Odd Thomas

Rating:
Summary: ODD THOMAS, NOT ODD ENOUGH
Review: Odd Thomas sees dead people. They don't talk to him, but they help him solve crimes and otherwise make their wishes known. Unfortunately, for the reader, there isn't much of this going on in the book. OT starts out promising with a murdered girl fingering her killer for Odd who turns the killer over to the police. Then Odd runs into the Fungus Man who Odd learns is serial killer wannabe. Surprisingly, there isn't any communication with the dead to help Odd investigate this.

Half way through the book, Fungus Man is found dead by Odd in Odd's apartment. Odd hides the body, lest police discover the corpse and assume Odd did it. Without assistance from the dead, Odd uncovers a clever group of Satanists who plot to take out a mall ala Columbine. A couple of rookie cops are the budding serial killers whom Odd eventually stops.

And that's about it. Told in the first person OT does not delve into the characters of the killers, only those closest to Odd as they relate to his story. Though very well written, ODD THOMAS is intriguing but no where near as odd as it should be.

Rating:
Summary: Odd, Depressing, yet strangely great.
Review: I admit, I was some of the others were disapointed with Koontz's earlier works (The Face, By The Light of the Moon), but this novel was very engaging and well-written. Odd Thomas was one of the best characters I'd ever read about. But a warning, I thought the ending was depressing and sad.

Rating:
Summary: Odd Thomas
Review: If you like Dean Koontz books then you will like this book, its not one of his best but well worth reading. Odd Thomas is a great character not looking for much in life other than being a fry cook, cooking eggs to selling cars. A strange man comes to town and changes everything. A good book to read sitting by the fireplace turning pages and entering the heart and mind of Odd Thomas and where he goes from here is very interesting. Larry Hobson-Author "The Day Of The Rose"

Rating:
Summary: thrill-a-minute horror thriller is Mr. Koontz at his best
Review: Odd Thomas is no typical twenty-year-old. What he considers ordinary most people would consider frightening. On August 14, he sees Penny a young child and knows instantly she is a ghost. Penny points out her killer and Odd gives chase finally apprehending him. The sheriff, who knows about Odd's psychic powers, uses him as an able tool in crime fighting.

While working as a short order cook in a diner he notices a man with badachs (shades that never lived and feed off of violence) hovering over him. Believing that this stranger plans to do something that will result in a lot of deaths he tracks the man to his house and finds a file with the date August 15 in it. Odd surmises he has less than one day to stop what he thinks will be a blood bath judging from the amount of badachs hovering in town.

Only Dean Koontz can blend a thriller and a horror novel together and make a novel that is better than the sum of its parts. ODD THOMAS is a likeable character that readers will want to mother (or big brother) because he is weighed down by the gift he possesses. He believes he must use it to help people no matter the toll it takes on him. This thrill-a-minute horror thriller is Mr. Koontz at his best.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A most odd yet interesting protagonist
Review: Odd Thomas lives up to his first name; he is a 20 year old short-order cook with the ability to see the ghosts of the dead and the shadowy faceless spirits he calls "bodachs," who gravitate toward scenes of horrific violence and evil. Odd is a very likable guy whose ideal future rests with his girlfriend and soulmate Stormy Llewellyn and with a career in tires or footware. Aware that his sixth sense is a burden that sets him apart and makes him appear otherworldly to others, he knows that he has received this gift for a reason. He feels a responsibility to make sense of the ghosts he encounters and to thwart the violence that the bodachs portend. When he spots a large congregation of bodachs converging on his home town of Pico Mundo, he has a premonition of great disaster. He hones in on a villainous and twisted "Fungus Man" who he senses will most likely cause the violence. He must now discover the time and place where the bloodshed will occur. He races against the clock to prevent a tragic outcome. Narrated by Odd, this story is at times gory, at times inspirational, at times funny, and at times bittersweet.

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.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond apt description of the unexplained
Review: I truly enjoyed this book. Once I received it and read the first 2 chapters, I realized I'd have to wait for a day or two where I could read it uninterrupted through to the last page.

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.

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+