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I think that the title of Dean Koontz's latest novel, LIFE EXPECTANCY, is a bit of a subtle jape. In the past, some critics have maintained that Koontz writes the same novel over and over again. Yet when he began stretching his creative muscles with some heavy lifting outside the horror and supernatural genres, there were complaints that he wasn't writing "Dean Koontz" novels. In LIFE EXPECTANCY there are some familiar elements from both his older and newer works. Koontz continues exploration into spirituality through the filter of some quirky, eccentric characters while seasoning the story with elements of suspense and the supernatural. One constant remains, however: Koontz is endearingly and compellingly readable.
The life of Jimmy Tock, the book's protagonist and narrator, is profoundly fascinating. He was born at the very moment that his paternal grandfather, Josef Tock, passed away --- and they were both in the same hospital. Ironies of the circle of life aside, the simultaneous events are made all the more memorable when Josef, heretofore struck silent and unconscious by a stroke, suddenly sits up and speaks, moments before his death. Josef calmly and coherently predicts the time of Jimmy's birth, as well as his length and weight. More ominously, however, Josef marks five dates when Jimmy will have to face dark and terrible events.
This is a tremendous plot device, and Koontz masterfully makes full use of it, bestowing upon Jimmy a life full of commonplace but wonderful blessings while intertwining his fate, from the moment he is born, with a family of madmen who are obsessed with Jimmy for reasons that are ultimately made frighteningly clear.
Koontz, with a writing history that spans five decades and well over forty novels, shows no signs of slowing down as he continues to hone his already razor sharp abilities. What is perhaps most noteworthy about LIFE EXPECTANCY, however, is that it is shot through with an enthusiasm, an optimism, that one would not expect from a writer who has been at the task for as long as Koontz. For this reason, and many others, LIFE EXPECTANCY is a novel worth reading.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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