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View Results. Pre-Order Now! Home Characters Authors. Order of Odd Thomas Books. Odd Thomas Amazon. In Odd We Trust Amazon. Ernst: 7 years ago. James Scott: 7 years ago. Ted Reisner: 7 years ago. The thing with this novel is that the plot was terribly slow. That is pretty normal, but the result should be satisfactory. While I am really liking Odd as a character, I just don't see him as a Odd Thomas is a year old fry cook, and he can see dead people.
While I am really liking Odd as a character, I just don't see him as a 20 year old kid. He seemed to have so much knowledge crammed in his 20 year old brain. It's just not normal. I'm 19 years old, and I don't think like he does. He was planning marriage as soon as possible, and that is really not normal. Stormy was also quite unrealistic. I don't see why she keeps up with Odd, to be honest. I didn't hate her as a character, but I didn't like her much, compared to other lover of the main character characters.
Like I said the plot was slow, and at the time wherein it improved, it was still lacking. This is shelved as horror, and people contributed to that happening. I don't see this as horror at all. Paranormal maybe, because of the ghosts, but even the possibility of the things that happened in the novel happening in real life is quite unlikely.
I liked the whole I can talk to ghosts thing Koontz made, but it hasn't grown on me yet. This is the first novel though, and I'm expecting the next one to be a huge improvement.
Whenever I ask people to recommend another author who is quite similar to my favorite, Stephen King, the immediate answer would be Dean Koontz. He does write horror books, and a lot of paranormal ones too, but if I were to judge that comparison based on Odd Thomas, I would honestly say that I can't see the similarities.
I keep hearing amazing things about his other novels though, so I might have to give those a try before concluding. The first novel of his that I've read was not the best, but I'm not giving up on the author, and the series. Mediocre plot and quite likeable but unrealistic characters. I'm hoping to have a better opinion and experience with the second novel.
View all 17 comments. Although Watchers, Lightning, and some of Koontz's older novels are some of my favorites, I had read a few of his more recent novels and had been a little disappointed. I was browsing in the used book store and decided what the heck, I will pick up a copy just in case I ever change my mind.
It took 7 years. Sometimes being clueless CAN be a good thing. In almost all of the Dean Koontz books I have read, I find that I quickly grow attached to central characters he introduces.
I am always on board with them on their journeys and adventures, and constantly worry about their welfare. This was no exception. As a kid, the first thing I did when I was coming back from school was stop by at the library.
I used to check out various mystery novels - like those with The Three Investigators, a saga that has remained a favorite and to this day I'm fond of it - and one day the librarian God bless her decided that I was mature enough meaning I started growing whiskers and recommended Stephen King.
Needless to say, I started to read one King book after the other in quick succesion, sometimes even two at th As a kid, the first thing I did when I was coming back from school was stop by at the library.
Needless to say, I started to read one King book after the other in quick succesion, sometimes even two at the same time. I was addicted, much like a heroin addict that needs his fix, I checked out a new King book every day.
And then came the unavoidable sad day when there were no new books by King on the library shelf. Since my memories were still too vivid for a re-read, I decided to look for a new author who has released many interesting titles tha would interest a lad like me.
I asked the everhelpful librarian, and she pointed me to a shelf directly below the one of the King. It was labeled: "Dean R. I checked out my first book by the smiling bald guy with a moustache can't remember what it was , took it home and read quickly. I felt that it was missing something, but still I was entertained enough to come back and check out another. And then another. I've read over a dozen or so of his titles, when new books by King came into library; I checked them out, but from that time on I switched between the two authors just for the fun of it.
Koontz was my bubble gum; tasty, but the taste evaporated quickly and you had to take another if you wanted to enjoy it again. I think I'll spare you the rest of my life story and get on with reviewing the book. I bought Odd Thomas the year it came out or was it a year later? Can't remember. Every reviewer was raving about it which I found surprising - Koontz was always a low-key author, and never received much publicity despite being one of the highest earning American writers.
He was the sort of guy who was always there but didn't stick his head out, always had a personal shelf at the library, always released a book each year that you could read, forget and then remember about him when he released a new one.
So when Odd Thomas caught attention by many reviewers on various web sites I decided to check it out myself. I bough an used copy through the web, received it, sat in my favorite armchair and began to read. Odd Thomas, proudly bearing the title of "a novel" is written from the perspective of a 20 year old Odd, a guy who can see dead people The first-person narrative has been done by Koontz before, most notably in "Fear Nothing" and "Seize The Night" - the reader can't help but notice the similarities in style and form.
Since Odd Thomas is a character driven novel, maybe we should begin by saying something about them. Characterization was always Koontz's Achilles' heel, and unfortunately it shows in this book.
Odd is the type of a literary 20 year old written by a something year old who thinks he can write a cute,sympathetic and witty 20 year old and at the same time slip in some of his disdain for the modern times.
Odd doesn't come out as cute and eccentric though; rather boring and preachy. A self-procclaimed carryover from the 50's, Odd lives in the new millenium and stays alive only by listening to Elvis who also has a supporting role as a ghost and is heavy on keeping his virginity. Did he forgot that the 50's brough the baby boomers? Was he ever in school?
Speaking of whom, everyone in this novel sounds like Dean Koontz or if he doesn't then he's the bad guy. Koontz simplifies the matter to the utmost - everyone either falls in love with Odd, or is concerned by fulfilling his own hedonistic pursuits.
Odd's literary, obese friend Little Ozzie is essentially Koontz with opened Wikipedia, and shooting random facts and quotations. When will he learn? I've heard comparisons between Odd Thomas and M.
Night Shyamalan's famous movie The Sixth Sense. They are without substance; The Sixth Sense is one of the most moving and memorable motion pictures I have ever seen.
In Odd Thomas seeing dead people serves as Koontz's remedy of getting out from various plot holes; as does having a blind friend who can read a braille card Odd has just found, etc. The writing style is largely intrusive, overtly verbose and tedious. Instead of using simple descriptions that worked so well in the past Koontz seems content with opening his thesauruses and conjuring up metaphors that completely break the flow of the story. Not that there's much of the story going on; it's constantly interrupted by Koontz's inclusion of various facts about the average number of people being born with six fingers, the biographies of Elvis and Sinatra and even the explanation of various commands shouted at the grille where Odd works they really weren't that hard to figure out.
That's Dean's biggest problems - he not only shows but also tells, tells and tells to be sure you got his point. The biggest flaw of the book is the narration method. He also spoils the classic Christie novel and reveals the murdered, in case you didn't get his point. This is stupid beyond redemption. The sole point of employing an unreliable narrator in fiction is not letting the audience know that there is one. Well, Koontz seems to not notice this after over four decades of writing 15 hours a day, and the "big surprise" at the end comes as a yawn.
The identity of the evildoers is very disappointing, and the ending confrontation is solved way too fast and way too easy. Overall, the experience is disappointing.
There is an interesing story hidden in Odd Thomas - the one you used to watch as a kid, in shows like "Goosebumps" - but Odd Thomas is marketed at an adult audience, and fails as adult fiction because of Koontz's ineptitude at drawing realistic, likeable characters and writing dialogue he's truly horrible at it , his tedious writing style and his mistrust of the audience - he truly does spell out every single thing in detail.
As a children book it fails too, because of Koontz's inclusion of gruesome details of various crimes, which were supposed to be shocking and mature but turn out to be boring instead. If he only cut up the metaphors, created stronger characters who behave and talk like normal people Odd Thomas might have been an enjoyable bus book.
It just needs too much suspension of disbelief to be read. It's still better than all the sequels though, which make me think: When will Koontz stop cashing in on this fluke and start writing like he did in the 80's?
I don't like the work of this new guy with a clean shaven sagging face and a mop of fake hair. View all 33 comments. Shelves: owned-copy , thriller-suspense , horror-in-disguise , psychic , urban-fantasy , nasty-bad-guys , chef-caterer-cook , audiobook , awkward-misfit , action-adventure-challenge. My sister and I listened to this in the car on our trips around town. In that week or more we spent together, I felt like Odd became part of my life.
I was rather sad when it ended. I appreciated the audiobook format very much. I think it was very immersive, and Koontz words were very poetic. Odd is such a unique guy. He's got a pure heart and that's saying something.
His gift has made his life very difficult, but he doesn't take it like a curse. It's his life, and he takes ownership of that. He My sister and I listened to this in the car on our trips around town. He protects his town of Pico Mundo with a steadfast and vigilant dedication, and his only aspiration in life is to be with his true love, Stormy Llewellyn.
When he meets a very strange man on what seems like a typical day, his life will change inevitably. This book takes place over a short few days, but they are action packed days for Odd and the reader. He's trying to solve a mystery. What is drawing all these boggarts, which are dark spirits that Odd sees when something bad is going to happen.
The weird man that Odd calls Fungus Man has so many around him that it makes Odd suspicious, and when he goes to the man's house, he sees something terrible, that makes Odd's fears for the town grow exponentially.
This suspense thread goes throughout the book and leads to a dramatic conclusion. Odd is a bit of an unlikely hero, but he is perfectly suited to be the hero of this novel. His way of processing things is very down-to-earth but quite brilliant. I love a good mystery with an intelligent sleuth, and while this is a ghost story, this is also a good suspense story. It's also heartbreaking because you know that no matter what Odd does, people are going to die.
He can only minimize the damage. In that sense, and in others, Odd is a very tragic hero. When the reader gets a glimpse at Odd's family life, it makes you wonder how this young man can be so well-adjusted, friendly, oddly hopeful, and in his own way content.
But the good news is although his family is pretty awful, he has formed his own family of friends who love him deeply. This is like his version of the coming of age novel, with a boy-man who sees ghosts and rights their wrongs, his typical sicko villain. I recommend reading this, and if you can get the audiobook version, I especially recommend that.
View all 6 comments. Feb 18, Michelle rated it it was amazing Shelves: audiobook , horror , supernatural-horror , Odd Thomas is my very first Dean Koontz novel. I only started it because it was available on my Libby app and I needed something to listen to while waiting for another book. So I went in with zero expectations. What I ended up with is my next must-read series.
Odd is a pure-hearted protagonist with psychic sixth sense and the ability to see dead people. It was a blast following him as he chased bodachs, hung with a celebrity ghost, and solved a deadly mystery. The book started slow but it is the Odd Thomas is my very first Dean Koontz novel.
The book started slow but it is the kind of story that grows and evolves, getting better with every chapter. All the characters are deliciously quirky from Odd's boss, the Elvis trivia savant, to his frighteningly terrible parents. The end was pulse pounding. I was riveted as the climax and consequential results unfolded in perfectly paced prose. There are few books with the ability to put me through the emotional wringer.
But Odd Thomas was certainly one. I went from being chilled to the bone to basking in warmth of its wholesomeness to total devastation. I can't wait for more from this series and this author.
A special shout out to David Aaron Baker for the exceptional narration. Jul 07, Amber rated it it was amazing Shelves: ebooks-library , rfpbuddyreads. This was a buddy read I did at the Reading for Pleasure book club here on Goodreads. Odd Thomas is a short order fry cook who communes and sees the dead.
When he discovers a dangerous man named Fungus man a. Bob Robertson surrounded by bodachs, Odd discovers that tragedy and chaos is coming soon to Pico mundo. Can he protect his one true love Stormy as well as his friends and family from the danger? Read on and find out for yourself. This was a pretty good read. Though I have seen the film adaptation , this is my first time reading this book which is first of a series.
If you enjoy books about ghosts with action and adventure, check this book out. I look forward to continuing the series in the future. Look for this at your local library and wherever books are sold.
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.
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. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August Today is August 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.
Odd Thomas is a great start to the series. All the necessary world building is done so that it's interesting, funny and yes, even believable! Odd Thomas is the kind of guy I wish lived outside the pages of a book, because I'd love to know the 'real' him.
He is kind, honest, funny and What more could you want in a friend? If you enjoy humorous stories with a paranormal twist, be sure to check out this series. View all 18 comments. Jan 31, Mara rated it did not like it Shelves: audiobooks , library-books , reads , series , don-t-bother , library-roulette. There are plenty of prolific authors out there with whom I'm completely unfamiliar. So I decided to give Dean Koontz a whirl, and as suggested by my lone star rating Odd Thomas and I did't exactly hit it off.
I get the whole different strokes for different folks thing, but I just couldn't handle the saccharine sweet e. The premise for the book is simply not all that hard to follow—Odd sees dead people. September 11th comes up a couple times, pedophilia and molestation are in there for good measure, and then there's Odd's bizarre understanding of autism.
He uses his powers to help others while keeping them secret for those who surround him. The Odd Thomas series had the distinct advantage of being produced by an already well known author. Dean Koontz already had several bestselling novels under his belt and a career that spanned three decades. This is a blessing for the reader. The opportunity to be introduced to an original character like Odd Thomas, through the narrative of a polished writer is a treat.
There are very few loose ends. The writing flows with an ease that allows you to devour the story and be completely engulfed in the mystery. In this first volume we are introduced to Odd Thomas and are immediately shown that he has some rather unique gifts. This novel provides the background for the character, shows us how Odd was named and expounds on his dysfunctional childhood that has shaped his world. The novel takes off when Odd sees a strange looking man walk into the dinner with a very large group of Bodachs following him.
This leads Odd to believe that a great catastrophe will involve. Using his extra sensory powers Odd attempts to stop the negative event that he knows will happen the next day. The novel was very well received by critics and readers. In the second novel of the series Koontz takes a different path to adventure. Rather than having Odd Thomas see Bodachs and react, he is thrust into action as his childhood friend, Danny, is kidnapped. Using his psychic magnetism he is drawn to where his friend is being held.
He finds Danny ties up and strapped to a bomb. Through his friend, he finds out that this was all done in order for a sex-phone operator named Datura could meet him. Datura has two servants who may or not be zombies. It is a great book that deepens our understanding of the main character. In the end Odd has an experience which truly shakes him up and his days of living in the desert are at an end.
Searching for an even more sedate lifestyle he decides to go work at a monastery. In a feature film adaptation of the first novel was set for release. UNfortunately, legal battles delayed its release in the US. It should be widely available in the first part of Critics that have seen the film state that it follows the book rather closely and fans and non fans alike should enjoy the experience.
Odd Thomas was originally slated to be a series of six novels. Already the number of written works with the character has surpassed this number with the release of three graphic novels that form a prequel to the main stories. A seventh novel is already in the works and should be available in December of The character is interesting enough to carry the series even further if Koontz so desires. Anyone who enjoys a good mystery would enjoy following the tales of Odd Thomas.
If the reader is also interested in the supernatural, the series will be even more alluring. Even of mystery writing is not your favorite style Odd Thomas is a character and series worth exploring. It is not his supernatural abilities that make him an endearing character, it is how he accepts and uses them. Odd Thomas is a positive thinking powerful character, trying to make the best out of a completely over the top situation.
His longing for the simple life, away from large populations in order to make his life bearable is testament to his acceptance of who he is. IN reality he knows that no matter where he goes the spirits and psychic magnetism will always lead him toward an event of dire proportions.
Rest assured he will rise to the occasion.
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