Odd Thomas [Hardcover]

Koontz is still a master at interweaving scenes of horror with humorous dialog and action. The ghost of Elvis materializes at incongruous moments. There is an exploding cow to add comic relief. The author portrays many humorous and colorful characters including Odd's oversized six-fingered mentor Little Ozzie and his landlady Rosalia who fears she will become invisible. As the author's writing career has progressed, his books have adopted more and more of an undertone of spirituality and religious optimism. His latest effort expands on this trend as he juxtaposes satanism and the paranormal with an uplifting message. Stormy talks about the lives that exist beyond this one, and she refers to this life as a mere "boot camp" for the tests and rewards of the life to come. Odd's ghosts are waiting in limbo, held back by unresolved issues before moving on to the next plane of existence. Odd acknowledges that there are universal truths more complex and meaningful than those of the material world.

This is not one of Koontz's best books, but it is still a good one. The ending of the story has a slightly different tone than in his other books. His fans might feel a bit put off by it or perhaps more uplifted by it. Although I was in the former category, I still give the book four stars and recommend it for its eerie scenes and for its protagonist, who is so human and yet so unique.

Odd Thomas is the kind of character that an author creates which just vibrates to life and make a reader feel like she knows someone just like this. So complicated they have to simply their lives to deal with the exceptional, so ordered that they come apart at the seams when the extraordinary goes beyond paranormal, and so wise that the most basic lost harms them deeply.

I just enjoyed the way he told the story. He could have summed it up in about 10 chapters if his story telling didn't push me to wonder about the details he didn't tell me up front.

I enjoy suspense crafted at a high pace. This was a page turner to be enjoyed.

Hopefully without telling you the things which surprised me, you will just run out and get the book when you have the time to read it straight through. His assessment of death and what lies beyond it had a few familiar themes but what he mixed it with was refreshingly new.

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