Rating: 
Summary: Odd but not very interesting
Review: I've read most of Dean's novels, and his newer releases seem to be waning. "Odd Thomas" is no exception; the most significant shortcoming about this novel is that it never seemed to go anywhere. And, I didn't find the characters as real/descriptive as in his other novels. Also, I didn't know I'd be reading the pseudo-script to the film "The Sixth Sense" (Bruce Willis). I enjoyed the movie but wasn't interested in reading a novel about it.
Rating:
Summary: Losing his touch?
Review: Annotation: Odd Thomas is a man who lives and works as a fry cook in a small desert town and has the psychic abilty to see the dead. He also has the ability to see "bodachs", dark spirits that only appear when a horrific event will happen in the near future. Odd Thomas sees these spirits follow a visitor in town that Odd calls "Fungus Man" and tries to uncover the mystery of the man's plans before it is too late and many people die. Author Bio: Dean Koontz was born in Everett, Pennsylvania, and grew up in nearby Bedford. When he was a senior in college, he won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and has been writing ever since. Today he is a world-famous author whose novels have sold 225 million copies in thirty-eight languages. He has numerous New York Times adult best-sellers. Dean Koontz is also the author of the children's book Santa's Twin. He lives in southern California. Evaluation: I leapt into this book thinking it would be another enjoyable Dean Koontz book. I normally love reading Dean Koontz. I was intrigued with his book that was released before Odd Thomas called The Face. However, this one didn't seem to satisfy me as much as the rest of his collection. I read many reveiws of the book offering excellent grades for the book, but I found the book to be boring and unoriginal. The main character, Odd Thomas, has the ability to see the dead, which strangely reminds me of the movie The Sixth Sense. There are many unusual characters in the story, but I did not fall in love with any of them. It was hard to reach an understanding of the characters and see the relationships between them. Odd Thomas travels from place to place throughout the whole book trying to discover what will happen on the future date of August 15th after seeing dark spirits called Bodachs follow a new visitor in town. The man has some sort of plans of destruction set for August 15th and it is up to Odd Thomas to stop him. I was bored with this book, and let down that Dean Koontz didn't intrigue me as much as usual this time around.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting Book
Review: I have been a Koontz fan for many years and have always read any and every book he's ever written. "Odd Thomas" was by far the most different of Koontz's earlier works and altho it was different, the book in its entirety still delivered. I was very impressed with the writting style and the way by which the story started and kept it's pace. Overall the book was truly a good read and left me completely satisfied and saddened as well.
Rating: 
Summary: How Odd (but very good)
Review: When I first started reading this book, I thought perhaps Odd Thomas was a bit slow, or mentally challenged. As I continued to read, I realized that he was quite intelligent, but approached the world rather simplistically, perhaps even naively. Odd has an unusual talent; he sees the dead. You can imagine it would be quite disconcerting to see Elvis walking around in your hometown, looking as he did in life, with the same taste in clothes. Unfortunately, the dead do not speak; at least, not to Odd. It takes us only a little while to discover that something is wrong in Odd's home town of Pico Mundo. Odd sees a very strange character that he dubs the "Fungus Man," who is followed by a group of bodachs, which are spirit-like beings invisible to those of us that are unable to see the dead. In Odd's experience the presence of bodachs is an indication that something bad is going to happen to someone, somewhere, soon. Odd takes the opportunity to make use of a driver's license to break into Fungus Man's house, where he finds even more unusual and bizarre things. Fungus Man has a fascination with serial murderers and violence. The physical and psychic evidence mounts that something is going to happen in the town of Pico Mundo, and Fungus Man seems to be at the center of it. Odd continues to gather evidence of Fungus Man's activities to help support action by the Police Chief of Pico Mundo, who is Odd's friend and who is aware of Odd's talents for seeing ghosts and bodachs. As we follow Odd in his gathering of information throughout the story we discover that Odd is far from being a storybook character, having bizarre parents, one of whom is severely dysfunctional, if not insane. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Odd is so relatively nice and normal, except for being able to see dead people, when Odd had such weird parents. We are also introduced to Bronwen "Stormy" Llewellyn, Odd's girlfriend and, in Odd's opinion, the most perfect and beautiful woman on earth. Dean Koontz wrote this story perfectly, continuing to build momentum from the discovery of Odd's talent, to meeting Fungus Man, to several dramatic and important events through the culmination of the story, when he pulls it all together. One other reviewer found fault with the introduction of Odd's parents late in the novel. However, in real life, as in this novel, Odd was searching for information, and he thought he might learn something from his parents. As it turned out, he learned a very important piece of information from his mother that aided him as the final events unfolded in the book. Dean Koontz' recent novels have been a roller coaster of quality. While his books have been readable, their consistency has varied significantly. "Odd Thomas" stands out as the best novel that Koontz has written in quite a long time. The pacing is good, the building of suspense is steady, the novel is relatively short compared to some of the recent bloated works of some authors, and most important, Koontz manages to create a very original story with an ending that I suspected, but the details I did not. I suspect that "Odd Thomas" is going to show up as a movie. I hope it is done well, because this well-written novel deserves to be filmed well.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Koontz! Recommended listening for your commute.
Review: Koontz has written a winner this time. Odd Thomas sees dead people, but despite that little quirk, he's an otherwise normal 20 year-old fry cook. Well, maybe not quite normal... An audiobook is made or broken by the reader's performance, and David Aaron Baker does not disappoint. The listener is easily convinced that David is Odd, telling his odd story. Full of action, twists and turns, and Koontz's trademark linguistic acrobatics, Odd Thomas is a great way to lighten up your commute.
Rating:
Summary: Koontz's latest masterpiece...
Review: The story revolves around a 20 year old man named Odd Thomas who is a short order cook living in a small California town. Odd has the ability to see and communicate with dead people. He has kept this a secret from nearly everyone in town with the acception of his girlfriend and the chief of police who Odd helps with solving crimes every now and then. Odd also sees evil spirits which he refers to as "Bodachs" which are attracted to pain and suffering. Their presence usually signifies up coming violence. One day at work, Odd notices a man who he refers to as the "Fungus Man" that is attracting a lot of Bodachs. Wanting to find out more about the man, Odd breaks into his house, and discovers that the Fungus Man has an obsession with serial killers. This leads Odd to believe that the man will commit an unspeakable act of violence soon, and now it is up to Odd to discover what that might be, and to stop the Fungus Man before it is too late. Odd Thomas is Koontz's latest novel. It is also one of the best he has ever written. I was literally blown away at how great this book turned out to be. The book is extremely suspenseful because of the fact that the inevitable is coming, and only Odd can stop the man. However, since Odd has no idea what the man will do, he also has to figure out where and when the Fungus Man will strike. The ending to the story is completely unpredictable and extremely satisfying. I also love books that are told in a first person narrative because it gives the book more of a personal feel, and the story is narrated by Odd himself. Koontz does an amazing job at transforming himself into Odd Thomas. Koontz's character development is so good, that you feel like you are reading a first hand account of an actual event, and not just some character that Koontz made up. Odd Thomas is probably the best character Koontz has created since Chris Snow. Odd posseses fierce determination and it is extremely entertaining watching Odd interact with dead people. Now due to the premise of this book, people are probably going to assume that it is a rip off the film "Sixth Sense". However, even though Odd can communicate with the dead, it is by no means a rip off, and the story is actually a lot more suspenseful. Koontz has been delivering outstanding books for a while now, and people begin to worry that an author may run out of ideas or lose their overall touch. After reading Koontz's two latest books "The Face" and "Odd Thomas" Koontz seems to be getting better. Overall, Odd Thomas is a great book and one of Koontz's best. The story is filled with suspense, great characters, a wonderful first hand narrative, and an outstanding ending. If you are a fan of Dean Koontz, or if you are looking for a scary and suspenseful book, I highly recommend you give Odd Thomas a shot.
Rating:
Summary: Ghosts and Bodachs Abound in Pico Mundo
Review: Short order cook Odd Thomas possesses a strange gift, or the gift possess him, depending on your point of view. He can see spirits and foresee crimes. He uses this gift he for the common good. Only a few people in the small desert town of Pico Mundo know about his ability. One is his girlfriend, Bronwen "Stormy" Llewellyn. Another is the police chief, who sometimes works with Odd to solve crimes. Odd is also troubled by visions of dark, ill-defined figures he calls bodachs, who flock in packs to scenes of extreme violence, murder and human suffering. One day a mysterious man named Bob Robertson enters the grill where Odd works. Perversion pours from him like sweat oozing off a thirsty man in the desert, drawing a swarm of bodachs who surround him, slipping and sliding around him as he leaves the diner. Odd dubs him the "Fungus Man." Odd senses a horribe evil about Robertson and through recurring dreams, foresees a series of killings. Something very bad is brewing in Pico Mundo and it's up to Odd to stop it, despite the forces working against him. It's hard for me to believe that Mr. Koontz can keep churning out books that captivate me so. A thrill a minute, that's what's in store for you in a Dean Koontz story and this one is no exception. You'll find yourself speeding though this book, but beware, put your seatbelt on, because you don't want to be thrown out of the car when you come to the twist at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: The book is a good read despite its paranormal background.
Rating:
Summary: He Sees Dead People!
Review: Odd Thomas--and that's his actual name, not a description of him--is a lot like what you would imagine the Haley Joel Osment character from "The Sixth Sense" might be like fully grown--if he had grown up in an obscure fictional California town with a psychopathic mother instead of one of the biggest cities in the country and a loving mother. Odd not only sees ghosts, he interacts with them and tries to help them if he can. He also sees evil spirits he calls "bodachs", who seem to feast psychically on injury and death. And he must literally race against time to prevent a disastrous event that will end up costing him almost more than he can bear. This was a good book, but also a depressing one. In one chapter Odd describes a childhood incident with his mother that would leave most people (me included) emotionally scarred, or even insane, for life. Of course, Odd himself realizes that he could in fact BE insane, and THAT could be the reason he does what he does. OF course, the book does include some of the wry humor and the numerous eccentric characters that pepper Koontz's books, and it is well-written and fast paced as usual. It also has a very jarring and depressing ending, so if you're one of those people who likes to read the last page of a book before you get to the end (you know who you are), DON'T DO IT! You'll ruin the book!
Rating:
Summary: What a great book!
Review: I loved reading this book and did not want it to end. Oddie is a wonderful character and I hope Mr. Koontz writes more books based on him. Reading this book was a very uplifting experience, which might seem odd to say about a "thriller," but that is the only term I can ascribe to this tome. Odd is so richly drawn, he seems like an actual person, not a work of fiction. You would definitely want him as a friend!
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