Odd Hours
by Dean Koontz
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Book Reviews of Odd Hours
Book Review: Odd Hours
Summary: 1 Stars
I have been a Dean R. Koontz fan for over twenty years. I have read all but three of his books published after 1975 and a couple prior as well. My first and still favorite is Watchers, with Lightning a close second. I am an avid reader, but I tend to stick with the authors I know and love.
I think I'm done with Mr. Koontz.
If you've read more than two of his books, you begin to notice a pattern. The hero is always the same--flawed and weak but determined. The heroine is fierce and strong, but emotionally scarred from a troubled childhood. The villian, in their many incarnations, are always clean and meticulous, assured in their superiority. The Odd Thomas books are a little different, I will admit that, but some of the differences are not necessarily positive.
Anyway, I've gone through this before with his books, but Odd Hours is slow, boring, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. There is so little happening in this story, yet it's takes approximately 350 pages to tell it? Some would call it suspense, I guess, but to me it was agonizing.
The story didn't catch my interest (and I had the book in my possession for two months by this time) until just before Frank Sinatra took matters into his own hands. PolterFrank kept me going for about twenty pages, then I lost it again. So many of the supporting characters could have been interesting, but they were there so briefly, it didn't matter. I admit, I could have put the book down, but Mr. Koontz is such a habit for me by now: He writes a book, I read it. I used to reread his books, but I don't anymore.
I never felt like Odd was in danger. How could there not be danger when nuclear weapons are involved? Where's that kind of suspense? Even the parts when he had a gun to his head were over so quickly, it didn't matter.
Old habits die hard. I finished the book. I am satisfied. I have to say, the only way I did finish it was to read only the first sentence of every paragraph. If it got interesting (two or three places), I would read more. This may be hard to believe, but it makes me sad that it's come to this.
I will always respect Dean R. Koontz. I still hope that they'll make a movie out of Lightning and Twilight Eyes someday. (Two movies for Twilight Eyes to do it justice.) I really do love a lot of his books and I would highly recommend Watchers, Lightning, Strangers, Twilight Eyes, Whispers, and Cold Fire.
Book Review: I enjoyed the book, but it's not the best of the lot...
Summary: 4 Stars
So my name finally came up on the library hold list for Dean Koontz's Odd Hours novel, the latest installment of the Odd Thomas character. While I found it an enjoyable way to kill a few hours, I felt it was a bit light on plot but was rescued by Koontz's ability with dialogue and creative writing.
Thomas finds himself in Magic Beach, a very small California coastal community. He's been drawn there by a haunting dream of red tides and incredible light over the ocean. He's not sure what it all means, but he's learned to just go with the flow and let things come to him in their own time. He happens to meet up with a young girl on the boardwalk, and their conversation turns very surreal and ethereal. But things get real when a small group of thugs decide to harass him and the girl. She's able to flee, and Odd jumps into the ocean to escape them. That's not the end of it all, however. The leader of the group comes looking for him in an inflatable boat, and Odd has to try and disappear among the pilings. Turns out more than just the leader is looking for him, and Odd's not sure who he can trust or whether he should just get out of town. But the girl and the dream keep driving him to find answers, and soon he's the last line of defense between terrorists and the death of millions.
On the positive side, Koontz has a way with words. Rarely in a novel do I have to look up words I've never even heard of before. That's always a bit refreshing. He's also able to breathe life into the Odd Thomas character in a way that few novelists are able to do. The scenes are detailed and precise, and the book plays out as a movie in my head when I'm reading. On the other hand, the plot seems to be secondary to the writing at times. For instance, a significant amount of time is spent on the pier escape. Detailed scene, but it seemed to go on forever. Had it been someone of lesser skill, I'd probably have gone into skim mode. I can't help myself, however. I just love watching Koontz weave words together like he does.
If you haven't read any of the other Odd Thomas novels, you'll miss a bit in terms of Odd's special "gifts". The Sinatra subplot makes much more sense when you've gone through the Elvis experience in the prior installments. As I'm a fan of Koontz and Odd Thomas, I liked the read. But I don't think it's the best Odd Thomas story of his lot...
Book Review: Odd... Don't leave me hanging
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been a fan since reading Koontz's Watchers years ago. I'm a dog person so it was hard not to love the special connection in that story. When I first met Odd Thomas on a trip across the country, I found his story to be one of the best Dean Koontz has written. I agree completely with other reviewers about his character.
Odd is a self proclaimed simple man. However, his gifts make him profoundly complex. Special magnetism leads him to exactly what he is looking for, or in some cases exactly what he's trying to avoid. In each of the four books about Odd, I found myself riveted by what was going to happen next. What I loved about the previous three Odd Thomas adventures is the ending was complete. It was a complete story.
Without putting in a spoiler, this book begins to tie back the other three. However, the ending leaves more questions then answers. I suppose if you were not a devoted fan of Odd Thomas already this would be a great marketing ploy. However, for those of us that pre-order these books because we KNOW they're going to be good, this ending was flat. It didn't leaving me longing for the next one to come out tomorrow. There was no cliff hanger. Instead we're left with an open ended stanza to a beautiful poem. It's unclear if we're to make up the ending on our own, or wait for the next Odd adventure.
Regardless of the flat ending. This is a good read. The characters are entertaining and mysterious. I would not put this as one of the best Koontz books, but I am passing it on to my girlfriend who is currently on the second Odd Thomas in the series. I do look forward to another Odd Thomas book, and I will pre-order that one because Odd is such a likable character and has such interesting ways of getting out of tough situations.
If your looking for a good rainy day book, this one will keep you entertained. I don't think you need to have read the other three in the series. Koontz gives the reader the missing history as he goes along telling the story. For those who have not read the other three, this review might not make sense, because this book is a complete story in and of itself. However, having read the other three books, it leaves me wondering so much about Annamaria, the baby, the lightening grate, and of course Stormy's connection to all of this.
Until we meet again, oh Odd one...
Book Review: Odd's time is up
Summary: 2 Stars
Odd Hours, the 4th in Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series after 2006's Brother Odd - a less than convincing installment - finds the young, optimistic, introspective and often sarcastic titular protagonist (hero??) in Magic Beach, CA. Why? Well, that is what Odd Thomas needs to find out. How? By touching other people and seeing into their dreams/nightmares, and having one-sided conversations with a ghost dog and Frank Sinatra.
When Odd finds out why, it is at once omnious, forboding and potentially catastrophic. When this reader found out, it was less than satisfying. One would think with Koontz's imagination he would create something more original or clever. Instead, the "big issue" is so clichic and boring that you could care less whether Odd figures it out. In the end it turns out to be, well, I'll let you judge for yourself.
Koontz spends too much time having Odd frustratingly converse with various baddies, many who would just as soon slap Odd and tell him to shut up (I know would have). Professing to have the ability to talk with ghosts and spirits not ready to depart this world, Odd uses these otherwordly powers to his advantage just once. This is where the book and Koontz excells. Odd Thomas can be an engrossing character but only when the dead are around.
Still, Koontz possesses a way with words and easily transfers melodic prose to the page as he contemplates and postulates Odd out of various implausible (and sometime humurous) situations.
There are other less realized charaters in the book that one would hope Koontz would develop more, or at least spend more time with. (Hutch is a hoot and should have been used more.) In the end, they are just fillers. The pregnant girl Odd meets on the beach, upon which all his trouble starts had promise but is left on the wayside. Too bad; I would have liked Odd to develop a relationship with her that could have led to another more interesting voyage. But then again, may be not. I believe Koontz relishes in crafting quirky characters. But that is all they are: quirks.
I believe the Odd Thomas series has run its course and there are no more hours or minutes left. Mr. Koontz: move Odd to the next world and bring on your eagerly anticipated 3rd chapter in the Frankenstein series!
Book Review: Bigger Bones for a Growing Dog
Summary: 5 Stars
Just as big dogs need big bones, a hero of Odd Thomas's caliber requires bigger and bigger challenges. Odd Hours (the fourth in a planned series of seven) answers the call, thrusting our increasingly formidable young hero into a plot worthy of a Bond flick.
Odd has taken up residence in the small seaside town of Magic Beach, serving as personal chef to octogenarian Hutch, a once-famous movie star whose eccentricity is a good match for Odd's oddness. But when Odd begins having nightmares in which the sea turns red, he suspects he's been drawn to this town to interdict another horrible threat. Odd's fears are soon confirmed, when he and Annamaria, a mysteriously charismatic pregnant woman he has recently befriended, are accosted by a trio of thugs whom Odd's clairvoyant powers reveal to be associated with the red-tide threat.
Promising, quite impulsively, to serve as Annamaria's protector and even to die for her if necessary, Odd roams the fog enshrouded beach town in a desperate attempt to thwart the pending bloodshed, discovering that our entire nation's future hangs in the balance. (The lack of hard evidence and Odd's realization that the harbor police are implicated in the plot provide a just-good-enough rationale for Odd to fly solo.) Based on Annamaria's enigmatic ramblings and a series of happenings that are undefined even in Odd's supernatural playbook, it appears that an even more epic struggle between good and evil is also afoot, a set-up for the remaining three installments in the series.
Lest this all seem too heavy and humorless for an Odd Thomas book, I assure you that there are still plenty of lighthearted moments. Frank Sinatra's spirit plays a prominent role, and Koontz is able to work in his love of canines, Shakespeare and philosophy along the way. While some readers may feel shortchanged by Koontz's sequestration of Annamaria during most of the story and by the multitude of unanswered questions, these hooks will keep readers coming back for more. I'm looking forward to seeing where Koontz goes next in the series, crossing my fingers that someone in Hollywood is savvy enough to turn this into a movie or television franchise.