Odd Thomas wants nothing more than to live an ordinary life, but his various gifts make this dream an impossibility. His ability to see the dead and to help them move forward, coupled with an ability to sense the whereabouts of both evil and victims means that he is constantly being draw into conflict with the forces of darkness...

Deeply Odd is a new book in the Odd series of books by Dean Koontz.

Although this is the sixth book in the series, the book works very well as a standalone novel. It chronicles the on-going story of Odd, so named as the T was left out of his birth certificate. He wishes no more than to flip burgers in his local fictional town of Pico Mundo, but by the time this story opens Odd has lost the girl he loved and gone through a collection of ghostly companions, including Elvis and Frank Sinatra. To continue the tradition of famous helpers, the new book introduces us to Alfred Hitchcock, who like the others remains an enigmatic presence. Although Odd can see the dead, they never speak to him.

The tale opens when Odd is drawn to a garishly dressed trucker, not being sure why he hangs around the trailer until he is caught. The trucker reacts violently to the intrusion and in the scuffle Odd touches him, a vision of three children being tortured and killed flood into both their minds, before Odd escapes.

Odd is determined to save the children by tracking the trucker with his abilities, Odd sets off across the country. Along the way he meets Edie Fischer an eccentric old lady who insists that he become her chauffeur, as her previous one had passed away. Throughout the book Koontz intimates that there is so much more to Edie, that like Odd she has some form of power, although we never get to see what she can do, we see her effects on the people she and Odd meet as they travel across country.

The book is told in the first person, from Odd's point of view, so you really have to buy into him as a character. Koontz writes him as a likeable but reluctant hero, not fond of violence or guns, but in this new quest Odd crosses a line and kills.

There is a slightly uneven tone to the book which at times is funny, at others confusing. Koontz writes his adversaries well and you get a real sense of the evil that they represent, but some of the topology of his world left me thinking that I had skipped a page. I’m guessing that the transition between here and Elsewhere was covered in previous books and this is a problem of lack of knowledge on the reviewer’s part.

I guess you really have to have an investment the series and Koontz, as the book meanders around. Each section which progresses the plot or present some entertaining action is padded either side with large sections which decry the state of the world.

The general concept works well and a film was made of the first book, although this looks like it has found itself in litigation hell, so no word when that will come out. Some webisodes have been produced at youtube.com/watch?v=A3Th9JJLCQA.

Overall, an entertaining read, with some good ideas, although it probably worth starting the series with the first book.

6

Charles Packer