Life Expectancy

Life Expectancy confirms that one of the pleasures of reading Dean Koontz is that he is 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.

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HS - Rated
What can I say????? Absolute crap, never read anything so bad in my life. If i could give minus stars, I would

Life Expectancy Lives On - Rated
The basic idea of the birth of a baby coinciding with the death of its grandfather, at virtually the same time, and in the same hospital, was enough to raise my curiosity.
When said grandfather correctly predicts the size and weight of the forthcoming baby, interest increases.
And when grandpa then predicts five bad dates in the baby's lifetime, I simply began this book with great gusto.

Such ludicrous happenings, so weird etc, drew my attention, no question.

I wasn't disappointed - I thoroughly enjoyed this ride - and the predicted dates were always hanging there throughout Jimmy Tock's life, and add to that some crazy clowns and high-wire personnel, and you've pretty much got the idea.

Add to that some belly-chuckle humour with extremely witty dialogue - come on - what more do you want?

Loved every minute of it.

Good book from a great writer - Rated
I finished reading this book just a few days ago, and let me say that this is a good suspense novel.
What can one do to prepare oneself for 5 days of terror in their lifetime, when you don't no what kind of terror your going to be confronted.
Minutes before the birth of Jimmy Tock, his grandfather makes 10 predictions about his grandson, but more importantly... that Jimmy is going to have 5 terrible days in his lifetime.
What is going to happen to Jimmy in those 5 days, that will be so terrible?
Jimmy knows when those days will be, but is grandfather didn't give any clue to what horrors await Jimmy, for he dies de very moment is grandson is born.
This is the main thread of the story, 5 terrible days await Jimmy Tock and we accompanie Jimmy Tock in those 5 days... Will he live past the 5th terrible day?

That is a question one can answer only by reading the book.

I loved this book due it's pacing, it's suspense... You are taken on a roller coaster of emotions.

If you're a fan of suspense novels, and if you already know the work of Dean Koontz. Buy it, you won't be desappointed.
If you don't know Deans Koontz's work... well this is a pretty good place to stat.

Absolute rubbish - Rated
This book is awful. The characters are unbelievable, the plot is so ridiculous that even hollyoaks would be ashamed to use it, it is cliched, unfunny and it appears that koontz just made it up as he went along without much thought for dialogue or plausability.
I constantly found myself hoping that all the characters (even the 'good guys' i.e. the gormless Jimmy Tock, self-confessed oaf) would be oblierated and put an end to the daft story.
Thank god I didn't buy this book, it was given to me by someone who described it as amazing...I'll not listen to their advice on what to read again!

Send In The Clowns!! - Rated
On the night that Jimmy Tock is born, his grandfather passes away in the same hospital. Before he dies, the grandfather, predicts the size, weight of his yet to be born grandson. More, disturbingly, he predicts five dark, terror filled days, dates far in the future, for his grandson.

I'm not too sure what to make of this book. It has psychotic killer clowns and crazy trapeze artists. It's homourous in some places, downright bizarre, in others. I guess overall, it was not too bad, as I warmed to the main characters (not the clowns, though!), and it held my interest.