Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

I read this book, because I owed Courtney and also because Odd Thomas is Kate's book boyfriend.  She's kind of obsessed with him, but she survived me giving him back to her.

Book:  Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Summary:  Odd Thomas (yes, that's his real first name) has gifts, if we use the term loosely.  He sees ghosts and, sometimes, he has prophetic dreams.  In the first book of the Odd Thomas series, Odd must use his powers to prevent a mass murder that has been haunting his dreams for years.


Characters:  I know so many people who love Odd, but I just couldn't relate at all.  Odd was really moral, which is fine, but it felt too often that he was good for the sake of being good.  He also let his girlfriend, Stormy, push him around and for a couple that was always talking about how in love they were, I had a hard time believing they knew themselves, let alone each other, well enough to actually be in love.

All of the other characters were eccentric enough to make the town feel real and interesting, but I never fell in love with any of them.  We get all kinds of random back story for all of the characters that Odd visits throughout the book and it mostly left me wondering if I had accidentally picked up book three or four instead of the first book in the series.


Plot/Pacing: This book felt all over the place for me.  I never felt like there were enough clues for me to piece things together and there were a lot of random clues that never went anywhere.  And I'm not talking about red herrings.  Odd's dream that has been plaguing him for a long time seemed to come out of nowhere and there is a room that sends Odd back in time and then disappears.  It was never explained.  It never tied into the story AT ALL!!!!  I thought the killer was going to use it to create an alibi, but NOTHING!

However, it is easy to read and flows pretty well.  If you aren't trying to piece together the mystery as you go, then you'll probably find yourself swept along.  There is a lot of action (in between Odd's whining) with danger and creepy ghosts.  I totally understand why people love this book and I feel guilty that it just didn't work for me.


Moments I Loved: The end had a twist that made me cry.  It wasn't completely unexpected (I often found myself hoping for it throughout the book), but I still appreciated that it could move me to tears.

WTF Moments: The entire story line with Odd's mother... I think it was there to create sympathy for Odd and I feel bad about all the things that happened to him, but seriously, at this point he is just enabling her and letting them happen.


Overall:  I had a hard time connecting to the characters and the plot wasn't as intricately plotted as I prefer my mysteries.  It just didn't work for me, but I am in the minority of readers.


Reading Challenges: This book counts toward the following challenges: 416 pages toward the 15,000 page challenge and support your local library.  Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page.

Odd Thomas gets a Fake Steph Rating of...