Odd Thomas

Rating:
Summary: Dean Koontz Continues to be THE Master
Review: More often than not, when the name "Dean Koontz" comes up in conversation with people who are on the downside of middle age, they will profess an unfamiliarity with his recent work. They will list DARKFALL, LIGHTNING, PHANTOMS or any one of a dozen or so Koontz titles among their favorite novels, but at some point --- for whatever reason --- they fell off after that. This is more than unfortunate; for Koontz, at a time when his contemporaries choose to retread, remake and remodel past glories, is doing some of the most mature, intriguing and innovative work of his career.

ODD THOMAS is the latest exhibit offered as proof of that proposition. The title is the name of the novel's narrator and protagonist; first name "Odd," last name "Thomas," how do you do. Thomas is a resident of the tiny municipality of Pico Mundo in Southern California. He is simple, as that term is applied to his life, or perhaps the term underachiever would be more appropriate. Or then again, not. Thomas is employed as a short order diner cook and is an expert in such matters. His plans for the future consist of moving on to tire sales, or perhaps selling shoes, when he grows weary of facing the griddle.

But what Thomas does is not what he is. Thomas can see the dead, the spirits who are restless for one reason or another. And he can also see bodachs. Bodachs are creatures --- something more and less than spirits --- that are drawn to the scene of unusual death and disaster. And Thomas, as he prepares the simple orders at the Pico Mundo equivalent of Waffle House, sees bodachs flocking around a particular customer, a stranger who appears to be the focal point of some unnamed, unknown disaster that will strike Pico Mundo within 24 hours. And Thomas, during the intervening period, is going to do everything he can to prevent the disaster, whatever it is.

All that he has to guide him is a troubling, recurring dream and the assistance of his friends, a group of individuals who are as unusual as he is. There are, among others, Stormy Llewellyn, Thomas' soul mate; Little Ozzie, a four hundred pound genius with a 58-year-old cat (pictorial evidence submitted upon request); and Wyatt Porter, Pico Mundo's chief of police. All, in their own way, are peculiar. All are unforgettable. And --- speaking of unforgettable --- the ghost of Elvis, weeping for Thomas, is here as well. You will know why by the conclusion of the novel.

ODD THOMAS has echoes within its pages of past masters. There are memorable, if brief, homages to H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Sherwood Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon, and others herein. Yet it is clearly and uniquely an original, a quietly haunting morality tale that beckons to be embraced and deserves to be studied. Koontz, astoundingly, continues to challenge his readers and himself, and in doing so with ODD THOMAS may well have published the penultimate novel of his career.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Rating:
Summary: Another great novel!
Review: Odd Thomas is a wonderful book, and it proves that Mr. Koontz is truly the master of his own genre, and deserving of every praise and accolade that comes his way.
I am pleased with the tone that his more recent novels have taken, and dont mind any of the moral ponderings or metaphysical pontifications that he is now using. In fact, I think that it shows he has matured as a writer and is flexing his literary muscles just a bit.
In Odd Thomas we are placed in the middle of a hot August day in a small community in California. We follow the adventures of Odd, a fry cook and medium for the dead, as he struggles to deal with his gift and avert a coming disaster.
The suspense is built layer upon layer in this novel until the anticipation can be felt like a physical force. We are shown the dead King of Rock and Roll, a little girl who desperatley wants the man who killed her to be brought to justice, and an evil man who is followed by creatures darker than night itself- creatures who feed upon terror and death.
Throughout all this, we are treated to a love story between Odd and his soul mate, Stormy. Koontz has written a story of love and loss, interwoven with terror and suspense. He has blended this so masterfully that you wont even be able to ponder the genius of it until you have turned the last page and given the novel some time to percolate.
This novel is great, and I highly suggest it to anyone who isnt a Koontz fan because it is unlike anything he has written previously. Fans of Koontz may not like this one because it can be seen as a "steady deviation from form"- yet given the chance, you will discover what a gem this novel really is.
Once again, Koontz has given us a wonderful story laced with a moral message that all of us should take to heart. The mark of a gifted writer- in my opinion- is the ability to tell a story that not only entertains, but one that teaches as well. Great book!

Rating:
Summary: Perfect! I LOVED this book.
Review: Dean Koontz always tells a great story. This time he outdid himself. With a perfect blend of suspense, humor, unflinching loyalty, and love, especially love this is by far his best novel yet. How can you not devour a line like: 'Son, this is the United States of America. Some would say it's unconstitutional to try to prevent psychopaths from fulfilling their potential.' Or this gem: 'It's an employment-related fork wound. A flipped fork flicked my forehead.' Besides the judicious use of humor though what really underpins this story is a profoundly deep love that Odd Thomas has for Stormy Llewellyn, one that he must protect at all costs. This book really reminded me of the wonderful 1991 movie 'Truly Madly Deeply' with Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman.

Rating:
Summary: Bad ¿ Very Bad
Review: This is the worst Dean Koontz book I have read.

Dear Mr. Koontz,

Please refund my money! I have read most of your books and enjoyed all except this one. "Odd Thomas" was an extremely weak attempt to mix love and horror. I saw dead people on the currency I used to buy your book. Unfortunately, I will never see those particular dead presidents again.

Here is what I thought was wrong with the book:

While trying to convey the love that Odd felt for Stormy, Mr. Koontz lost sight of "our" (the readers) intelligence and felt it necessary to constantly remind us how much Odd was in love. Soon it began to feel forced and lame - you are so beautiful, you are my soul mate, you are the greatest, you are unbelievable, you are the reason I live, you are my inspiration, you are the wind beneath my wings - give me a break.

The book did have its few moments of good storytelling, but for the most part it was Mr. Koontz working hard at pushing out one more book so he can collect another paycheck.

Grade: D+

Rating:
Summary: One of his absolute best of all time!
Review: I'll get right into the summary of the book, and spare you the boring commentary (for a little while):

Odd Thomas never fails to live up to his name. He's a short-order cook in Pico Mundo, California, a town of about 40,000. He lives above a garage. He's twenty years old. His parents are border-line insane. He and his girlfriend, Stormy, have matching birthmarks.

Oh, yeah: Odd sees dead people.

Sometimes, he helps them. Like the little girl who comes to him and tells him (without speaking, for the dead don't speak) that she was raped and murdered. Then, sometimes, he has to go chasing the perpetrator through a swimming pool, into someone's home. And that's just the first 20 pages.

Odd also sees other things. Bodachs--shadowy spirits that seem to thrive on evil. Demons? Lost souls? Who knows? But Odd knows that they mean trouble--and when a man comes into the Pico Mundo Grill with a score of bodachs trailing him, Odd realizes that Pico Mundo is in for some trouble.

And he's the only one that can stop it.

A fast-paced, rock 'em 'til they drop suspense novel, Dean Koontz returns to what he's good at: scaring your behind off! ODD THOMAS will leave you begging for more, chapter after chapter, as you read your way through the adventures of a young man just doing what he can to avert a disaster.

ODD THOMAS is a novel about an intriguing, all-too-real young man who faces gigantic problems. Yeah, Odd's a freak--but he's still human. With this novel, Koontz will make you think about your own humanity--while at the same time taking you to the edge of your seat, with gravity threatening to pull you out.

Better wear a seatbelt.

Rating:
Summary: A New Hero: Odd Thomas
Review: This is a well-written, enjoyable, entertaining, and excellent novel. For fans of Dean Koontz, you'll recognize his signature story-telling style layered in with one of the freshest voices in any recent novel written.

Odd Thomas could be an everyman except for one thing: he sees the dead everywhere around him. They communicate with him--not in voice, but in gestures. Odd has kept his predilection for seeing the dead mostly to himself. Only a few around him know of this blessing/curse he's gifted with, and Odd would like to keep it that way. That is until he uncovers the most insidious plot ever to endanger the small town of Pico Mundo. The plot, ripped straight from newspaper headlines, has a nasty little twist to it which I won't give away here. Needless to say, it's up to Odd, and Odd alone, to save his friends and the town...and he does so by putting himself in serious danger.

Koontz has thrilled readers over the years with his tales of the supernatural and various other oddities, but never has he captured a unique cast of characters as he has in "Odd Thomas." Like a Tim Burton film, he unravels the strange events in a manner that allows the reader to slowly buy in to them...and ultimately believe and root for a new hero: Odd Thomas.

Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: See book description above.

When I started reading this I thought I'd be in for a wild ride, but when I continued reading, the story seemed to move into idle until almost the last quarter of the book where it picked up steam again. Not Koontz' worst and not his best.
Though a very well written book, it did seem to have quite a bit of filler. Odd was very likeable and the book was filled with some quirky and entertaining characters, although they didn't do much.

Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: A great read!

I truly enjoyed reading this It's a rarity these days to find an author capable of such good storytelling. The story is well written and very engaging, and despite the fact that it lost some momentum in the middle, I found myself eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next. All in all, though this is not quite a perfect novel, it comes close.

Rating:
Summary: Dean Koontz, Christian novelist?
Review: The author of Watchers, Night Chills, Phantoms, and lots of other horror novels, plus such high-pitched thrill-rides as Intensity and Sole Survivor, a Christian novelist? Hmmmm.

It's been building a long time, this sly Christian sensibility in Koontz's fiction. For example, here's a passage (page 419 of the mass market paperback edition) from his December 2000 release, From the Corner of His Eye: "And so Agnes went alone to her bedroom and there, as on so many nights, sought the solace of the rock who was also her lamp, of the lamp who was also her high fortress, of the high fortress who was also her shepherd. She asked for mercy, and if mercy was not to be granted, she asked for wisdom to understand the purpose of her sweet boy's suffering."

Whew! That's as Christian as anything Frank Peretti or Steven R. Lawhead or Ted Dekker has ever written.

But his latest book, Odd Thomas, goes even beyond that. It is veritably drenched in a traditional Christian worldview. The twenty-year-old eponymous protagonist, one of Koontz's greatest characters, is gifted, graced, with supernatural abilities: he can see dead persons, ghosts, who haven't yet passed on to their final resting place (or place of torment, as may be). He can also see "bodachs," wraithlike, insubstantial creatures who seem to congregate wherever great human suffering--mass murders, calamitous natural disasters--is about to occur. And he has an uncanny sense about evil people; if he has met them and discerned their malign spirit, he can locate them by means of "dowsing for" their evil intentions, which, for him, hang in the air like a spoor. He also posesses more mundane gifts, which he knows he could use, e.g., to make a lot of money in Las Vegas. But being a person of conscience, he eschews the easy path to power and riches, and instead chooses to live his life as a simple fry cook in the California desert town of Pico Mundo, helping out where he can, and generally trying to live a life of virtue.

Occasionally, opportunities arise for him to use his gifts for the good of humanity. This comes at a cost: he must generally keep his eldritch endowments to himself, lest he be regarded as even more odd than he is, and his solitary exercise of them often puts him in harm's way. The Pico Mundo police chief is a confidant, although he struggles to square Odd's preternatural boone with a fundamentally naturalist outlook. But there've been enough times Odd's been right to convince Chief Porter that his gifts are real.

His gal, Bronwen "Stormy" Llewellyn, a smoldering, dark-eyed beauty with whom a fortune-telling machine has declared his destiny will ever and always be entwined, knows most of his secrets, and this arcane knowledge does nothing but bond her more closely to him, because she recognizes and affirms his strange mission on this sad earth.

But when Bob Robertson, aka, Fungus Man, comes to town with malign and nefarious intentions and secret partners, Odd Thomas must stand in the gap between him and the most hideous events that unfold, seemingly, just beyond his ability to thwart them.

I won't give away what, rather remarkably, happens. I will say that the ending is controversial, though entirely satisfying to me.

This is a very important book although not necessarily a great one. It's important because it exactly captures the intersection of divine grace and human will. That is, it bridges the gap between Christian supernaturalist fiction and conventional horror fiction. And although it is not a great book, on account of some rather too neat plotting devices, it is nevertheless very significant because of the way the author addresses the question of divine destiny and human will, somewhat reminiscent of what Ted Dekker does in Blink.

Moreover, it is filled with wry observations about the human condition, wonderful and memorable minor characters, and a deft and exact evocation of life in a California desert town. These more than overcome whatever plotting legerdemain Koontz (not ineptly) employs.

My own feeling is that Koontz's (rather recent?) Christian sensibility hasn't yet found its ideal fictional vehicle. When it does, watch out--he will write the Great American Christian Commercial Novel.

For now, let us luxuriate in the prodigal novelistic virtues he possesses, not gainsaying minor flaws, but celebrating Koontz's glorious vision and encouraging him to even greater triumphs.

Rating:
Summary: An Ordinary/Extraordinary Man
Review: ODD THOMAS, Dean Koontz's latest novel, reads like a cross between two Bruce Willis films, The Sixth Sense and Die Hard. Twenty-year-old Odd Thomas is a fry cook in his hometown of Pico Mundo, California (translated from Spanish: Little World). The narrator, Odd Thomas, who sees dead people, malevolent creatures called bodachs and also has something akin to a psychic tracking system in his head, is remarkably sweet to have been raised by two very dysfunctional people. This is due, I think, to the wonderful secondary characters who populate Odd's life: His girlfriend, Stormy; The chief of Police who is a surrogate father to him; his pal Little Ozzie a mystery writer who is in no way small at over 400 pounds; and many other lovable, if quirky characters. Koontz definitely brings home the point that we are whom we decide we're going to be, and we don't have to be negatively affected by our environment. All through ODD THOMAS I was filled with a sense of hope, a sense of if you persevere, you WILL make it through this crazy world intact. I compared ODD THOMAS to The Sixth Sense because Odd can see dead people. I compared it to Die Hard because Odd is an ordinary man up against extraordinary odds. He has to race against time to prevent a disaster of epic proportions, and he must do it alone. Koontz made me care about Odd and his friends. I wanted him to succeed. I cried at the unexpected ending, and as I closed the book, I wanted more stories from the pen of Odd Thomas. In the beginning he said that Little Ozzie had admonished him to keep the narrative light. In most instances, he succeeded, but that ending was heartbreaking. I would like to revisit Pico Mundo, and Odd Thomas. Perhaps Odd can go meet his aunt Cymry whom I suspect may be a bit odd too.