The Top Line

Odd Thomas brings to mind two immediate thoughts – firstly it is quirky, and secondly the movie The Sixth Sense. It is a B+ of a book from Koontz, with a good helping of offbeat humor, an all-too-human hero who narrates the story in first person and a somewhat sad ending.

The Plot

Odd Thomas – believed to be a “Todd” with a typo on the birth certificate is a 20 year-old 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, blessed by the relationship with his girlfriend Stormy Weathers, and cursed by two useless parents.

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 (as shown by an early example of a teenage girl pointing out her murderer to him). Only his girlfriend, Stormy, the local police chief, Wyatt Porter, his mentor Little Ozzie and his boss Terri know of his secret in varying degrees.

Odd also has the ability to see evil spirits, which he calls bodachs – although they appear to ignore him. These bodachs turn up whenever some truly violent crime or event is about to occur. So naturally enough, when a stranger (he names him Fungus Man) walks into the diner one morning with a crowd of bodachs, Odd knows the town is in for a rough couple of days, and he decides to use his gift to prevent whatever calamity is about the occur.

Odd is an aspiring writer, mentored by his 400 pound, six-fingered friend Little Ozzie. Ozzie has written multiple best-selling books and constantly encourages Odd to write – so this book is framed as Odd’s story of the 36 hours around the arrival of the Fungus Man in Pico Mundo.

Thoughts

Being written in the first person, the book brings an interesting perspective to the events as they occur. We get a deep insight into Odd’s psyche, his hopes and dreams (he wants to move from being a cook to selling shoes or tires), and his relationship with Stormy – about whom his life revolves. You feel Odd’s dedication to using his gift to help out others, and his helplessness when he knows something will happen and he cannot change the course of events.

Koontz interjects some off-beat humor into the plot, featuring the recurring ghost of Elvis, an exploding plastic cow, and a landlady who is convinced she will wake up one morning and be invisible. There is also a fair bit of macabre and depressing story-telling and some violence and bloodshed towards the end of the book, as Odd hones in, using his “psychic magnetism”, on the villains of the piece.

I read this book in three sittings, and couldn’t figure out whether to be sad, inspired, upset or amused by the story. In the end, I decided the fact that it stirred all those emotions in me meant it deserved a good rating. I just didn’t like the ending too much.

Originally published in 2003, Koontz has written two sequels - Forever Odd and most recently, Brother Odd.

The Bottom Line / Recommendations

If you’re looking four a book two read that’s a little, well, odd and different, give this offering from Dean Koontz your attention – I guarantee you won’t eight it and try to give it the deep six.

(c) The Perfect Pitch 2007


Recommended: Yes