A review by tmdavis
In Odd We Trust (Graphic Novel) by Dean Koontz

3.0

This one was a let down because I was expecting so much more.

First, I was expecting nice glossy pages with color not a smaller than trade paperback sized book with regular paper pages and all black and white graphics.

Second, I was expecting a more complex story not just Odd Thomas, local cook who also sees ghosts, helping the police solve a crime. This could have been more complex but it the telling of the story both in narrative and in graphics was very simplistic.

Third, it being Dean Koontz, I was expecting a darker story with atmosphere not something that felt like a more serious version of Archie and Veronica. Not only that, the drawings were all black and white which does not really lend itself to creating ambivalence or atmosphere with the reader as there are no gray or shadowed areas because it's all black and white.

It read as a happy story about a local cook who sees the ghost of a recently murdered child and feels he must help the child move on by finding the killer. The seriousness of the crime is offset by the humor of the ghosts that Odd has seen in the past (among them Lyndon Johnson and Elvis, of course). And I thought that the police chief just showing up and telling Odd all the details of the case in the diner where he works was a bit farfetched.

So, overall--meh. Yeah, it made me want to actually read the first Odd Thomas book to see if what is in the graphic novel is the same as what is in the actual book and I'd probably read another graphic novel but it was nothing to get excited about. Would like to have given it 2.5 stars.