Odd Thomas
by Dean Koontz
446 pages
Bantam Books, 2012
fiction/suspense/thriller/mystery
Read in 5 days
My Rating: ★★★★★
"My name is Odd Thomas, though in this age when fame is the altar at which most people worship, I am not sure why you should care who I am or that I exist."
Review: I don't think I've ever read a book that made me need a soundtrack playing in the background in order to feel more at ease with the story. This book definitely requires a soundtrack and with that said I should start with who that soundtrack needs to be!
That's right, none other than the King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley. When you start reading the book you will see what I mean. Anyway, I quickly found myself listening to all his music, even his moody blues and his gospel music as well. I listen to him regardless of the book because he is one of my all time favorite singers and actors (I've seen all his movies) but listening to him while reading about Odd Thomas just seemed right.
But listen to me, I haven't even said anything about the actual story yet! It was gripping and page turning and heart pounding all at once. There was a great pace too. It wasn't like Dean wanted to pack all the suspense in a few pages and that was that. No, instead he gave us about 4 or 5 different climactic points throughout the story. The gist of it all is obviously about a young man by the name of Odd Thomas. This is one instance where you should totally let the name fool you because Odd Thomas is definitely odd to say the least. What is his oddity? He can see dead people. And not in the Sixth Sense kind of Hollywood antics either. This is definitely no M. Knight kind of movie or book whatsoever.
Odd is a normal kid with a seemingly normal life. He has an amazing girlfriend, a job he enjoys, even if it is just a fry cook, and friends who understand him as well as accept him. His gift, while not usual for most people, is one that he does not take lightly. If he is called upon to assist someone who comes to him for help then he does it, so what if that person needing help happens to be dead. Odd Thomas is a do-gooder. Possibly because he had quite a terrible childhood that no child should ever have to face.
In this first installment of a series of Odd Thomas novel we are introduced to those who know of his gift at different levels and we are also introduced to him and how exactly it works. Along the way of solving a mystery where many could possibly die we get to peel back some layers to the mysterious life of Odd Thomas and how he got to be where he is today.
I find it interesting that he is visited by Elvis Presley (quite frequently actually) who finds joy and pain in his own music whenever he hears it. Don't believe me? Well read the book and see if I'm lying. I dare you!
Summary: "The dead don't talk. I don't know why." But they do try to communicate, with a short order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn." "Maybe he has a gift, maybe it's a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd's otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different." "A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15." "Today is August 15." In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares - and a testament by which to live sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.
To learn more about Dean Koontz visit his site here.
Yay! I'm so glad you loved it.
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