Scan barcode
kathydavie's review against another edition
4.0
Fourth in the Odd Thomas philosophical horror-lite series. This story finds Odd in Magic Beach, California.
My Take
Being an odd-attractant is certainly a useful, um, skill? It certainly explains how Odd attracts the, um, unusual, not to say, odd and leaves Koontz the leeway to use this as an excuse to not explain anything to the reader.
It was irritating to try and figure out what's going on, but then Odd works his charm and I fell into it, slowly, wonderingly, confusedly. Brother Odd, 3, appears to have been, not a bridge, but a break to allow for Odd's new trek out into the world. And his encounter with the enigmatic Annamaria appears to be the connection, the initial path out into this brave new world of Odd's. It should be interesting to see where this pregnant "madonna" will lead.
I'm still hunting for the reason that the three thugs came after Annamaria and Odd in the first place… Oh, I understand why they come after Odd, after that touch. But why touch him in the first place? Koontz leads you to believe one thing about why they're tracking Annamaria — paranormal connection — and later events don't bear it out. And what's with the coyotes?
There's an odd quality...I know, I get so caught up in Odd that he permeates my thoughts. A sign of a good writer, yeah, like I'm one to judge, LOL, when characters and words continue to leap out at you when you're not reading! The thing is Annamaria's presence is peculiar with a Delphic-quality of communication. And Koontz doesn't give us a reason to trust her. I suspect the intention is to drag us along to Odd Apocalypse, the next in the series. A possible fulfillment of what Annamarie is insinuating.
The Story
Something, some pull has caused Odd to come to Magic Beach, to work for an ex-actor who hasn't worked on-screen in 50 years. A man who has been honing, instead, his paranoia about all the minute possibilities of harm. He is, however, a kind man, with skewed observations.
The truth of which hits us over the head the night that Odd gets in the way.
The Characters
Odd Thomas sought refuge from the demands on his psyche, but it turned out only to be a another instance where his help would be needed. Now he's following yet another demand, waiting to learn where and how his help will be needed. Boo is the ghost of a white shepherd-mix Odd encounters at the monastery in Brother Odd. "Raphael" may well be joining the troupe.
Lawrence "Hutch" Hutchinson is eighty-eight years old and a retired actor with a strong fantasy life as well as his paranoia. His primary income these days is the children's series he writes. There's an oddly surreal quality to his conversations with Odd, particularly toward the end.
Annamaria is pregnant. Blossom Rosedale is a survivor and a quilter, who lives in the Cottage of the Happy Monster. Birdena "Birdie" Hopkins seems to have a calling just as Odd does. She's certainly a character!
Samuel Owen Bittel is one identity for Sam Whittle. Reverend Charles Moran is with St. Bartholomew's Church; Melanie is his wife. Hoss Shackett is the chief of police in Magic Beach; he runs a rather terrifying jail. Utgard Rolf is one of his police officers. Buddy, Jackie, Joey, Jonah, and Hassan are helping out along with Valonia.
Chief Wyatt Porter, the chief of police in Pico Mundo, California, Odd's hometown, vouches for him. P. Oswald "Little Ozzie" Boone is his author friend and mentor who writes several series of books about detectives. Frank Sinatra's ghost has taken up where Elvis left off. Pearl Sugars is his now-deceased grandmother who trailed high-stakes poker games. Bronwen "Stormy" Llewellyn was Odd's girlfriend before she died in Odd Thomas, 1.
The Cover and Title
There's something about the way Odd is sitting with his back to us, his elbows up on the park bench, looking out over the nothingness and the roiling clouds of blue- and pale-grays that seems very peaceful, but the darkness hints at what's yet to come.
I suspect the title refers to how long he has before everything will blow up in his face. He's on Odd Hours, which may be fewer than we think.
My Take
Being an odd-attractant is certainly a useful, um, skill? It certainly explains how Odd attracts the, um, unusual, not to say, odd and leaves Koontz the leeway to use this as an excuse to not explain anything to the reader.
It was irritating to try and figure out what's going on, but then Odd works his charm and I fell into it, slowly, wonderingly, confusedly. Brother Odd, 3, appears to have been, not a bridge, but a break to allow for Odd's new trek out into the world. And his encounter with the enigmatic Annamaria appears to be the connection, the initial path out into this brave new world of Odd's. It should be interesting to see where this pregnant "madonna" will lead.
I'm still hunting for the reason that the three thugs came after Annamaria and Odd in the first place… Oh, I understand why they come after Odd, after that touch. But why touch him in the first place? Koontz leads you to believe one thing about why they're tracking Annamaria — paranormal connection — and later events don't bear it out. And what's with the coyotes?
Oh, yeah, I can see what an amazing psychic Portentia was…The thing is, I don't need Annamaria's cryptic avoidance to want to read the next story as I like Odd. He's a decent guy who has given up any thought of his own life in exchange for helping the world. But he provides this aid with no thought of remuneration; he never wonders how it will help him. Koontz has created such an interesting dilemma for Odd with his odd abilities and a sure bet that no one would believe him. Which makes it even odder that so many do believe him without need of an explanation.
"...two days later, at the hour Portentia foretold, she shot him."
Think James Bond zenned out.I did appreciate Odd's casually careful carelessness during his police interview. I could only hope I should be so relaxed...appearing.
There's an odd quality...I know, I get so caught up in Odd that he permeates my thoughts. A sign of a good writer, yeah, like I'm one to judge, LOL, when characters and words continue to leap out at you when you're not reading! The thing is Annamaria's presence is peculiar with a Delphic-quality of communication. And Koontz doesn't give us a reason to trust her. I suspect the intention is to drag us along to Odd Apocalypse, the next in the series. A possible fulfillment of what Annamarie is insinuating.
The Story
Something, some pull has caused Odd to come to Magic Beach, to work for an ex-actor who hasn't worked on-screen in 50 years. A man who has been honing, instead, his paranoia about all the minute possibilities of harm. He is, however, a kind man, with skewed observations.
The truth of which hits us over the head the night that Odd gets in the way.
The Characters
Odd Thomas sought refuge from the demands on his psyche, but it turned out only to be a another instance where his help would be needed. Now he's following yet another demand, waiting to learn where and how his help will be needed. Boo is the ghost of a white shepherd-mix Odd encounters at the monastery in Brother Odd. "Raphael" may well be joining the troupe.
Lawrence "Hutch" Hutchinson is eighty-eight years old and a retired actor with a strong fantasy life as well as his paranoia. His primary income these days is the children's series he writes. There's an oddly surreal quality to his conversations with Odd, particularly toward the end.
Annamaria is pregnant. Blossom Rosedale is a survivor and a quilter, who lives in the Cottage of the Happy Monster. Birdena "Birdie" Hopkins seems to have a calling just as Odd does. She's certainly a character!
Samuel Owen Bittel is one identity for Sam Whittle. Reverend Charles Moran is with St. Bartholomew's Church; Melanie is his wife. Hoss Shackett is the chief of police in Magic Beach; he runs a rather terrifying jail. Utgard Rolf is one of his police officers. Buddy, Jackie, Joey, Jonah, and Hassan are helping out along with Valonia.
Chief Wyatt Porter, the chief of police in Pico Mundo, California, Odd's hometown, vouches for him. P. Oswald "Little Ozzie" Boone is his author friend and mentor who writes several series of books about detectives. Frank Sinatra's ghost has taken up where Elvis left off. Pearl Sugars is his now-deceased grandmother who trailed high-stakes poker games. Bronwen "Stormy" Llewellyn was Odd's girlfriend before she died in Odd Thomas, 1.
The Cover and Title
There's something about the way Odd is sitting with his back to us, his elbows up on the park bench, looking out over the nothingness and the roiling clouds of blue- and pale-grays that seems very peaceful, but the darkness hints at what's yet to come.
I suspect the title refers to how long he has before everything will blow up in his face. He's on Odd Hours, which may be fewer than we think.
lauraav's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
protoman21's review against another edition
3.0
This series is definitely going downhill. I still like Odd Thomas, but I felt no real connection to any of the other characters in this book and the plot was rather blah. Sadly I was happy when this one was over and hope that this is the end of the series
suvata's review against another edition
3.0
I've listened to Audible.com unabridged recordings for all of the Odd Thomas books. This fourth book is every bit as good as the previous ones. I have to say that Odd Thomas is one of my favorite fictional characters. Not only does Dean Koontz tell an amazing story by David Aaron Baker is the perfect narrator for them. I can't express enough how much I enjoyed the Odd Thomas books.
rlisaacs's review against another edition
5.0
I just... I love Odd Thomas. His reaction to having to commit any sort of violence is not what mine is. Perhaps it's all the books I've read prior, but I don't mind violence when it's called for. Odd, in contrast, understands that sometimes violence is necessary in order to prevent greater violence in the future, but he hates it when he is the one who ends up having to commit that violence. It tears him up inside, even if he knows there was no other way.
His soul is so good, and he's always trying to do the right thing and... gah! I just love him. Because he's not, like, self-righteous or anything. He doesn't think himself better than anybody else because of the way he views the world. It's simply that doing what is right, is the right thing to do, and when his sixth sense calls him in a direction so he can do those things, he's going to do them. Even if he wishes that burden would fall to someone else.
I love him. I can't wait to get into the next book. This one definitely ended on a bigger cliffhanger than others have before. This particular story is ended, that much we get. But more so than the others, at the end of this one, we know something big is still coming. He has no idea what that is, but he knows he's heading towards it more firmly now than he has in any previous book.
I've been renting these books from the library, but I think I'm just going to have to buy them all. I need them on my bookshelf.
His soul is so good, and he's always trying to do the right thing and... gah! I just love him. Because he's not, like, self-righteous or anything. He doesn't think himself better than anybody else because of the way he views the world. It's simply that doing what is right, is the right thing to do, and when his sixth sense calls him in a direction so he can do those things, he's going to do them. Even if he wishes that burden would fall to someone else.
I love him. I can't wait to get into the next book. This one definitely ended on a bigger cliffhanger than others have before. This particular story is ended, that much we get. But more so than the others, at the end of this one, we know something big is still coming. He has no idea what that is, but he knows he's heading towards it more firmly now than he has in any previous book.
I've been renting these books from the library, but I think I'm just going to have to buy them all. I need them on my bookshelf.
harperrg's review against another edition
4.0
This one I enjoyed more than 2 and 3, they were good, but this one was just more enjoyable to me.
desidevabookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Oh Odd One... I absolutely LOVED this roller coaster of a deadly adventure Odd finds himself in. Once again he's the unlikely hero and literally runs into the face of danger to literally save the world. A new character pops in that is as odd as Odd is, Annamaria, and she holds a key to his future that isn't yet revealed yet. With Annamaria by his side, his ghost dog, his new golden retreaver, and Frank Sinatra, we go into the next adventure and I'm sure another book filled with jaw dropping twists!
amelia52's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75