Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In the past fourteen years, I've read everything of Koontz's that I could get my hands on and, yet, he still managed to thrill me with Life Expectancy. It wasn't the plot, nor the diabolical twists and turns. You know, right away, when you sit down to read a Koontz book that he's going to take you on a fast, suspenseful ride. You know that the characters will be well-drawn and that you will be frightened out of your wits and that sometimes you will laugh until you cry. All of those expectations were met in this book. What I got online to tell you, fellow readers, is that instead of a suspense novel that you will read in a few hours and put away, you're getting a novel that will touch you in ways you'll never forget. And, what's more, Koontz accomplishes this by not being preachy at all. I adored the Tock family: Rudy and Maddy and Grandma Rowena, Weena; Jimmy (who's the hero), and his wife, Lorrie (who is one heck of a heroine). I disagree with the critic who said Koontz's humor was misplaced in this book. I loved their humor. As macabre as Grandma Weena's stories were, they were hilarious! These characters had a zest for living that was wonderful. No matter how horrible life sometimes got for them, they did not give up. Personally, that's the only way I know how to live. You don't give up in life, you just keep going and you WILL prevail! That's what I love the most about Koontz's books. His characters have human failings, but they possess indomitable spirits. You will laugh, and cry, and shout Hallelujah! when the bad guys get theirs. An all-around rousing tale that Grandma Weena, that teller of macabre tales, would be proud of. Some highpoints for me were: The prose--smooth as silk, concise, not a word wasted. The fact that the story was populated by a multicultural cast. Okay, I appreciate that in a popular novel. It's just more realistic to me to have people from all races in a story. Wait until you read the scenes in which Jimmy and Lorrie are in their SUV on the way to the hospital for her to give birth to their first child, when a maniac in a Hummer runs them off the road during a snowstorm. You'll feel like you're in the car with them! Kudos, Mr. Koontz.