Something bad is about to happen in Pico Mundo. Odd Thomas, a mere 20 year-old short-order cook with the ability to see the spirits of the dead, is the only one who can stop it.
Odd Thomas is a favorite among the large following Dean Koontz has gathered over the year, and it is quite easy to see why that is.
The novel is one of great originality and characters. While all the events in the novel take place in less than 48 hours, Koontz manages to keep a steady balance of deep emotional moments and intense scenes of which there are plenty. I was drawn into the story from the very beginning, to the climatic ending, and the emotional ending that I did not see coming.
The protagonist of the novel, Odd Thomas (and yes, that is his real name), is brought to life from the beginning of the first page. With a lot of novels that are in first person, the characters sometimes seem to be the same, to talk the same way. This is not the case with Odd. Koontz gives him a very distinctive voice, easily convincing the reader that Odd actually is the one who is telling the story of the dark two days in which the story takes place. Odd writes with the fluidity of a novelist, which is actually what he is trying to do. Odd’s voice isn’t the only thing that makes him special. His ability to see the spirits of people who have passed away but are not willing to let go of this world and the shady forms of creatures he calls bodachs sets him apart from every literary character that I have come across. How he tells the reader about how he copes with this ability is interesting. There is also some back story on Odd that I hope will end up being explained sometime in the four novels after this one, because I sure want to know what sort of things have happened to him in the past.
Odd Thomas is a novel that is full of surprises and some humorous moments that will keep readers turning the pages and wanting to see more of Odd and his encounters with the dead.
Evan W.S. Morgan 