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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top of the class, 25 Sep 2004
Its not often I read a book by DK, but when I do I am often very impressed and wonder why I haven't read more of his books more often. This book excelled all my expectations. The very core concept is similar to a film by M. Night Shymalan, but then it veers off into a totally new direction and has a lot more depth and he makes it his own. The characters are very rich, and so very human and terribly flawed, you empathise with the main character but dont pity him as in a strange way he is sort of everyman who just wants to fit in and live a quiet life, but circumstances and powers beyond his control have conspired to make his life interesting. The author also manages to keep you guessing as just when you think you know, there is another twist, and then something you think you knew already is turned on its head. I think the book is outstanding and cant recommend it enough as a good read that I flew through in a few days, but then slowed down as I wanted to savour it more. I could have spent hours just reading about all the weird ghosts in the town, but leaving me wanting more is definately a good thing. I'm going to break the habit and find another of his books to read sooner rather than later.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
wow! This is his BEST book, it's official!, 2 Feb 2004
I've been a BIG DK fan for years now and have ALL his (post-sci-fi period) novels. I love most things he's done, but usually there is a small thing that I would criticize - in recent times his novels seem to have got longer and with slightly disappointing endings. Perhaps it has something to do with the contrast between this book and his last, The Face - which I thought was disappointing, that makes this book all the better, but nevertheless - THIS book is the BEST Dean Koontz novel EVER. It is so easy to read, so compelling, so exciting and compulsive. The characters are all great. It keeps you gasping in shock and surprise with every turn of the page, and all my attempted guesses at what was happening were wrong. I liked that it was written in the first person, and found it very easy to read with a light-hearted comedic style. The ending was so surprising and had me in tears. My ONLY criticism, and it's not really a criticism, is that some things weren't explained properly - I appreciate that some things are unexplainable, that's the whole point - but I would have liked to understand what was going with the 'time-jump' experience in Robertson's house, since it was one of the best parts of the story. Also, Dean - what is it with you and these ridiculously stupid names these days!? It makes me laugh though. Odd Thomas is both a loveable character and a loveable book. Odd himself is reminiscent of Christopher Snow (from the Moonlight Bay trilogy). To sum up, I must say that my friends have sometimes asked me to recommend them one of Dean's books to get them into his work, since I often sing his praises to the world. I can never think of one that is exactly right, but now the world has ODD THOMAS, which is a masterpiece and should be read by everyone.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
disturbing and intense, 18 Nov 2005
I've attempted reading this book before and gave up on it after about 100 pages, simply because I found the characters too weird to handle. Odd Thomas is a twenty year old fry cook who seemingly has nothing at all in common with other young men of his age. He couldn't care less about all the adventures young people usually love, like going out, having fun, exploring relationships and discovering sex. He talks more like a seventy-year old lady than an adolescent boy, like "If ever I had a glimpse of heaven, it was Mrs. Porters peach pie". His dad sells real estate on the moon. He uses peach-scented shampoo. He does have a girlfriend, Bronwen "Stormy" Lewellyn who he calles his "destiny" (strong words for a 20-year old) but they don't sleep together - they are both still virgins. Instead he sees ghosts, wherever he goes. The book starts off beautifully with Odd seeing the ghost of a twelve year old girl who has been raped and murdered. She leads him to her killer. He hunts him down and brings him to justice. An excellent start. But then it all goes so weird it's almost stupid. Odd meets the ghost of his old teacher at a tyre shop. The teacher, who'd died in an accident, carries his severed arm around and even uses it as a backscratcher or to pick his nose. Later, Elvis Presley's ghost appears at a party and starts arguing with himself and later weeps and sobs for hours. Odd Thomas is the only one who can see the deceased and he "forms a relationship with each of them". (That's where I first put the book away. At that stage, I wouldn't have given it even one star).
Months later though, with nothing else to read in the house I decided to give Odd Thomas another go. How glad I was that I did!
After those few unbelievably stupid chapters, the book turned into something more recognisable from a usually brilliant horror novelist such as Dean Koontz. Dark and disturbing, the story evolved into an intense thriller with surprisingly sad and upsetting elements. Eventually it became clear why Odd Thomas is so different to other young guys of his age and why his and Stormy's relationship is so special. Both were lonely children who grew up without love - Stormy's parents died when she was a little girl, she was abused in her foster home and ended up in an orphanage. Odd's parents are very much alive but don't give a damn about him or his feelings. His egocentric father abandoned him at age one and his mentally disturbed mother tells him how much she wished he'd have died in her womb. So, unsurprisingly, Odd and Stormy, who both fled their loveless homes at 16, formed a friendship which then resulted in the deep relationship they have now. Dean Koontz does a fantastic job describing Odd's and Stormy's painful youth. The story is very intense - a crazy killer is on the loose and only Odd can stop him. But when Odd finds the same killer shot to death in his bathtub, it becomes clear that others must be involved. Odd knows that people are going to die. A horrible shooting spree has been planned but where will it happen? And who is the killer?
Being an arachnophobic, I found the scene with the tarantula very disturbing. The whole second half of this novel is masterfully written and full of suspense. What spoiled the book for me a little was the upsetting ending. Never would I have imagined Koontz would end the book that way. It seems Dean Koontz started this novel intending to keep it light and entertaining, like he did with Ticktock, but later changed his mind and turned it into a dark and intense tale. This makes the book a little unbalanced in my opinion. But I'm certainly glad I gave the book another chance as it turned out to be a very intense reading experience and a real pageturner.
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