Book Review: Odd Thomas

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Odd Thomas     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Dean R. Koontz
Class/Genre:   Fiction   Mystery   Thriller   Horror   Supernatural
Series: Odd Thomas # 1
Bantam, Dec 2003, $26.95, 401 pp.

Odd Thomas is no typical twenty-year-old. What he considers ordinary most people would consider frightening. On August 14, he sees Penny a young child and knows instantly she is a ghost. Penny points out her killer and Odd gives chase finally apprehending him. The sheriff, who knows about Odd’s psychic powers, uses him as an able tool in crime fighting.

While working as a short order cook in a diner he notices a man with badachs (shades that never lived and feed off of violence) hovering over him. Believing that this stranger plans to do something that will result in a lot of deaths he tracks the man to his house and finds a file with the date August 15 in it. Odd surmises he has less than one day to stop what he thinks will be a blood bath judging from the amount of badachs hovering in town.

Only Dean Koontz can blend a thriller and a horror novel together and make a novel that is better than the sum of its parts. ODD THOMAS is a likeable character that readers will want to mother (or big brother) because he is weighed down by the gift he possesses. He believes he must use it to help people no matter the toll it takes on him. This thrill-a-minute horror thriller is Mr. Koontz at his best.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.