Odd Thomas
by Dean Koontz
List Price:
Our Price: $6.92
You Save: $8.08 (54%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Dean KoontzEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-29
ISBN: 0553384287
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Odd Thomas
Book Review: Koontz's most succesful series begins
Summary: 4 Stars
It's hard to know where to start when trying to get acclimated with Dean Koontz's novels, given that there's over 50 titles. Classics such as "Watchers", "Phantoms", "Intensity" to me would be the ideal way to get familiar with him. If you like Koontz's style, then moving on to the "Odd" series I believe would be the next logical step. There are 4 books in the series "Odd Hours" being the most recent entry that was released in May 2008. This first book, entitled simply "Odd Thomas" after the name of the protagonist, sets the tone for the entire series and has proved to be one of Koontz's most endearing characters ever.
Odd Thomas (real name, as "odd" as it may sound) lives in the small desert town of Pico Mundo. On the surface, this 20-year old has a rather routine life; lives in an apartment, works as a short-order cook in a restaurant and is in love with his high school sweetheart. But something is very different with Odd Tomas, as he has the "gift" of knowing ahead of time when disaster strikes, specifically when someone is about to get murdered. He also sees dead people and is able to communicate with them. Odd's sensors have been going into overdrive lately, as murder on a mass scale is about to strike the town of Pico Mundo. Will Odd, an unlikely hero at best, be able to put a stop to this impending disaster?
Where Koontz succeeds most of all in this novel is with the setting. The imaginary Pico Mundo could be any small desert town in America but the author injects a life of its own into it. The premise of a man with Odd Thomas's special powers would be otherwise too ludicrous to believe but somehow Koontz makes you believe it's possible. His relationships with others can be both pitiful and joyous. He loves his girlfriend Stormy unconditionally, knows he has found his lifelong sweetheart and cherishes her to no end. In that sense, Odd is a lucky man. However he has an absolutely horrendous relationship with his parents. That almost made want to cry because of how sad the story is.
What makes this novel so engaging is the sense that Odd Thomas is your everyday person (albeit with a special gift) thrown into extraordinary circumstances and that we have all known someone like him before. This novel is not particularly fast-paced unlike most Koontz novels however it's the characters and their intertwining relationships that make this such an enjoyable read. I wouldn't say a Koontz top-5 but probably one of his best 10. I can't wait to continue reading this series!
Summary of Odd Thomas
?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 14.
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
Intensityby Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2000-10-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.91
Price in other shops:
Forever Odd (Odd Thomas, No 2)by Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2006-10-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.43
Price in other shops:
Frankenstein: Prodigal Son: A Novel (Dean Koontz's Frankenstein)by Dean Koontz, Kevin J. Anderson
Bantam; Published: 2009-07-28; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.69
Price in other shops:
Watchersby Dean Koontz
Berkley Trade; Published: 2008-05-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Odd Is on Our Side (Graphic Novel)by Dean Koontz, Fred Van Lente
Del Rey; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.88
Price in other shops:
Brother Odd (Odd Thomas Novels)by Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2008-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.73
Price in other shops:
In Odd We Trust (Graphic Novel)by Queenie Chan, Dean Koontz
Del Rey; Del Rey; Published: 2008-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.79
Price in other shops:
Brother Odd (Odd Thomas Novels)by Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2007-10-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.36
Price in other shops:
Forever Odd (Odd Thomas Novels)by Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2007-11-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops:
Odd Hours: An Odd Thomas Novelby Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2009-04-28; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.74
Price in other shops: