“Life Expectancy” by Dean Koontz

Life Expectancy

by Dean Koontz

Description:

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 first 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 twenty-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 anomaly 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.

My Review:  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

LIFE EXPECTANCY is one of my favorite Dean Koontz novels. I rank it third, right below THE HUSBAND and THE GOOD GUY. Dean Koontz is one of my favorite secular novelists, but I find I enjoy his novels of the last ten years the best. This is one of those novels. Jimmy Tock, a humble baker, knows ahead of time what the five worst days in his life will be. Through faith, a strong family bond, and a great sense of humor, he faces every tragedy thrown at him.

Free Book by Chris Tome

FREE BOOK

by Brian Tome

Book Description:

“I am a fanatic about freedom. And I’m fanatical about coming at you hard in this book.”

Maybe you’re not as free as you think you are. Even worse, you may have been duped into believing that a “balanced” life is the key to happiness (it isn’t) or that a relationship with God is about layering on rules and restrictions (nope).

Whether it’s media-fueled fear, something a parent or teacher said that you just can’t shake, or even the reality of dark spiritual forces bent on keeping you down, something is holding you back from the full-on freedom God intends for you.

The Bible says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Not fear. Not guilt. Not morality. Freedom. You can have the sort of joy you thought only kids could have. The day of freedom is here.

My Review:  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

This is one of the best books on the freedom we have in Christ that I’ve ever read. It’s well worth reading.

“Crave” By Chris Tomlinson – Free Book Giveaway

Leave a comment to enter drawing to win a free copy of “Crave”. Good only for USA. Drawing ends Wednesday, February 17, 2010.

Crave

By Chris Tomlinson

Wanting So Much More of God

 

Book Description:

People yearn for many things, but only Jesus Christ can satisfy the deepest cravings of the human heart. Many individuals, however, have settled for a cultural Christianity and lost their vibrant, day-by-day relationship with Him. This collection of short, real-life stories from an exciting young author reveals that life with God can be a surprising, challenging, and richly satisfying journey. Readers of Donald Miller and Anne Lamott will love these vignettes of people who…

• talk to strangers about God—and find out why sharing their faith can actually be enjoyable
• answer their calls—and delight in godly obedience
• floss every day—and discover the rewards of daily prayer

Sometimes humorous, occasionally tender, and always thought-provoking, these slices of life connect with 20- and 30-somethings who crave a deeper level of intimacy with God.

Download Sample Chapters Here!

About the Author:

Chris Tomlinson, a graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy and the UCLA Anderson School of Business, is a businessman and writer who desires to see people realize the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Anna. You can visit him online at www.cravesomethingmore.org.

My Review:  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

I enjoyed this book very much. It had the feel of sitting down with the author and sharing experiences and stories about our struggles to crave more of God the way we should and how our relationship with God tends to be so up and down at times. I recommend this book.

Featured Book: Kabul 24

Kabul 24

The Story of a Taliban Kidnapping and Unwavering Faith in the Face of True Terror

By Ben Pearson & Henry Arnold

 

Description:

The story of the capture and imprisonment of eight Western aid workers in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

For three months in 2001, the desperate plight of aid workers kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan captured the attention of the world. With the growing specter of U.S. retaliation for 9/11, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden attempted to use their Western hostages as bargaining tools. What the captors did not count on was coming face-to-face with the enduring faith of people who know their only hope was in Christ.

Kabul 24 revisits their grueling interrogations, their sham trials before the Taliban Supreme Court, their peril during the bombing of Kabul, and the crushing sense that the world had abandoned them. It reveals not only the eight Westerners’ 105 days in captivity but also the gauntlet endured by their 16 Muslim coworkers who, after being taken to the notorious Pulicharki Prison, were beaten and tortured, having been accused by the Taliban of converting to Christianity.

My Review:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This is the story of the twenty-four captives of the Taliban who were captured in Afganistan a month before 9/11. These people did nothing wrong but were tortured because Al Queda considered the actions of the SNI humanitarian organization that helped widows and orphans criminal. This story of their courage and faith reminds us all about how evil the Taliban was and the oppression the Afgan people were under before we intervened. This story reminds us of the history we’d like to forget. I recommend this book.

I recieved this book for free from the publisher in exchange for a review.