Odd Thomas
by Dean Koontz
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Book Reviews of Odd Thomas
Book Review: Ghosts and Bodachs Abound in Pico Mundo
Summary: 5 Stars
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 horrible 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.
Book Review: The book that is Odd in all the right ways.
Summary: 5 Stars
Odd Thomas was a book that was really a great piece of literature. It was unique, interesting, and kept me reading. I liked this book because it had a very strong plot; it was funny at times, but still showed seriousness when needed.
Odd Thomas is a book about a man named Odd Thomas who is, as his name suggests, odd. He works as a short order cook in the small town of Pico Mundo, and has a very special talent. He can see dead people. It may seem like this has been used so many times, but Dean Koontz really makes this theme unique to his book. He is in love with a woman named Bronwen Llywellyn, who prefers to be called Stormy. One day, Odd encounters a man in the restaurant he works in, surrounded by invisible spirit creatures known as bodachs. These creatures signify that something bad is going to happen, and the sheer number of them around this man signifies something horrible. So Odd then tries to find this man, who he nicknames "Fungus Man", and stop the impending doom that he knows is coming. The question is, will he be able to?
This book will catch you even if you are not a big reader. I even just saw it one day and picked it up because of the cover. I am glad I did because it was one of the best books I have ever read. It was exciting, moving, and in the end was a big surprise that I will never forget. I recommend this book to everyone.
Book Review: Read only the last 20 pages...
Summary: 2 Stars
This book like so many other Koontz books, starts out fun, even daring, yet after chapter 10 I found it harder and harder to be entertained by "Odd Thomas". The premise is interesting... a young man who can see the dead, and helps with various police investigations, a plot which has been done several times, but if done right can be chilling and effective. Yet it seems he went no where with this novel, except in the last 20 pages or so.
The dead didnt help him with the investigations. In fact they did little to nothing of interest in the tale, and the random sightings of crying Elvis and time travel I felt were over the top laughable. With less than 50 pages left in the book, I realized that no progress had been made in the plot since the first few chapters. A plethera of characters were introduced and elaborated on that had virtually nothing to do with the novel, and I found myself skipping over much of the useless and painful detail of a chair here or a tree there.
The only thing from saving this book from getting a one star rating was the infailable ending, which I will admit made me cry with its saddening revelations. I have read seven of Koontz's novels and hated more of them than I enjoyed, yet my advice would be to skip this one and read one of his better works such as "Watchers", "The Husband", or "Demon Seed"
Book Review: Odd move.
Summary: 2 Stars
I purchased this book because the main character, Odd Thomas, sounded very intriguing. Unfortunately, the book didn't live up to its promise, in my opinion.
Chapter 4 began... "I see dead people." And that remark was followed by something along the lines of "But, by God, I *do* something about it." The problem with this is that it immediately raised the spectre of comparisons to M. Night Shyamalan's movie THE SIXTH SENSE. This was a bad thing. While books and movies are completely different mediums, and while I understand *why* and *how* they are different, one of the few things they *do* have in common is the intended audience's reaction to them. Due to some personal experiences of my own, Shyamalan's movie had me spooked for weeks(!!!) afterward. But ODD THOMAS? I couldn't wait to finish it so I could start reading Rowling's latest Potter novel. In other words, ODD was forgettable.
While Koontz did a passingly good job of planting Odd's psychic magnetism early on in the story, its use at the end of the book completely deflated the story of any buildup of tension. Odd didn't seem terribly worried about the horrific things he believed were going to happen, so I wasn't worried. Odd move. Bad move! Therefore, low ratings.
Book Review: My first Review
Summary: 5 Stars
I never wrote a book review before, so don't expect a professional report.
An action built love story with a sympathetic main character.
What I liked a lot about this and other books from Koontz is hat he doesn't waste time building up his story to the cost of boring his readers. He gets down with the exciting action within the first 10 - 20 pages and on the side he builds up the background stories. Unlike King who takes 1/4 - 1/3 of his books to explain the boring background of all his characters before he speeds up and takes his readers on the intended fantasy ride. I also like this book because even though the end should've been predictable it went past me and I figured it out when Koontz intended me to figure it out... the last pages!
What I didn't like about the book is, that Koontz spent way too much time trying to explain to the reader that Thomas, the main character, was "just an every day guy" living a strange life with a strange talent. I would've been enough to 2 - 3 times and not through the whole book.
But because Koontz other than this one small point mesmerized me to the point that I couldn't let the book down, I finished the book in "my" record time.