Life Expectancy

Version: Unabridged
Author: Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Narrator: John Bedford Lloyd
Genres: Horror, Fiction, Suspense, Dramatization
Publisher: Random House (Audio)
Date: December 2004
Length: 11 hours, 37 minutes
Ratings:
Formats :
  • CD
  • MP3
  • M4B
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Overview

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.

Selected Reviews

Strange, but good

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 5/5

You Think You've Got It Bad...

by Mickye Way
  • Book Rating: 5/5

More...

Read All 32

Reviews (32)

Strange, but good

Written by Anonymous on April 7th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I really liked this book. It was a bit different and it does take a bit of time to get into it, but it is worth it.

You Think You've Got It Bad...

Written by Mickye Way on December 19th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

WOW!!! OK, first I'll say that as far as Dean Koontz stories go, I've read about 10, and out of those 10 only Watchers was a keeper for me. No real attraction to search out Dean Koontz novels with that ratio. However, what with the availability of the Simply Audiobooks library, I found myself back at the Dean Koontz shelf. The ratio is still about 1 out of 10 for me. This one is a keeper. I agree with other reviewers that it takes time for this one to get hooked into, but from the first disc, it was just weird enough to keep plodding along. There is really good, enjoyable humor in this story, but the overall dark side of what the people in the story have to endure lead me to think how terrible it would be to have something this bizarre happen to anyone! If Hollywood could for once follow the story exactly as written, this would be a very creepy blockbuster movie for sure.

Disappointed

Written by Cindy on November 26th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 1/5

I normally love Dean Koontz but was very disappointed with this one. It was sappy! By the 4th CD I had to give up. I couldn't get into it at all. Not worth your time.

Better than expected

Written by Anonymous on November 23rd, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

I have to admit, when I started the first CD, I wasn't very impressed, but it turned out to be a really good book. This was my first Koontz book, and i am adding a few more to my list of future listens. Alot better than expected.

Life Expectancy

Written by Anonymous from Birmingham, MI on October 26th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

This is a really intriguing story that kept me riveted from beginning to end. It's one of those that stuck with me long after I finished it. In my view, one of Koontz's best.

life expectancy

Written by Anonymous on August 22nd, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

If you want a really good read with wit, humor and excitement this book is for you. Great, funny, exciting with a wonderful family.

Life Expectancy

Written by Doc Stone on February 18th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

Good book! I enjoyed the sense of comedy amidst the story. Plenty of twists too!

Life Expectancy

Written by Paul White on January 15th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

This was one of the best books I ever "read". I so thoroughly enjoyed the entire book and especially the "good" characters that I listed to it twice back to back and will be buying this for my personal collection. I would love to see Koontz feature these characters in future books. GREAT BOOK, GREAT READ!!

Life Expectancy

Written by Anonymous on January 11th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

Not your average Dean Koontz book. Odd Thomas lovers you may be disappointed. It started off kind of slow with an obvious attempt at humor, but it just wasn't Koontz's style. Admittedly the book did get better, but just don't expect too much from it.

Life Expectancy

Written by Dee on September 5th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I nearly quit listening after the third disc because it wasn't at all like "usual" Dean Koontz. Didn't deliver the promised "rollercoaster" for me. However, I finally realized he'd planted tongue firmly in cheek and spoofed his usual work, and with that in mind I enjoyed the rest of the story a lot. He does his usual thorough character development and scene-setting, but don't expect his usual nail-biter story.

Selected Reviews

Strange, but good

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 5/5

You Think You've Got It Bad...

by Mickye Way
  • Book Rating: 5/5

More...

Read All 32

Author Details

Author Details

Johnson, M.D., Spencer

"Spencer Johnson, M.D., is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including The One Minute Manager, all in the entertaining style of a parable that contains useful information readers can use in their own lives. There are more than thirteen million copies of his books in print in over twenty-five languages.
Dr. Johnson's education includes a psychology degree from the University of Southern California, an M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons and medical clerkships at Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic."

Koontz, Dean

Dean Koontz grew up in desperate poverty under the tyranny of a violent alcoholic father (Koontz's father served time in prison for trying to murder him). Despite his traumatic childhood, Koontz put himself through Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (then known as Shippensburg State College), and in 1967 went to work as an English teacher at Mechanicsburg High School. In his spare time he wrote his first novel, Star Quest, which was published in 1968. From there he went on to write over a dozen more science fiction novels.

In the 1970s, Koontz began publishing mainstream suspense and horror fiction, under his own name as well as under several pseudonyms; Koontz has stated he used pen names after several editors convinced him that authors who switched genre fell victim to "negative crossover": alienating established fans, while simultaneously not picking up any new fans. Known pseudonyms include Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Aaron Wolfe, David Axton, Brian Coffey, John Hill, Leigh Nichols, Owen West, and Richard Paige. Currently some of those novels are sold under Koontz's real name.

Koontz's breakthrough novel was Whispers (1980). Several of his books have reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Koontz is renowned for his skill at writing suspenseful page-turners. His strengths also include memorable characters, original ideas, and ability to blend horror, fantasy and humour. Koontz has been criticized for his tendency to include too many similes and therefore to drag out descriptions, his frequent use of similar plotting structures, and a tendency to moralize heavily.

Koontz's protagonists,with the exception of Odd Thomas,arm theirselves with guns to do combat against the various monsters and madmen,and Koontz gets all the technical details right.There are no mistakes(functions and capabilities of different types of guns.)

Arguably, most of Koontz's work can still be classified as science fiction, as he tries to create plausible, consistent explanations for the unusual, fantastic events featured in most of his novels.

Koontz also has a very interesting way of adding his own little quirks to his novels, such as adding simple quotes from a book by the name of The Book of Counted Sorrows. Counted Sorrows was originally a hoax, like the nonexistent Keener's Manual Richard Condon cited for epigraphs he wrote himself. Eventually Koontz put together a poetry collection of that name, using all the epigraphs; it was printed as a limited edition in 2003 by Charnel House and as an eBook by Barnes & Noble. His more recent novels, starting with The Taking, have no verse by Koontz; rather, they have quotes by other authors (in particular, The Taking uses quotes from T. S. Eliot, whose works figure in the plot of the novel).

Koontz has long been a fan of Art Bell's radio program, Coast to Coast AM. He appeared as a guest after a fan reported to Bell that one of Koontz's novels featured a character describing a paranormal event as an "Art Bell moment."

Koontz currently resides in Newport Beach, a city in Southern California (as such, most of his novels are set in Southern California) with his wife Gerda and their dog Trixie Koontz, under whose name he published the book, Life is Good: Lessons in Joyful Living, in 2004. Trixie is also often referenced in his official newsletter "Useless News".

Dogs often figure heavily in Koontz's novels, as he is an avid dog lover. Watchers, Dark Rivers of the Heart, and One Door Away from Heaven are prime examples. However, lately he has seen fit to include cats as characters, most notably the smart cat Mungojerrie in the Christopher Snow novels.

Koontz., Dean R.

Dean R. Koontz, the author of many #1 "New York Times" bestsellers, lives with his wife, Gerda, and their dog, Trixie, in southern California.