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    Life Expectancy
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    Life Expectancy
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    Life Expectancy
    Audiobook11 hours

    Life Expectancy

    Written by Dean Koontz

    Narrated by John Bedford Lloyd

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateDec 7, 2004
    ISBN9780739315545
    Unavailable
    Life Expectancy
    Author

    Dean Koontz

    Dean Koontz is the author of more than a dozen New York Times No. 1 bestsellers. His books have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, and his work is published in 38 languages. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and lives with his wife Gerda and their dog Anna in southern California.

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    Reviews for Life Expectancy

    4/5

    826 ratings37 reviews

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    • 4/5
      On the stormy night that Jimmy Tock is born, not only does his dying grandfather correctly predict the facts of his birth, including the fact that he will be born with fused toes, but he also predicts that there will be five horrible days ahead in Jimmy's life. Armed with the five dates, the adult Jimmy, now a baker by profession, must face those five days. As each date approaches, Jimmy feels the sword of Damocles dangling by an invisible thread over his head. What will each horrible day bring, and when during the day will the sword drop?

      The story is full of twists and turns and tension-filled moments. It is populated with quirky characters including pastry chefs, a tornado chaser, a morbidly pessimistic Grandma, demented circus performers, and a pet portrait painter. Recommended as a riveting and satisfying read that both chills and radiates the warmth of a freshly baked loaf of bread.
    • 5/5
      I truly enjoyed this book. The kookiness of the family and the craziness of the events that occur work perfectly together.
    • 5/5
      This book was very focused and kept me on the edge of my seat. It was very hard to put down.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic story, what a great writer.
    • 5/5
      This is 1 of the first books that I read a very long time ago and I stayed up all night to finish it. It is an excellent book. It has a twist that you will never see coming and it is just a great story all around. I love books, I love Scribd, I love Dean Koontz and I am thankful that I got to listen to it again after reading it more than 10 years ago. I think anyone will enjoy this book and whether you listen to it or read it, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy and appreciate it!
    • 5/5
      Koontz. awesome. as always.
      What can I say? I love DK. This was entertaining. and kept my interest. The narrative. was acceptable, perhaps a bit overdone. Not so bad as to annoy me,just enough to mention. Good storyline,likeable characters.
    • 5/5
      This novel made me laugh. The characters are charming. Even the clowns...
    • 5/5
      very good book, good plot, always keeps you wondering
    • 4/5
      Definitely has an unexpected twist.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book, it had a very unique plot that hasn't been done a million times before. props!
    • 5/5
      It seems to be a common trend with me lately, being in two minds on something. Okay, negative first: this book borrow a lot from Odd Thomas. It's Koontz's own work and I'm not talking about plagiarism or something, but if you've read Odd Thomas you'd get what I mean. It has a very distinct unique style to it, told in the first-person, as a kind of diary, recounting events recently passed that the narrator was involved in... and not just that, but the whole snarky quick-witted quips that Odd is always bandying about, sometimes with a great "sparring" partner, it's all repeated here. Just, it's somebody else, not the beloved sweet Odd. There's other similar things (food and dislike of guns, for instance), too. It's a little... I don't know it just feels "recycled," in a way. Except the story itself is totally different and all but, still. Anyhow, regardless of that, it was a really fun story that I didn't want to put down, and (in the same way as Odd) it made me literally "LOL" quite a few times. I do love the style used, it's a joy to read. He managed to throw in a few interesting unexpected twists, too. And I have to say, the end was pretty fabulous. I know I used a lot more lines on the "negative," but really the good outshines it, a lot. I'd easily recommend it to anyone who loves a good amusing thriller!
    • 4/5
      Like most first person novels, it took me a little while to get into this book. However, once it gets going, this is a highly entertaining read. One of Koontz's better novels, this is a book that is well worth reading.
    • 5/5
      I'm a fan of Dean Koontz and he never disappoints. This one I found different from others I have read but none the less fantastic. A story of love and family mixed with a lot of suspense and twists and turns. Koontz took me on another thrill ride and and I loved every minute of it and wished it would never end-highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      love it couldn't stop listening
    • 5/5
      Zum Lachen, zum Weinen - dieses Buch ist das reinste Lesevergnügen! Ein absolutes Muss!
    • 1/5
      LIFE EXPECTANCY Review I'm about to spoil the hell out of this piece of garbage in the hopes that you run screaming from its pages as if the longevity of your genitals depended on it.

      The Good: This book is readable. Meaning, you can read it. Moving on.

      The Bad: The synopsis is terrific: engaging, intriguing, enticing, everything a book description should be. So why isn't this up there with The Good? Because the synopsis fucking lies like a rug under a steam roller. You see, Jimmy Tock's grandpappy predicted some shit on his deathbed. Supposedly, his grandson is to have five terribly, horrible, no good, very bad days. The thing is, Koontz spends the entire novel finding ways around these five days, in turn rendering the grandfather's predictions utterly useless. Bad shit happens, mind you, just not on those days. The worst stuff happens on the day before. You might think that would make the book unpredictable, but after the first date, the book is as see through as the glass in a Windex factory. What would have made this book epic is if Koontz had managed to actually achieve what the packaging promises, therein surprising us with unforeseeable twists which occur on the days Deathbed Granddaddy predicted. But no. Not Koontz. He aims for the mundane and nails that motherfucker between the eyes.

      The Ugly: LIFE EXPECTANCY is filled with your average meandering Koontz: verbose descriptions of everyday bullshit sprinkled with brief glimpses of interesting detritus buried under an insane knowledge of pastry and off-the-wall diseases he spends nine pages explaining. The writing is so light and dense at the same time it might as well be a Cronut. The words breeze by because Koontz has been doing this shit for nigh on four decades, but no matter how hard he tries, I will never, ever, evereverevereverever, enjoy a detailed examination of goddamn baked goods.

      The Unforgivable: Let me preface this bit by saying I've never given a readable book less than two stars. Why? Because the author put enough words together properly so that I might be able to understand what they are saying. I reserve one-star ratings for unedited garbage written by illiterate monkeys with a penchant for banging on typewriters. Well, Dean, you fucking did it, mister. You managed to make me hate a well-written book so much that I cannot in good faith give you anything over a single, solitary, emotionally-crippled star. This book lacks everything even remotely resembling character development. I didn't give a shit about Jimmy, his wife What's-Her-Fuck, the three mostly-forgotten-about children (one of which comes down with cancer in the later part of the book, to which I responded, "Who are you, and who gives a fuck?"), the stupid clown family, the insane aerialists, or even the death of some innocent old lady, because they're all stick figures caricatures of another one of Koontz protagonists from a completely different book. Yes, everyone in this novel is witty and sarcastic. Basically, the cast is overrun with unlikable and forgettable Odd Thomases.

      But wait, there's more! The plot, for lack of a better word, becomes so convoluted in the last one hundred pages that I think my brain seeped from my ear to vacation in Aruba when Jimmy Tock (the main character) is revealed as the villain's fraternal twin brother.

      But wait, there's even more! When that ending didn't pack enough of a punch for Koontz's liking, we find out that Jimmy and the villain are really the product of an incestuous relationship between their biological grandfather/father and his daughter/their mother.

      And if you place an order in the next thirty seconds, we'll throw in lots more! Four chapters from the end, Jimmy's first-person POV switches to the wife's first-person POV so that Koontz can attempt to trick us into believing that Jimmy dies. But Jimmy doesn't die. What a hoot, huh? A real rib-tickler of a twist!

      To quote the book:

      "Okay, we yanked your chain again, like we did back in chapter twenty-four. How much fun would it have been, there in the big top, if you'd been absolutely certain that I had survived?"

      Are you joshing me? Pulling E.'s leg, perhaps? Legitimately, you're going to break the fourth wall to say that shit? I should punch you in your cocksucker with a hot-water bottle full of nitroglycerin. It wasn't funny. It sure as shit wasn't cute. It was pretentious. Pure, lazy-ass, unoriginal, amateur bullshit. You, your editor, your publisher, and anyone who recommends this book to a human being who isn't their most reviled enemy should have to read this book over and over and over again, forever and ever, amen.

    • 2/5
      This is what I wrote reading this book........

      This is the second time I am trying to read this book.

      I am a huge Koontz fan but this book really disappointed me.

      It is so far, not exiting or scary at all, because the main characters are not frightened.
      They are constantly making funny (not) remarks and it is just not realistic.

      You are a hostage and you are constantly cracking jokes!!! No way.


      I have read 170 pages of the book and am really struggling (again!) to read more.


      And that is really an exception cause I love all Koontz his books. The humour is just way to much. I don't buy a Koontz books to be laughing (I don't laugh by the way, not my kind of humour anyways) but I buy his books to be scared!

      4 out of 10
    • 3/5
      Overall this book was hum-drum. I really wish there would've been some closure with Punchinello at the end after Jimmy killed the guy that Punchinello wanted dead. Oh well. It was alright, which is as much as anyone can expect from koontz novels.
    • 3/5
      Different that other Koontz novels, not my favorite but not bad at the same time.
    • 4/5
      Jimmy Tock begins his story by telling of how he was born from what his parents have told him. He describes how his grandfather had predicted five terrible dates in Jimmy’s life as well as his weight, height, and other various things without even meeting Jimmy. After this, Jimmy is born and his grandfather dies. Jimmy’s father, having witnessed this all, recorded the dates and left for the expectant fathers lounge. Here, he waits only minutes before another man, a clown named Konrad Beezo, is told that his wife died while giving birth to his son. In a mad rage, Beezo draws a gun and shoots the nurse. Jimmy’s dad attempts to calm him down and only succeeds in stopping himself from getting shot. After that, Beezo goes after the doctor and shoots him before taking his son and leaving the hospital as well as Snow Village. After Jimmy tells the reader this, it skips to when the first of the terrible days started to come up. Grandma Roweena tells of many gruesome things that could happen due to this. Finally, after much debate on what to do, he ends up going to the library. As it turns out though, a man he met in the street is in there and shoots the librarian. Jimmy is taken hostage as well as Lorrie Hicks, an optimistic woman who had come into the library after Jimmy. Both hostages, Jimmy and Lorrie attempt to escape while the man is searching through newspaper files. This, at most, only gives them a steel nail file. They soon end up finding out the man’s real plan as they meet three other men who are working with him. They are planning to blow up places where Cornelius Snow had his so called evil concentrated. As they are following the group underground, Jimmy realizes that the person who had taken him and Lorrie as hostages was Punchinello Beezo, the son of Konrad Beezo. Punchinello had also heard of Jimmy’s father through stories and regarded as someone who wasn’t allowed to be killed. Eventually, Punchinello kills the men who were working with him and takes the money they were planning to split. Jimmy makes up the excuse that he and Lorrie were getting married but they couldn’t be wed if Punchinello killed her. Punchinello spares them and ends up being stabbed by the nail file after they leave the building. Jimmy ends up shot in the leg twice, putting an end to the first terrible day. Eventually, he and Lorrie do end up getting married. For them, though, the second of the bad days ends up coming early. As Jimmy takes Lorrie to the hospital to have their child, a car ends up behind them and pushes them off of the road down a mountain side. The two survive, but Jimmy leaves to try and delay the man in the car. After nearly being shot and falling off a small cliff, Jimmy fakes dying in order to follow the man. As it turns out, the man wants their child if it is a boy. This man, though, turns out to be Konrad Beezo. Thankfully, Konrad believes Jimmy is dead and doesn’t expect him when he is knocked out. Jimmy chains Beezo to a tree before finally going to the hospital. Lorrie ends up giving birth to Annie Tock. After this, Lorrie ends up giving birth to Lucy and then Andy. All of them have the typical monster in the closet fear, but Andy’s monster is the most ironic of them all. His monster is a clown. Jimmy and Lorrie can’t help but wonder about this since they had made sure that none of them could have heard of Beezo and his son. The day before the third terrible day, the police chief calls and tells of an FBI agent who has leads on Konrad Beezo and where he disappeared to after getting free of the chains. The FBI agent comes to the house later and Jimmy and Lorrie that Beezo is most likely in Venezuela. With the next day being one of the terrible days, Lorrie and Jimmy believe that he will be at their home the next day. The FBI agent repeatedly denies this until he reveals himself as Beezo. Konrad shoots Lorrie and then attempts to get Andy after being blinded by pepper spray. Jimmy soon after stops Konrad and kills him. Lorrie is taken to the hospital and her surgery is finished the next day in the early morning. Later on, on the fourth of the terrible days, the couple visit Punchinello in his prison. It is revealed that Jimmy and Punchinello are twins who were separated because of Konrad not knowing of Jimmy. It also turns out that the real Jimmy Tock had been a stillborn and he was given in replacement so that Jimmy wouldn’t grow up in an orphanage. It is also revealed that Annie’s kidneys are failing and is allergic to the solution that normally helps a person. The two ask that Punchinello donate one of his kidneys to her since Jimmy and Lorrie are not suitable donors. At first, Punchinello rejects this. After being reminded of what he would get if he helped them, Punchinello agrees. As it turns out, the reason the day is terrible is because Grandma Roweena dies. The kidney transplant, though, is a success. On the final of the terrible days, a box of fifty thousand dollars is given to them. A note has them meet at the same circus that Beezo was once a part of. As it turns out, it is his real father/grandfather who also wants Andy in order to become a great trapeze artist. He wants to pay Jimmy and Lorrie for Andy and the fifty thousand was the first payment. When Jimmy and Lorrie refuse, he shoots Jimmy four times while Lorrie ends up shooting the man twice. Thankfully for them, Jimmy was wearing a bulletproof vest. Lorrie ends up once more giving birth to a child, this one named Roweena Tock.Overall, the story was fairly good. Not one of the best that I’ve read, but certainly different enough to keep it interesting. One thing that I didn’t like about Life Expectancy is that it gave information that wasn’t always needed. It also informed the reader of information that would have fit better in a different place in the story, something that I didn’t like. I did like, however, how the story had a biographical sort of nature to it. The plot was unique and that was also a plus. The end was a bit odd with how predictions were made about Roweena. I haven’t read books besides this one by Dean Koontz, but he certainly seems like he’s a good one.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite stories told by one of the great masters of suspense, Dean Koontz, is about fortune and happenstance, from the merely coincidental to the markedly inevitable, and all the strange twists of fate in between. For such a philosophical novel, it manages to be both comical and foreboding, as it relates the autobiographical story of a pastry chef born one stormy night in a hospital amidst the murderous rage of a crazed clown and a prophecy of five terrible days to come. When I started this book, I really couldn't put it down, as it kept me engaged until the very heart-stopping end.
    • 4/5
      Two words: Evil clowns.Dean Koontz is one of my guilty pleasures of reading. Though I used to think that it was just Odd Thomas I enjoyed, this particular book has brought me around to believing I could branch out beyond that series. Life Expectations all begins with predictions from a death bed. That stormy night, Jimmy's grandfather predicted that Jimmy would have to face five dark days in his lifetime and even provided the dates for those days so that he would be able to prepare for them because they would be that terrible. So Jimmy, our narrator, tells the story of how he spends his life mostly just living a pretty decent life but more importantly, how these dark days play out. There are some decent twists and turns and it is very well done.It also has a couple of points in which Mr. Koontz jerks the reader around (I'm never fond of those games and he lost a point in my review for that), which I never find necessary and always despise. However, it was not so horrible that I'm forever turned away from reading his books in the future as was the case with a certain formula writer whose nearly every book Hollywood grabs onto these days. (Boo, Hollywood!)
    • 4/5
      Good supernatural writing in an easy storytelling style.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorites! A gripping story full of dark humor.
    • 5/5
      Koontz' gentler, more loving side weaves throuighout this story of a family of bakers in a small colorado village and their intertwining with a family of mad clowns. although the evisceration and such is still here, it is somehow temepred by the tone of the writing and what i like to think is koontz' lovoing lifht narrative.
    • 5/5
      My mother picked this one up for me, not knowing I'd listened to the unabridged audiobook only a few weeks ago. This is the review I wrote at the time (which is why it mentions the reader, John Bedford Lloyd):On a stormy night in 1974, Josef Tock sits up in his hospital bed and makes a series of predictions about his grandson, Jimmy, who is about to be born just down the hall. The bulk of these predictions consist of a list of "five terrible days" in Jimmy's life, the first occuring in his twentieth year. Moments after speaking, Josef dies. The night of mixed grief and joy quickly turns to terror as a crazed clown, whose wife died in childbirth that very night, guns down two hospital employees.Jimmy himself narrates the story, going through each "terrible day" one by one. As one might expect from a story beginning with prognostication and a deranged circus performer, the plot takes a series of unlikely and frankly ridiculous turns. But it's also very funny. Jimmy's commentary, though it occasionally gets a bit long on the introspection, is vivid and full of amusing asides. The other characters are just as memorable, and this is due in no small part to the excellent reader. His intuitive grasp of the characters' personalities made for spot-on inflection of some very bizarre lines.As the roller coaster plot careened along, I was able to predict almost all of the strange twists ahead of time, but this actually added to the charm, like I was playing a trivia game. Usually I don't like knowing what happens next (hence the reason I don't do much rereading) but in a few cases (like this one) the journey is just as much fun whether you know the destination or not. Koontz is usually a reliable spooky read, but this was a rare view of his humorous side. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      I've actually read this book before and checked it out from the library with the intention of getting my husband to read it. But then I ran out of books and realized that I couldn't remember anything about the book, so I decided to do a re-read. You would think that forgetting the whole plot the first time through would be a negative for a book but that's not the book's fault...it's just how I am. I did remember from my first read through how enchanted and optimistic the book made me feel. Thankfully that did not change on the second reading. The plot is far-fetched (how could I have forgotten the clowns?) and at times the message of directing your own happiness can get a bit preachy. But according to the news stories you see on TV, perhaps we can use this reminder.
    • 3/5
      A break from the norm here, which is always welcome from an established author. Let me state first that I did enjoy this book and found it a page turner. However, it is the clever plot that keeps you glued, not the style. Koontz is extremely wordy is this book. There is no denying that Koontz is a true master of metaphor abd similie but there are pages of it here, so much so it is almost a book of prose, rather than a thriller. Koontz's clever characterisations and diabolic plotline will see you through the waffle though and their is some high quality dialogue that will remind you why you read Koontz - it's clever and cruel in equal parts. Enjoyable but no classic.
    • 5/5
      What a great book. This is one of those books that you sit down with and without even realizing it hours have passed. This was very quick and easy to read and a great concept. Written as a recollection of events by the main character (except for one chapter towards the end), there are enough twists and turns, both horrifying and humorous, that keep you reading. Definitely worth your time.
    • 2/5
      Dean Koontz's latest novel, "Life Expectancy" has an intriguing, "Twilight Zone" like premise but suffers in the execution of it. On the day he's born, Jimmy Tock's grandfather predicts five horrible days coming ahead for Jimmy. This is the story of Jimmy Tock and those five terrible days--six, if you count the traumatic events of the day he was born. At the same time his mother is in labor, another woman is in labor--the daughter of a famous group of trapeeze artists. Her husband is a clown in the same circus. When the mother dies during the delivery, the clown kills the doctor. The clown then takes his son and disappears into the night. Jimmy is saved by a kind nurse who hides him when the killing starts. As the story unfolds, we find there is some kind of connection between the two families. In the final pages, there is an inevitable twist that Koontz does well in hiding until the later stages of the story. The problem is that by the time this twist comes about, I had lost a lot of interest in the story. Koontz's Jimmy Tock is a nice protagonist and a good narrator of the story, but this story seems like it's a good novella stretched out to the length of a novel. Koontz spends a lot of time in the story with superflous scenes that do very little to add to the characters or advance the plot. And while the twists and turns of the final few pages are meant to be shocking and edge-of-your-seat, I found them instead to be rather pedestrian. Indeed, looking back, I kick myself for not seeing them coming because they are that obvious. Koontz is a good writer. He keeps the pages turning and I will admit I was interested just enough to keep the pages turning and find out how it all comes out. The story has a strong beginning, a bloated middle and an intriguing ending. And unfortunately, it all doesn't all up to a complete novel.