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gcolston1832 's review for:
Odd Hours: An Odd Thomas Novel
by Dean Koontz
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz is the fourth book in the Odd Thomas series. The books follow Odd, who has the ability to see ghosts and other supernatural beings. In this book, he has found himself drawn to a coastal town in California, where his intuition tells him something bad is about to happen.
I gave this book three stars, unfortunately it was a fair bit weaker than the first three books for me. I will say that I really enjoyed that characters in this book, which I have found to be the case in the whole series thus far. I also found this book to be pretty funny at the right moments, so I really liked that aspect. However, the plot was the biggest let down for me and did hinder my enjoyment of the book.
Starting with the positives, I really do love Odd as a character. I really enjoyed his sense of humour, just the one liners and jokes integrated into regular sentences really appealed to my own sense of humour. Obviously this type of thing is subjective, but it really worked for me. I like the way he is different from other “chosen one” characters in the sense that he only tries to save people, rather reluctantly, because he feels like he has to and would really like a normal life. Other than his gift he is just a pretty normal guy, which is refreshing to see in my opinion.
The next thing I liked was the atmosphere of the setting. With the inclusion of the fog and there being a lot of time spent around water, it really gave me a sense of foreboding that helped to add to the mystery aspect of the book.
The biggest thing for me was the minor characters. They always have something interesting about them and for me it makes them seem more fleshed out and makes them all different from each other. Koontz has a way of giving you a small background of each character when they are first introduced that immediately draws you in and makes you attached to them, and I find this to be really clever. I also like that one of the side characters in this novel in particular has some sort of psychic ability. I like that this means that Odd isn’t entirely unique in his own ability, it just makes it seem that little bit more realistic that Odd isn’t the only person who has this power.
Now moving on to things I didn’t like so much. I found in certain scenes Koontz tends to use really specific language that was quite difficult to understand and this made it quite hard to concentrate at times. For example, there’s a scene where Odd is on a boat and the language used in this scene was often quite technical and I just didn’t really understand it all as someone who doesn’t know much about boats. Of course, that could just be something personal to me, other people may not have had this problem.
My main issue with this book was the plot. I wasn’t always that interested in what was going on and this was another element that made me find myself struggling to concentrate. My interest in the plot fluctuated quite frequently and unfortunately this meant that my enjoyment overall did so too. I also found that there were som elements of the plot that were very similar to the first book, but perhaps I’m just being picky.
Finally, I found the ending to be a little weak. I finished this book two days ago and I’ve already forgotten most of what happens. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but it just wasn’t particularly memorable to me.
I did enjoy Odd Hours overall, though due to the plot I found this enjoyment wasn’t particularly steady throughout the book. The characters really saved it for me and that is what made this book a three star rather than a two star. I do think this book is the weakest in the series so far, but I do intend to continue with it.
I gave this book three stars, unfortunately it was a fair bit weaker than the first three books for me. I will say that I really enjoyed that characters in this book, which I have found to be the case in the whole series thus far. I also found this book to be pretty funny at the right moments, so I really liked that aspect. However, the plot was the biggest let down for me and did hinder my enjoyment of the book.
Starting with the positives, I really do love Odd as a character. I really enjoyed his sense of humour, just the one liners and jokes integrated into regular sentences really appealed to my own sense of humour. Obviously this type of thing is subjective, but it really worked for me. I like the way he is different from other “chosen one” characters in the sense that he only tries to save people, rather reluctantly, because he feels like he has to and would really like a normal life. Other than his gift he is just a pretty normal guy, which is refreshing to see in my opinion.
The next thing I liked was the atmosphere of the setting. With the inclusion of the fog and there being a lot of time spent around water, it really gave me a sense of foreboding that helped to add to the mystery aspect of the book.
The biggest thing for me was the minor characters. They always have something interesting about them and for me it makes them seem more fleshed out and makes them all different from each other. Koontz has a way of giving you a small background of each character when they are first introduced that immediately draws you in and makes you attached to them, and I find this to be really clever. I also like that one of the side characters in this novel in particular has some sort of psychic ability. I like that this means that Odd isn’t entirely unique in his own ability, it just makes it seem that little bit more realistic that Odd isn’t the only person who has this power.
Now moving on to things I didn’t like so much. I found in certain scenes Koontz tends to use really specific language that was quite difficult to understand and this made it quite hard to concentrate at times. For example, there’s a scene where Odd is on a boat and the language used in this scene was often quite technical and I just didn’t really understand it all as someone who doesn’t know much about boats. Of course, that could just be something personal to me, other people may not have had this problem.
My main issue with this book was the plot. I wasn’t always that interested in what was going on and this was another element that made me find myself struggling to concentrate. My interest in the plot fluctuated quite frequently and unfortunately this meant that my enjoyment overall did so too. I also found that there were som elements of the plot that were very similar to the first book, but perhaps I’m just being picky.
Finally, I found the ending to be a little weak. I finished this book two days ago and I’ve already forgotten most of what happens. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but it just wasn’t particularly memorable to me.
I did enjoy Odd Hours overall, though due to the plot I found this enjoyment wasn’t particularly steady throughout the book. The characters really saved it for me and that is what made this book a three star rather than a two star. I do think this book is the weakest in the series so far, but I do intend to continue with it.