Part One: Chapters 1 - 4 Summary

Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz is a daring leap into the darker side of human nature. When Rudy Tock and his wife, Madelaine, go to the hospital to have their son, Jimmy, events coalesce that will affect this family for many years to come. Rudy's father, Josef, predicts five terrible days in Jimmy's life right before he dies, which happens just as Jimmy is being born. At the same time, Jimmy's father, Rudy Tock, meets another expectant father in the hospital - Konrad Beezo. Konrad is an unhappy clown from a traveling circus who believes that a group of aerialists are out to get him because he married one of their caste. Konrad's wife dies in childbirth at the same time as Jimmy is born, and Konrad loses touch with reality, shooting the doctor and one of...