The Top Line

I knew the day would eventually come when I found a Dean Koontz book I didn’t like. That day has arrived with the publication of Forever Odd. Technically it was multiple days as it took me that long to slog through the insipid plot and contrived scenes.

Should you decide to read this book, I’d suggest you start with Odd Thomas first as that will explain the characters and setting. You will at least get a fighting chance to finish the book that way.

The Plot

Dean Koontz published Odd Thomas in 2003 and immediately created one of his best characters. Odd Thomas, believed to be a “Todd” with a typo on the birth certificate, is a 21 year-old former short-order fry cook in the small Californian town of Pico Mundo. He is stuck with the gift of being able to see the dead and malevolent spirits, and cursed by the memories of his former relationship with his girlfriend Stormy Weathers (Bronwen Llewellyn), who passed away in the first book.

Although Odd can see the dead and restless spirits who have not yet passed on, he is unable to communicate with them verbally. However, he is usually able to determine their needs and assist them in moving on .Only the local police chief, Wyatt Porter, his mentor Little Ozzie and his former boss Terri know of his secret.

Very early in the story, Odd is summoned by the spirit of Dr. Wilbur Jessup to the Jessup home, the site of a gruesome murder. Wilbur is the father of Odd’s best friend, a young man named Danny, who suffers from a rare disease which causes brittle bones. Danny is missing, believed kidnapped, and Odd sets out to find him, using what he calls his “psychic magnetism”.

Odd then travels through a series of underground tunnels, tracking Danny’s psychic spoor – and ends up in a burnt-out Indian Casino, way out in the wilds outside of Pico Mundo. It is in this casino that the rest of the story takes place, pitting Odd and his skills against a very strange and dark temptress, Datura, and her two henchmen.

Thoughts

Odd Thomas was a quirky, yet masterful, book that stirred up numerous emotions ranging from fear to compassion and pity to outright laughter. Forever Odd, for the most part, nearly bores you to death – to the point I thought Odd might be able to see my slumbering spirit. The off-beat and off-pace humor which worked so well before, written in the first person by Odd, has been mostly replaced by some one-liners. Although the ghost of Elvis and Ozzie’s ferocious cat Chester are still around, they really don’t do much for the plot.

Taking Odd out of the equation for a moment, this is really a not so inspired thriller about a kidnapped kid and his abductors holed up in a burnt-out casino. There are several moments when the answer to a crisis just appears out of nowhere (i.e. Deus Ex Machina : an artificial and improbable device introduced into a plot to resolve a tricky situation). This is the first Dean Koontz book I have ever disliked, to the point of giving it a D- (Must concentrate in class and can do better).

Odd works better when he is around people who know (and love) him, and not engaged in some seemingly pointless chase scene. His character blossoms in these circumstances, as we delve into his psyche and why he feels the need to help the dead. The third book in the series, Brother Odd was published in November 2006, so that is sitting on my review desk for next week. I am hoping that Dean suffered the sophomore curse with Forever Odd and Brother Odd will return to former glories.

The Bottom Line / Recommendations

Don’t read this book without first reading Odd Thomas. Actually don’t read this book at all and skip straight to Brother Odd. A D- of an effort by a master storyteller.

(c ) The Perfect Pitch 2007



Recommended: No