced writing style less cumbersome, but still found it a bit forced in places. Twice the storytelling protagonist(s) try to trick the reader and this I found a little patronising, and led to a removal from the fictional world's momentum. Although the first person narrative allowed ...
Callinore 30.08.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz
Advantages: Light, fast-paced, twists in the plot... Disadvantages: Slighty too light for my taste - read in a day..
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* LIFE EXPECTANCY BY DEAN KOONTZ*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"When the hand of fate reaches out to touch an ordinary man....."
"The Master of our Darkest Dreams" THE TIMES
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* THE PLOT *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
'Life Expectancy' is a tale told from the point of view of Jimmy Tock, whose life we pick up at the time of his birth where his anxious father, Rudy is separating his time between his labour-pained wife, Maddy and his father, ... ...then follow Jimmy through his life as he meets each danger date and the impact it has on his life and that of his wife Lorrie and eventually, their three children, Annie, Lucy and Andy. As they face each new danger with courage and near fatalities, the Tocks come to realise how the clown Konrad Beezo is enmeshed in their lives and struggle to extract themselves from each new danger only to know they face another....
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* MY THOUGHTS ...
Kes30 15.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz
Advantages: Great premise, some nice dialogue, generally good characterisation Disadvantages: Very odd tone in places, pedestrian storyline spoils strong opening
...analogy. Dean Koontz's Life Expectancy suffered from exactly such a problem, for me. The premise is a fantastic, tantalising one; setting out with the end of one life and the start of another in quick succession. The dying man, one Josef Tock, awakes from the grip death was increasingly applying to him, and makes a series of prophesies concerning his soon-to-be-born Grandson, whom he is destined to miss by minutes. The first set of his ten predictions ... ...a terrible day in the life of young Jimmy Tock. Having made his prophecy, he dies, and the child is born, instantly fulfilling the first five predictions, giving his parents cause to believe the likely accuracy of the second set. Thus Jimmy's life begins, and must continue, taking in all five days. What lies beyond, and of what nature is the evil that stalks him? For me, this is a gripping, teasing premise; one can't help but read on, if only to ...
Puggers 13.06.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz
Advantages: Well writen, Great Characters. Disadvantages: It has to end.
...five days in the boy's life where pain and death will seek him out, days of great terror and torment.
Rudy faithfully records his fathers warnings on the back of a circus flyer.
After his message is imparted, Rudy's father abruptly dies leaving both him and the medical staff stunned.
Overwhelmed by grief, Rudy returns to the fathers lounge to see Beezo and the delivery doctor in the middle of a formidable argument.
Beezo's wife, an aerialist ... ...Jimmy has a healthy happy life with two loving parents and his Grandma Rowena.The Tock family lead a simple life, they take joy from each other, the community they live in and from food.
Jimmy is following in his fathers footsteps to become a master baker, and dinner at the Tock home is all about enjoying each others company and celebrating the wonders of pastry.
As the first day of his grandfathers predictions daws near, Jimmy and his family try ...
loopymum65 25.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz
Advantages: Twists and turns with every chapter Disadvantages: Does everything have to relate to pastry???
This is the first Dean Koontz Book i have read and i read it in 3 days whilst sunbathing in Egypt.
The book is about a pastry chef's son named Jimmy Tock and in the moments before he is born, Jimmy has a strange destiny thrust upon him, Jimmy's grandfather, who was in a stroke induced coma, suddenly awoke and predicted, among other things, five "terrible days" for his grandson, between his twentieth and thirtieth birthdays and then dies as Jimmy ... ...old, tragedy befalls the hospital as a man whose wife dies in childbirth goes berserk, kills the doctor and a nurse, grabs his newly born son and rushes into the night. As it turns out the events of that night and the legacy of terrible days are intertwined and do come back to haunt him five times. The Tock's have been Pastry Chefs for generations and Jimmy is being groomed to follow in his father's footsteps. He has started out as a baker, where ...
pokerdj5 18.11.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz
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Advantages: Easy Grammar , Adictive Disadvantages: You wont sleep as you'll be reading all day and night !
Well i got into reading when i broke my ankle and was having trouble sleeping .
My mum started by giving me a good book she had just recently read and i was hooked from then !
The next book i had was a DeanKoontz book ( LifeExpectancy ) < Briliant Book too !
Well ever since then iv only read mainly deankoontz , I heard he done horrors earlier in his written life but i hav'nt read any of them . All his books are phycological and keeps your mind going , and "From the corner of his eye" is no exepection !
I wont give no spoilers but lets just say find it VERY hard 2 get into a book , and after the second chapter i was HOOKED ! This book at the beggining has very very short chapters ,this is briliant if u find it hard 2 get atatched 2 a book , due to the fact your not stuck with one character for too long . But as any good ...
Advantages: Great Theme and Characters Disadvantages: Pacing and Ending are Slow and Bland
have read DeanKoontz before, and found him to be marvelous at description. (His latest novel "LifeExpectancy" shows him at his best.) Yet, here in "Dragon Tears" his description is so detailed, that I forget why I wanted to continue reading. Koontz gets lost in his own thoughts. (That is probably why the ending was so bland? he spent so much time on the meat of the book.) In the end, you are required to muster up a grand amount of endurance. This endurance is needed, to fight across the endless jungle of description. What really makes it bitter is that when you reach the end? you don't get much.
The Ending
In "Dragon Tears", when reading the final scenes, we are left un-impressed. You end up with something typical and predictable. Unless you are a hard-core DeanKoontz reader, I would suggest reading some of his previous work ...
Advantages: Story, Characters ect. Disadvantages: Sligtly unrealistic but you don't really care.
Odd Thomas is the first installment of the 'Odd' series, which is followed by Forever Odd and Brother Odd.
I'm a DeanKoontz fan, but by far this or LifeExpectancy have to be the best of his books, so I'm not biased.
The book is set in Pico Mundo a small town in the desert, with the main character Odd Thomas actually narrating the book.
The main characters are:
Odd Thomas - The main character sees the dead and the shadows (bodachs)
Stormy Llyewellyn - Odd's girlfriend, and 'destiny'. She was abused by foster parents after her real parents died.
Chief Porter - Odd's friend, apart from Stormy one of the only people who knows Odd sees the dead.
Little Ozzie - Odd's friend, has 6 fingers on 1 hand. The one who made Odd write the book and owning a 50 year old cat, who he insist is that old.
The story starts with Odd seeing ...
Product Information for "Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz" »
Product details
Type
Fiction
Genre
Horror
Title
Life Expectancy
Author
Dean Koontz
ISBN
0007196946; 0007196954; 0007197004; 0007785291
Manufacturer's product description
The new thriller from Dean Koontz is an emotional rollercoaster telling the story of five days in the life of an ordinary man -- a story that will challenge the way you look at good and evil, life and death. Jimmy Tock comes into the world on the very night his grandfather leaves it. As a violent storm rages outside the hospital, Rudy Tock spends long hours walking the corridors between the expectant fathers' waiting room and his dying father's bedside. It's a strange vigil made all the stranger when, at the very height of the storm's fury, Josef Tock suddenly sits up in bed and speaks coherently for the first and last time since his stroke. What he says before he dies is that there will be five dark days in the life of his grandson -- five dates whose terrible events Jimmy will have to prepare himself to face. The first is to occur in his 20th year; the second in his 23rd year; the third in his 28th; the fourth in his 29th; the fifth in his 30th. Rudy is all too ready to discount his father's last words as a dying man's delusional rambling.But then he discovers that Josef also predicted the moment of his grandson's birth to the minute, as well as his exact height, weight, and the fact that Jimmy would be born with syndactyly -- the unexplained anomaly of fused digits on his left foot. Suddenly, the old man's predictions take on a chilling significance. What terrifying events await Jimmy on these five dark days? What nightmares will he face? What challenges must he survive? As the novel unfolds, picking up Jimmy's story at each of these crisis points, the path he must follow will defy every expectation. And with each crisis he faces, he will move closer to a fate he could never have imagined. For who Jimmy Tock is and what he must accomplish on the five days his world turns is a mystery as dangerous as it is wondrous -- a struggle against an evil so dark and pervasive only the most extraordinary of human spirits can shine through.
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