Odd Thomas (Dean Koontz's greatest character)

At the time I started this lens Dean Koontz had just released his third novel in the Odd Thomas series, "Brother Odd." Well, I've never been one to do anything halfway, so I couldn't start reading the series from the 3rd book. Keep in mind, however, that each of these books have been written to be independent of each other. But I made it a goal that before I could read the 3rd book I had to read the first 2.
Odd Thomas, is a fry cook with a special 6th sense. This 6th sense enables him to see dead people. The difference between Odd and that M. Night Shamalan movie is that the dead cannot talk to Odd. But they do seek revenge, by helping Odd track down their killers. Another aspect of this 6th sense is that he also sees dark spirits which he calls "bodachs." These bodachs appear and linger when violence and death are about to happen.

In the small Southern California town of Pico Mundo, Odd Thomas has just tracked down the murderer of a little girl and goes to work as a fry cook at the local greasy spoon cafe, when a man with a mysterious aura comes in and becomes the center of attention for a flock of these bodachs. Knowing they are only present when something evil is about to happen, Odd uses the 3rd part of his "gift" to psychically track down this mysterious man he has dubbed "The Fungus Man." The bad guy gets his name because of his appearance being closer to micology than biology. By the way, Odd still hasn't decided if this 6th sense is a gift or a curse.

After tracking down the man Odd gets the feeling of dread in which he feels many of Pico Mundo's citizens will perish in a major catastrophic act of evil. Odd Thomas has to stop this. He is only assisted by his girlfriend, the local sheriff and the ghost of the King of Rock-n-Roll. That's right Elvis' ghost has taken up residency in Pico Mundo.

So with this motley crew of citizens working to fight evil Dean Koontz has written one of his best novels. The character is very believable, even if he has a paranormal gift and the action is intense and non-stop. This book is one that intrigues you with great characters and keeps you held to your seat with a great plot and great action leading to a great climax. I will warn you the book has a sad ending as any paranormal love story does.

In this second book Dean Koontz left some holes in his plot but through some great character development gives us a great horror-gripped suspenseful ride in the world of the paranormal.

The adventure this time begins with the ghost of one of Odd's few friend's step-father, Dr Jessup, waking him up in the middle of the night. Dr. Jessup, being a ghost, cannot speak but through his face and simply his presence in Odd's bedroom tells Odd something is awry. Quickly Odd heads to Dr. Jessup's house, in his mind he's wondering how his friend Danny is doing. Danny's step-father, Dr. Jessup, is found dead by odd. Dr. Jessup has been brutally beaten. Danny suffers from Osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as brittle bone disease. Being frail has never been anything Danny has let bother him and that is what keeps him and Odd friends. But the slightest movement can fracture any and possibly all of Danny's bones. After discovering the body, Odd calls the Pico Mundo Chief of Police, Wyatt Porter, one of the few who know of Odd's "talents."
Though advised not to, Odd goes out to track down Danny and find what has happened. Wyatt hints that Danny's real father has recently been released from prison and may have kidnapped him.

As it turns out (spoiler alert) it is not Danny's real father but rather Odd learns that Danny's captors are the insane beauty Datura and her two henchmen. Datura, a phone-sex operator and practitioner of a twisted version of Voodoo, has taken Danny to lure Odd to her. She has learned of his gifts and demands that he show her some ghosts.

Reading this book before reading the intro to the series, "Odd Thomas," may leave some readers in the dark, there are a lot of references to his girlfriend, Stormy and the events that happend in that book. Also the twisted form of voodoo practiced by Datura seems to create more questions than answers and seems at times as an after thought in the whole story.

However, Dean Koontz does such a great job with character development and his description of the scenery and action keep you glued to the book. The character of Odd Thomas, is so believeable that you may find yourself using GoogleEarth to find Pico Mundo, California, but I can tell you for sure....Dean Koontz made it up.

Book three of the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz has lived up to the greatness created in the first of the series.

In this adventure/episode Odd has taken up residency in a monastery. No he hasn't become a monk, he's just a guest. At this monastery only the Mother Superior and a few Brothers and the Abbot know of his special talents. He has also been given a master key which will allow him into any area of the monastery. This was given to him because the monastery has a poltergeist. A Brother who was believed to have committed suicide in the bell tower, and takes to ringing the bells at various times of the day.

This monastery is also home to a large number of children that have been "forgotten" by society. These are orphaned children that are "damaged." Most are what are called "crack-babies" others are just orphans from very bad home lives. Another resident-become-monk is a brilliant physicist that has endowed the monastery with over 400 billion dollars to take care of these children. Brother John has taken all his vows to become a full fledged monk, but has a dark secret. This secret could lead to the death of the children, the monks and the sisters of the monastery, unless Odd Thomas can do something to help.

Odd is aware of the impending doom by the sudden arrival of bodachs, a dark paranormal creature that is another thing that Odd sees which no one else can. When bodachs arrive there is always trouble, which in all cases means large disaster, looming. Odd follows the bodachs to try and find what may be the disaster. In following, he comes across an entity of which the likes he's never seen. This new entity is as dangerous as it is mysterious. It is constructed of what appear to be a cacaphony of bones but with multiple types of joints that allow flexibility unlike anything seen in this reality.

Once again Dean Koontz weaves a tale of horror, mystery and even fun that is just a great read. Oh yeah and the moments of poignancy are back in this book so be prepared, just a few tissues are needed, but in various parts of the book, not just the end as in book one.

Here it is the 4th installment in Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series. Odd Thomas, yes that's his name (it seems his parents were cruel in many ways), is in all practicality just your average late teens teenager, except that he can see the dead. Odd sees actual ghosts of the recently departed. Usually they appear to him so he can solve the circumstances of their death or so Odd may help them to "move on" and fully depart the living world. Recently Odd helped the King of Rock-n-Roll Elvis Presley to move on. In past books Odd has stopped terrorist-like activities on his home town of Pico Mundo, been lured to help a voodoo priestess attempt to achieve immortality, and saved some "special" children who were in danger from a dark evil at a monastery.

Odd Thomas' only "powers" are those of seeing the recently departed, premonitions of future events, and psychic magnetism. Let me explain these a little further. Seeing the recently departed is just that, seeing, they cannot talk and cannot affect the living material world, unless they have rare poltergeist abilities. The premonitions are often in Odd's dreams and are never explained and are slowly unfolding enigmas. And finally psychic magnetism is a form of Odd just thinking about who he wants to see and by just wandering he ends up meeting them. The magnetism can backfire and lead to those he doesn't want to see. Other than that he's pretty normal.

In this book Odd's psychic magnetism has led him to the small California coastal town of Magic Beach. Something big is about to happen thanks to a premonition coming to Odd in a dream. Odd has found employment with a retired actor who goes by Hutch, and had his heyday in film back when Hollywood films were filled with silver screen icons like Barbara Stanwick, Humphry Bogart, et. al. Odd takes care of Hutch by cooking for him.

Odd Runs into Annamarie, a pregnant woman in Odd's vision, on a pier and is immediately sucked into the action. Odd and Annamare is threatened by 3 thugs; 2 redhead brothers (one with "meth-teeth") and a large thug with a chin beard. When the large thug touches Odd, Odd's vision is passed on to to him and he asks Odd, "Who are you?" At which point odd realizes these guys are not friendly and escapes by jumping off the pier after Annamarie heads to a crowd. He evades them with the help of his dog, Boo, by the way Boo is a ghost dog who only Odd sees.

After Odd escapes he finds his way to Annamarie's home where she presents a strange proposition to Odd which she asks if Odd would die for her. He answers without hesitating in the affirmative and then he and she both get a "feeling" which they must both leave immediately. The three thugs show up at her door and the chase is on. After sending her to a safehouse Odd proceeds to find out what is going on. Soon he is picked up by the local Sheriff in which all is made clear.

Odd must then stop the importing of Nuclear weapons to Magic Beach. The weapons are part of a plan to create a New United States and Odd must fight terrorists and maybe give up his aversion to guns. With the action of a Bruce Willis action film and the teen angst of a Spider-man Comic book, the unlikely hero of Odd Thomas must take on the worlds woes. Also at the same time he has to help the spirit of "The Chairman of the Board" Frank Sinatra, to move on.

Great book, great read, great characters, Dean Koontz has continued with the winning formula that is Odd Thomas.

"In Odd We Trust"
Written by Queenie Chan & Dean Koontz
Illustrations by Queenie Chan
Published 2009 by Del Rey

Have you ever read a comic book? I love comic books. Stephen King turned his "Dark Tower" series into a comic book series, Clive Barker has some comics based on some of his stories and so has Dean Koontz. It looks like Dean Koontz "Frankenstein" series is out in comic book form. What a great genre for authors such as these. There is a specialized genre of comics originated by the Japanese called "Manga." Manga comics not only tell great stories but feature some very unique illustrations. At the same time Manga comics have some fun quirks, like large eyes, extremely large tear drops to show sadness or exasperation, but they are very fun to read.

That's what this review is about. Dean Koontz created the series of "Odd Thomas" books (4, so far) that tells the story of a young humble every man that has 2 special gifts. The first and foremost is that he sees dead people. Not only does he see them but he does something about it. Let me explain further for the uninformed. Odd Thomas (yep, that's the name his parents gave him) sees the recently departed or rather, souls that have died but haven't yet moved on. Usually the reason they haven't moved on is that they've been murdered and Odd must solve their murder before they can move on. There is the exception of one soul, that of "The King," Elvis himself. Odd doesn't know why "The King" hasn't moved on or why he has chosen Odd's home town of Pico Mundo, California, to hang out, but he is pretty good company. The recently departed cannot talk, Odd doesn't know why and this makes things a bit harder when it comes to solving murders. By the way, in the later books by Dean Koontz, Elvis moves on and Frank Sinatra hangs out with Odd.

This manga comic is a prequel to the books written by Koontz and is co-written by Manga author/illustrator Queenie Chan. Queenie Chan has published several manga novels through TokyoPop.

This story is full of the twists and turns that Dean Koontz puts into every Odd Thomas novel. A child in Pico Mundo has been murdered and since Odd can see the boy's ghost, it is up to Odd to solve this crime. It turns out the kid's nanny is being stalked and when the stalker tried to deliver an eerie letter to the nanny the little boy was home from school early and the stalker killed him. What happens next is that Odd must find out who the killer/stalker is and keep him from killing another easy target.

Remember this is a Dean Koontz novel as well as a Queenie Chan manga and just when you think you have it solved, another turn in the story comes up and throws it all out of whack. The illustrations that push the story along are brilliant and the story follows great in the Odd Thomas collection.

ABOUT THE CREATORS:
Dean Koontz is the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers. He lives with his wife, Gerda, and their dog, Trixie, in Southern California.

Queenie Chan was born in 1980 in Hong Kong, and migrated to Australia when she was six years old. She began drawing at the age of 18, and in 2004 began drawing a mystery-horror series called The Dreaming for Los Angeles-based manga publisher Tokyopop. Since then, the series has been translated into four languages, with the third and final installment arriving in November 2007. Apart from her professional work, she also draws a number of online manga strips on her personal site: http://www.queeniechan.com.

ABOUT DEL REY MANGA:

Del Rey (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as a division of Ballantine Books under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction, alternate history and manga. Ballantine Books is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, which is a publishing group of Random House, Inc, the U.S. publishing company of Random House, the trade book publishing division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading international media companies. In the summer of 2003, Random House joined together with Kodansha in a creative partnership to bring some of Kodansha's top properties to the United States, making Random House the first major trade book publisher in the United States to do so.

When things get scary, it's nice to know that Odd is on our side.

The one and only Odd Thomas is back-in his second edgy and enthralling graphic-novel adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling suspense master Dean Koontz.

It's Halloween in Pico Mundo, California, and there's a whiff of something wicked in the autumn air. While the town prepares for its annual festivities, young fry cook Odd Thomas can't shake the feeling that make-believe goblins and ghouls aren't the only things on the prowl. And he should know, since he can see what others cannot: the spirits of the restless dead. But even his frequent visitor, the specter of Elvis Presley, can't seem to point Odd in the right direction.
With the help of his gun-toting girlfriend, Stormy, Odd is out to uncover the terrible truth. Is something sinister afoot in the remote barn guarded by devilish masked men? Has All Hallows Eve mischief taken a malevolent turn? Or is the pleading ghost of a trick-or-treater a frightening omen of doom?