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Life Expectancy, Dean Koontz
HarperCollins
Reviewed by Lisa Hoult (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

Imagine knowing the day disaster is going to strike – counting down the months, weeks and then days until "it" happens.

This knowledge is what Jimmy Tock lives with – except he has five days of personal disaster looming in the future. While he knows the date of each cursed day, he has no way of knowing just what is going to happen.

This is his grandfather's gift to him – a prophesy on the night he was born. He foretold of five dark days in Jimmy's life – dreadful, horrible occasions that greatly disturbed him – and then he died. In that same minute, Jimmy entered the world and so began the journey towards the first of the dates. As he faces a future filled with the certainty of nightmares, he must believe in himself and trust the love of his family to guide him through.

Told from Jimmy's perspective, this has a smart, witty tone that heightens the sense of impending doom. And when it hits, Koontz takes no prisoners. The element of surprise is achieved by employing a casualness that lulls and soothes before suddenly dropping deep into evil's clutches – brilliant.

While some of the events seemed far-fetched and too coincidental, I was willing to forgive for the sheer enjoyment of the book – but no, fooled again. Twisting everything into perfect unison with his devious imagination, Koontz ties up the loose ends and coincidence is cast aside. There's even some fantastic vocabulary broadeners: syndactyly and harlequinphobia, not to mention an "animated sewage worm from the bowels of a syphilitic weasel spawned of a witches toilet".

Cunningly plotted, fantastically executed – simply perfect.