Life Expectancy

Rating:
Summary: Longevity
Review:
Anyone interested in life ecpectancy should check the book "Can We Live 150 Years?" by Tombak.

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece Koontz Quality is Back!
Review: A few recent below average novels especially The Taking had many wondering if Dean Koontz could still produce the masterpiece novels he once did such as Watchers, Intensity and Night Chills to name but three and his latest novel Life Expectancy, is proof that he still can. This is definitely a must read Koontz thriller which will have you staying home and turning the pages until you're finished.

Life Expectancy starts with the birth of James Tock or Jimmy as everyone will call him. A fact his dieing grandfather predicts who incidentally dies at the exact same time as James' birth. His grandfather has other predictions as well which he forced his son to write down with his last dying breaths of five dark days for his grandson. One for detail, he also provides the dates but there is no time to contemplate this or grieve for his father as a mad clown is on a murderous rampage shooting everyone he comes across in the maternity ward where of course James has just been born.

This is a sensational novel. I also found it amusing that the main characters of a book where a timeline is so important have the last name Tock and a maiden name of Greenwhich which of course both are of major importance in time.


Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Tale of A Baker and A Clown
Review: All six definitions of the word FANTASTIC included in my unabridged edition of The Random House Dictionary Of The English Language could easily be applied to this wonderful story, but I will concentrate on the two that most aptly describe my reaction. First, it is a story of truly "unrestrained imagination", as readers familiar with the work of Dean Koontz undoubtedly have come to expect. Second, it is "incredibly great", not in the sense of being a perfect example of what a novel can be, but rather in the sense of being a story which quickly captures the reader and carries him/her along in the rapidly moving first person tale told by narrator Jimmy Tock, a thirty year old pastry chef whose storytelling ability and life's experiences quickly captivate the reader and make it difficult to return to the world outside this novel until you have finished the story.

The book is divided into six (unequal) parts, and the titles of these sections (with some elaboration), provide a convenient way to review the book. Part 1 is WELCOME TO THE WORLD, JIMMY TOCK, and describes the unusual (and tragic) circumstances which surround Jimmy's birth on August 9.1974. His grandfather Josef (a pastry chef, not a fortune teller) was lying paralyzed in the hospital when Jimmy was born, and in fact died at the exact moment of his birth after making ten predictions to his son Rudy (Jimmy's father) that would shape Jimmy's life. Four of these were facts concerning his birth (time, weight, length and syndactyly - fused digits) which immediately proved correct and five were dates on which Jimmy would experience terrible tragedies during the first thirty-one years of his life. As a violent storm rages outside, the tenth prediction is fulfilled when a traumatic event occurs in the hospital which involves another expectant father, Konrad Beezo - perhaps the greatest clown of his era, and which will in retrospect alter the lives of everyone involved and form the basis of Josef's predictions of future tragedy. This section also provides us sufficient background information about Jimmy and his close knit family that we can appreciate their individuality and yet the bond which they share. The plot device introduced here is vintage Dean Koontz, it contains the key premise of the flight of fantasy upon which the reader is invited to embark; Josef's sudden ability to foretell the future is in fact not nearly as implausible as many of the narrative devices routinely used by Koontz (e.g. in SOLE SURVIVOR or THE FACE) and its acceptance will draw the reader into a truly wonderful tale told by a very engaging narrator.

The remaining five sections are organized around the five dates which cause an increasing sense of foreboding as they approach. Part 2 (which involves over one-third of the book) is titled MIGHT AS WELL DIE IF I CAN'T FLY; the first prediction involves Thursday, September 15,1994 - Jimmy and his family have no basis on which to judge the nature of Josef's warning, but the events which transpire on this fateful day leave Jimmy with physical and psychological scars which cause him to worry that his fate will forever be influenced by the tragedy which which occurred on the day of his birth and will be linked to Konrad Beezo, Konrad's baby son Punchinello and Konrad's arch enemy and father-in-law the aerialist Virgilio Vivacemente. Part 3 is WELCOME TO THE WORLD, ANNIE TOCK, which provides the background of Jimmy's life following his survival of the the events of that fateful September 9th until the next date on Josef's list, Monday, January 19th, 1998, exactly a wek following the birth of Jimmy's first child.

Part 4 is ALL I EVER WANTED WAS IMMORTALITY, the search for which obviously involves great danger for anyone who might find themselves in the path of the demented individual seeking such a goal. The last two sections quickly crescendo towards the grand finale as surely as any show under the circus big top. Part 5 is JUST LIKE PONTIUS PILATE, YOU WASHED YOUR HANDS OF ME - a statement so filled with pathos that its actual utterance takes your breath away. Then the story races towards its conclusion, I AM MOONLIGHT WALKING, THE LOVE OF EVERY WOMAN, THE ENVY OF EVERY MAN. All the loose ends are tied up in a scene of great surprises and incredible power - ugliness and beauty, hate and love, violence and tenderness, the past and the future all intermingled. How many authors could manage to insert the poetry of both Emily Dickinson and the pop music of Johnny Tillotson into the narration of his story in a way which not only seems completely natural but actually enhances our respect and affection for Jimmy?

This is a story that charmed me with its humor and insights into the human condition while totally capturing my interest through the wonderful voice which Koontz provides to his narrator Jimmy as he recounts both the major events and the meaningful minor details which shape his life. Pay attention to those details, they often influence the future in very unexpected ways. And while there is frequent misdirection, it is always accomplished and always accomplished through cleverness rathe than trickery. Even the title is a double entendre, is it about Jimmy's LIFE EXPECTANCY (the age when he will die) or is it about what he expects from life? As the crucial free pass to the circus pictured facing the title page boldly exclaims - PREPARE TO BE ENCHANTED!

Tucker Andersen

Rating:
Summary: Made me hungry!
Review: All that talk about pastries - yum! It was a good read but I was disappointed that the "5 Days" were all linked to the same evil man. I would have liked to see five completely different events.

Rating:
Summary: Another good one
Review: Do you wonder sometimes about Koontz? If his family life is similar to his better characters? Does he have the delightful, joking relationship with his wife, Gerda, that Jimmy Tuck and Lorrie have? Does he suspect Trixie, his dog, of being sentient?

I suspect his life isn't as eventful as the lives of his protagonists, or he wouldn't get his work done. It's a good thing, more often than not.

Occasionally, he can hit a clinker, like ODD THOMAS, but even then it wasn't that much of a clinker.

LIFE EXPECTANCY is one of his better, almost Dickensian novels. He takes his major character, Jimmy Tuck, tells him that he has five dark days coming, gives the day and date - and then proceeds to enthrall anyway, like a magician swearing he's got nothing up his sleeves, leaving the reader to flip pages as fast as he can.

Highly recommended. The reviewer that wrote above of his dislike for the book is likely to cringe when this work was declared Dickensian above, but they can just deal with it.


Rating:
Summary: His Best Yet
Review: I have read all of Dean Konntz's books. This book is by far the best he has written yet. The mixture of suspense, the unusual and humor are great. I hope to see more books with this ambience in the future. Naturally, I am still looking forward to the truly horror stories he will write also.

Rating:
Summary: Dean, You are Boy!!!!
Review: I haven't read a really really really good Dean Koontz book since "From the Corner of his Eye", "The Door to December" "Odd Thomas" was okay but...

This book should be read if you are in a mood for a really good book and a great laugh. It was funny, intense(oh yeah,forgot about that book)and just a great page turner. The book is about a clown, the clown's son, a baker, and the baker's son and predictions. Doesn't sound all that great right! WRONG. the book is so funny, did I say that already? I laughed out loud while reading this book on the subway all the way to work and back.
Man Dean you still my BOY! Thanks Dude!!!

Rating:
Summary: Best Koontz in years!
Review: Like his novels of the late eighties and early nineties, Koontz takes us on a ride filled with pitfalls and adventure. The characters are developed to the point where you're bound to feel the kinship as they fight through tragedy and delight in triumphs.

I'm a reader of 30-50 books per year, and Koontz has again been worth my money and time. I highly recommend this to any reader, particularly a fan of Dean Koontz.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible, horrible, dreck, garbage. Avoid this book!
Review: This book is terrible. I'm not even 1/2 way through it and I can't stand any of the characters. The plot is totally lame. The dialog smacks of an overdose of Dawson's Creek. It's rife with "aren't we witty and clever and spontaneous" which fails to amuse. Constant references to cooking and villains who are utter morons and would never have been smart enough to stay alive as long as they have. This is crap of the highest degree. Mr. Koontz, I'm ashamed of you and I'll have to give long thought to ever picking up another novel of yours.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bring in the Clowns!
Review: Wow! I thought Odd Thomas was never going to be beaten on my list of favorite Dean Koonts novels, but to me, Life Expectancy just blew that theory right out of the water. Koontz made me feel like I was right there with the characters. I had to stop myself from flipping through the pages to find out what was going to happen next. I'm glad I did, because I would have missed something in the process and there is no page in this book that should be missed.

Dean Koontz is such a gifted writer that just from reading his discription of the characters and their surroundings, I could actually smell the freshly baked pastries coming out of Jimmy Tock's oven. Every character becomes alive and it's almost as if you have known them all your life, or at least it leaves you wishing that you did.

There are 5 terrible days predicted for Jimmy Tock by his dying Grandfather and you live through each one right along with the whole Tock family. As you live through one date you can hardly wait to find out what will happen on the next. As Koontz leads you down one path you will be thinking that you know where you are heading, but the path has so many twists that you never end up where you think you are going to be.

May I suggest you start this book when you have plenty of time to spare, because you won't want to put it down once you begin the journey, and it's a journey that will leave quite a few snapshots in your mind. Enjoy the ride. I know I did.