By: Dean Koontz Publisher: Bantam Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Bantam Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 368 Publication Date: May 20, 2008 Release Date: May 20, 2008
Amazon.com: Amazon Exclusive Essay: Destiny and Odd Hours Odd Thomas came to me as a gift, the entire first chapter of his first book having poured out of me as I was in the middle of writing The Face. I wrote it by hand, though I never work that way, and I never hesitated to think what should come next. He was fully-realized in my mind from the moment I began to write in that lined legal tablet. With other stories and characters, I can identify the source of the inspiration, but not with Oddie and his books. He just suddenly was. When I write about him, his narrative voice is so clear to me that I almost hear him in my head. For those among you who long have thought that I should be institutionalized, just relax: I said I almost hear him. Many times over the years, I said I would never write an open-ended series. Then along came Oddie, and he proved me wrong. Or so I thought. As I wrote the first chapter of Odd Hours, the fourth featuring my fry-cook hero, I realized that this was not an open-ended series, after all, but that it would conclude with six or seven novels. I now think seven. I suddenly saw the end point of his journey, the arc of it to the final book, and I was stunned. Beginning with this fourth story, the stakes were being raised dramatically; Oddie was going to face far more physical and moral danger than previously; and he was going to mature toward the fulfillment of a destiny that I had not seen coming until that moment. Initially, I tried to argue myself out of the direction that Odd Hours was taking. I didn't believe that the first three books had put down a sufficient foundation to support the formidable architecture that I saw rising from it in the next three or four novels. When I began to reread the first three books, however, I quickly discovered that I had unconsciously paved the road that the series was now taking. I had thought I was writing a series with an overall theme about the power and beauty of humility. Indeed I was, but it was also something more than that; and Oddie's ultimate destiny will not be merely purification to a state of absolute humility, but will be that and something else I find quite wonderful. What lies ahead will be a challenge to write--or perhaps not. The character of Odd Thomas was a gift to me, and now I see that the entire architecture of a seven-book series was another gift that came to me complete on the same day Oddie arrived, although I needed time to recognize it. This world is a place of wonder, and life is a mysterious enterprise; but nothing in all my years has been more mysterious than Odd Thomas's origins and my compulsion to write about him. -- Dean Koontz
Product Description: Only a handful of fictional characters are recognized by first name alone. Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas is one of those rare literary heroes who have come alive in readers’ imaginations as he explores the greatest mysteries of this world and the next with his inimitable wit, heart, and quiet gallantry. Now Koontz follows Odd as he is irresistibly drawn onward to a destiny he cannot imagine and to undreamed of places where the perils he will face and the stakes for which he fights will eclipse all that he has known. The legend began in the obscure little town of Pico Mundo. A fry cook named Odd was rumored to have the extraordinary ability to communicate with the dead. Through tragedy and triumph, exhilaration and heartbreak, word of Odd Thomas’s gifts filtered far beyond Pico Mundo, attracting unforgettable new friends—and enemies of implacable evil. With great gifts comes the responsibility to meet great challenges. But no mere human being was ever meant to face the darkness that now stalks the world—not even one as oddly special as Odd Thomas.
After grappling with the very essence of reality itself, after finding the veil that separates him from his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, tantalizingly thin yet impenetrable, Odd longed only to return to a life of quiet anonymity with his two otherworldly sidekicks—his dog Boo and a new companion, one of the few who might rival his old pal Elvis. But a true hero, however humble, must persevere. Haunted by dreams of an all-encompassing red tide, Odd is pulled inexorably to the sea, to a small California coastal town where nothing is as it seems. Now the forces arrayed against him have both official sanction and an infinitely more sinister authority…and in this dark night of the soul dawn will come only after the most shattering revelations of all.
Burnishing Dean Koontz’s stature as a master of suspense and one of our most innovative and gifted storytellers, Odd Hours illuminates a legacy of mystery and hope that will shine on long after the final page.
Odd's Thoughts Make for Oddly Entertaining Book In the fourth installment of the Odd Thomas series the young quipster has a vision of the apocalypse and is drawn to a pregnant, young woman named Annamaria who may be able to help him keep the vision from becoming reality. Or maybe he is supposed to help her. Annamaria seems to know a great deal about Odd and apparently has some psychic abilities of her own.
Along the way we meet some other interesting characters including Frank Sinatra's ghost and a self-absorbed, yet charming, old actor who has provided a new home for Odd. None of the new characters are as mysterious as Annamaria, though. We don't learn enough about her in "Odd Hours", but it certainly sounds like she will be a part of any future Odd Thomas novels.
The original "Odd Thomas" book is probably in my top 25 reads of all time so it would be too much to expect one of these sequels to come close to the enjoyment of first meeting Odd. "Odd Hours" is still fun, though. The general plot of "Hours" has been done several times, usually as an action movie...so there's nothing really new there.
Odd's stray thoughts sometimes get in the way of the story's progress. It's as if Mr. Koontz was thinking, "I've got to work in just this one more funny line." It's a slow-starting book, but is worth reading for Odd's humorous view of the world. Those same stray thoughts that Odd has are what make all of the Odd books just a little...different.
Not the best ODD store I usually like this story line. But I have to say it was a bit bloated and not a great story, sorry
Not bad One of the most charming things about the Odd Thomas series is Odd's interactions with the people around him, whether they're living or dead, dangerous or silly, or in the case of Hutch, nostalgically bittersweet. While this book briefly brushes with some characters that have colorful potential, their page time is frustratingly limited and Odd is left to his own devices for most of the novel, or maybe it just seems that way because none of the characters linger for any real amount of time. It's full of the pretty reflections that have come to characterize these books in my mind but the plot did not seem as entirely inspired as the previous episodes. Nukes make for a hair-raising experience I'm sure, but the inventiveness of the other novels lay chiefly in their supernatural elements. They had a positive element of suspense, of actual fright, because Odd seemed to be battling things beyond human in addition to whatever mortal terrors he confronted. Although solidly touching on Odd's uncanny perceptions, Odd Hours doesn't lend itself to the spooky quite so much.
Don't get me wrong: it's still good. I suppose I got a little excited at the beginning with the references to Mystery Train and Wyvern and was thrilled at the prospect of two of Mr Koontz's series colliding (read the Christopher Snow books if you haven't already), and was admittedly a little disappointed when nothing came of it--yet. I'm still holding out for hope that things may come to that, and there's still a lot of things to be tied up.
A good read, as always, but I think that I loved Odd Thomas and Brother Odd more.
Great Product. Poor Delivery Time The book was in good condition, but I received it later that the alotted time I was given, for the delivery date.
My last Koontz read...... Koontz's books are getting weaker and weaker. His best work of late, the unfinished Frankenstein series, seems to be missing in action and is his only new book I'm likely to read, bummer!
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