Life Expectancy
Jun 2007 · Bantam
4.5star
185 reviewsreport
Ebook
496
Pages
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About this ebook
With his bestselling blend of nail-biting intensity, daring artistry, and storytelling magic, Dean Koontz returns with an emotional roller coaster of a tale filled with enough twists, turns, shocks, and surprises for ten ordinary novels. Here is the story of five days in the life of an ordinary man born to an extraordinary legacy—a story that will challenge the way you look at good and evil, life and death, and everything in between.
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 frist 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 twentieth year; the second in his twent-third year; the third in his twenty-eighth; the fourth in his twenty-ninth; the fifth in his thirtieth.
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 time of his grandson's birth to the minute, as well as his exact height and weight, and the fact that Jimmy would be born with syndactyly—the unexplained anomal 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 when 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.
This ebook edition contains an excerpt of Dean Koontz’s The Silent Corner.
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 frist 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 twentieth year; the second in his twent-third year; the third in his twenty-eighth; the fourth in his twenty-ninth; the fifth in his thirtieth.
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 time of his grandson's birth to the minute, as well as his exact height and weight, and the fact that Jimmy would be born with syndactyly—the unexplained anomal 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 when 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.
This ebook edition contains an excerpt of Dean Koontz’s The Silent Corner.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
185 reviews
A Google user
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May 1, 2012
This is a novel that is almost impossible to set down, and will cause every imaginable emotion to rise up in you. The pages are intermittently filled with Koontz style humor that will cause you to embarrass yourself if reading in the presence of others. However with any riveting page turner this novel will change the tone as quickly as laughter escaped you on the previous page. The pace set by Koontz is clever and never dull; it will keep both the casual and avid reader entertained from start to finish. It is no surprise to me that I own half a dozen copies of this book and I have been amazed every time I've read it. Any time I fall out of my reading habits and need my interest spiked again I know this novel is the place to start. Whether reading is a nightly ritual or it is the first time you've turned the cover of a novel I would recommend this book to any reader.
A Google user
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January 20, 2011
In the past I have read many of Dean Koontz's novels and I just decided to revisit this author. I tend to get bored when an author's books are predictable and repetitive.
In "Life Expectancy" the story takes the reader into an unusual situation. A dying man predicts five important days in the life of his grandson who is being born. The old man dies just when his grandson is born. The story was a fun and suspenseful read, though not a spooky read. I enjoyed the characters, the twists and surprises in the story, and the "never say die" attitude of Jimmy and Lorrie. In the final pages, there is an inevitable twist that Koontz does well in hiding until the later stages of the story. I have gladly recommended this book to others, especially if they're a bit leery of Koontz previous deep spooky type stories.
Brooke Lowry
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September 14, 2016
When I started to read this one, I wanted to make it last, read it slowly. It only took a very few pages until I forgot about that. As Dean played hell with my emotions I found myself going at record speeds; devouring Life Expectancy like a hungry hound would eat a warm bloody burger. I wolfed it down. I highly recommend it.
34 people found this review helpful
About the author
Dean Koontz, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
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