Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz

    2003; 421 pages. Book 1 (out of 7) in the “Odd Thomas” series.  New Author? : No, but it’s been a while.  Genres : Horror Fantasy; Ghosts; Suspense Thriller.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    20-year old Odd Thomas (yes, that’s his real name) can see dead people.  Sometimes they even reveal the terrible ways in which they died, and who killed them; unwilling to do so until justice is done..

 

    Odd Thomas keeps his “gift” secret from most of his fellow townspeople in Pico Mundo, California.  One of the exceptions to this is the Police Chief of Pico Mundo, Wyatt Porter, who appreciates Odd Thomas’s help in resolving these cold cases.

 

    Odd Thomas can also see strange creatures he’s dubbed “bodachs”.  Usually one or two of them show up right before someone dies violently.  Apparently, they like being spectators to the violence.

 

    But lately, the bodachs have been showing up in greater numbers in Pico Mundo.  Dozens at a time.  Hmm.

 

    That's probably not a good thing.

 

What’s To Like...

    Odd Thomas is written by in “memoir style” by the titular protagonist, apparently some years after the fact and at the urging of one of the secondary characters in the tale, Little Ozzie.  I presume we’ll find out the reasons for this in the subsequent novels in the series.  The story is set in the fictional town of Pico Mundo, located somewhere in southern California's Mojave Desert.

 

    I liked the way the story opens: an incident that introduces the reader to Odd’s talent as he helps the ghost of a little girl seeking justice.   After that, the main plotline gets rolling, with the appearance of an enigmatic character that Odd labels “Fungus Man”.   Is he alive? Dead?  Human?  Otherworldly?  Good? Demonic?  And above all, why has he come to Pico Mundo?

 

    Despite this being primarily a “Suspense Thriller” novel, Dean Koontz cleverly manages to keep the tone somewhat lighthearted.  One of Odd’s friends is the ghost of Elvis,  some of the story takes place in a chapel called the “Church of the Whispering Comet”, and, as anyone who’s ever worked in a cheap eatery (I have!) can tell you, learning to speak “diner lingo” is an art.  I also liked the author’s treatment of the “what happens if I mess with the ordained timeline” conundrum.

 

    The ending is both thrilling, and realistic.  The plans of the Evil Ones are stymied, but at a high cost.  The Epilogue will leave a lump in your throat.  The fate of one of the main characters remains unresolved, but I think this may be a teaser for the next book in the series.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Farrago (n.) : a confusing mixture.

Others: Pyx (n.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 10,863 ratings and x,xxx reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.99/5 based on 275,707 ratings and 8,911 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    When Chief Porter came back, he said, “Why is he vandalizing St. Bart’s?”

    “Don’t have a clue, sir.  He tried to trap me and Stormy in the church belfry—”

    “What were you doing in the belfry?”

    “Having a picnic, sir.”

    “I suppose that makes sense to you.”

    “Yes, sir.  It’s nice.  We have dinner up there a couple times a month.”

    “Son, I don’t ever want to catch you having dinner on the courthouse flagpole.”

    “Maybe just hors d’oeuvres, sir, but never dinner.”  (loc. 1955)

 

    “No gun,” I insisted.  “We’ll just cruise and see what happens.”

    “Why are you afraid of guns?”

    “They go bang.”

    “And why is that a question you always avoid answering?”

    “I was probably shot to death in a past life.”

    “You don’t believe in reincarnation.”

    “I don’t believe in taxes, either, but I pay them.”  (loc. 2064)

 

Kindle Details…

    Odd Thomas currently costs $3.99 at Amazon.  The rest of the books in the series are all priced in the $5.99-$7.99,range.  Dean Koontz has oodles of other e-books for your horror-genre reading pleasure, most of which are in the $2.99-$9.99 price range.

 

“Odd, my beautiful cow exploded.”  (loc. 1459)

    The profanity in Odd Thomas is light; I counted just seven instances in the first 25% of the book, all of which were of the “milder” ilk.  There was an allusion to child molestation, though.  I didn’t spot any typos, which is a rarity for me.  Kudos to those who did the editing.

 

    My main quibble is with the storytelling.  There were way too many plot tangents which slowed everything down.  Some examples:

    We dwell much too long on Odd’s coworkers at the Pico Mundo Grille.

    Ditto for the background information about Odd’s parents.

    Ditto for a late-appearing (97% Kindle) co-conspirator.

And many more.  None of these impacted the storyline, so all created slow spots.

 

    Still, the basic concept of the storyline was innovative; the setting and world-building kept my interest, and the character development of both the good guys was superb.  Odd Thomas’s psychological make-up was particularly well done.

 

    Amazon discounts on the e-books in this series are for some reason few and far between.  But if the sequel, Forever Odd, ever shows up at a reduced price, I’ll probably grab it and give this series another try.

 

    7 Stars.  One last thing.  For some odd reason, Amazon has removed or relocated their "Reviews" totals.  They still list the "Ratings" totals.  Hopefully, this is a temporary omission.