Odd Hours

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Editorial reviews

Product Description
Only a handful of fictional characters are recognized by first name alone. Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas is one of those rare literary heroes who have come alive in readers’ imaginations as he explores the greatest mysteries of this world and the next with his inimitable wit, heart, and quiet gallantry. Now Koontz follows Odd as he is irresistibly drawn onward to a destiny he cannot imagine and to undreamed of places where the perils he will face and the stakes for which he fights will eclipse all that he has known.

The legend began in the obscure little town of Pico Mundo. A fry cook named Odd was rumored to have the extraordinary ability to communicate with the dead. Through tragedy and triumph, exhilaration and heartbreak, word of Odd Thomas’s gifts filtered far beyond Pico Mundo, attracting unforgettable new friends—and enemies of implacable evil. With great gifts comes the responsibility to meet great challenges. But no mere human being was ever meant to face the darkness that now stalks the world—not even one as oddly special as Odd Thomas.

After grappling with the very essence of reality itself, after finding the veil that separates him from his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, tantalizingly thin yet impenetrable, Odd longed only to return to a life of quiet anonymity with his two otherworldly sidekicks—his dog Boo and a new companion, one of the few who might rival his old pal Elvis. But a true hero, however humble, must persevere. Haunted by dreams of an all-encompassing red tide, Odd is pulled inexorably to the sea, to a small California coastal town where nothing is as it seems. Now the forces arrayed against him have both official sanction and an infinitely more sinister authority…and in this dark night of the soul dawn will come only after the most shattering revelations of all.

Burnishing Dean Koontz’s stature as a master of suspense and one of our most innovative and gifted storytellers, Odd Hours illuminates a legacy of mystery and hope that will shine on long after the final page.

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Amazon.com
Amazon Exclusive Essay: Destiny and Odd Hours

Odd Thomas came to me as a gift, the entire first chapter of his first book having poured out of me as I was in the middle of writing The Face. I wrote it by hand, though I never work that way, and I never hesitated to think what should come next. He was fully-realized in my mind from the moment I began to write in that lined legal tablet. With other stories and characters, I can identify the source of the inspiration, but not with Oddie and his books. He just suddenly was. When I write about him, his narrative voice is so clear to me that I almost hear him in my head.

For those among you who long have thought that I should be institutionalized, just relax: I said I almost hear him.

Many times over the years, I said I would never write an open-ended series. Then along came Oddie, and he proved me wrong. Or so I thought. As I wrote the first chapter of Odd Hours, the fourth featuring my fry-cook hero, I realized that this was not an open-ended series, after all, but that it would conclude with six or seven novels. I now think seven.

I suddenly saw the end point of his journey, the arc of it to the final book, and I was stunned. Beginning with this fourth story, the stakes were being raised dramatically; Oddie was going to face far more physical and moral danger than previously; and he was going to mature toward the fulfillment of a destiny that I had not seen coming until that moment.

Initially, I tried to argue myself out of the direction that Odd Hours was taking. I didn't believe that the first three books had put down a sufficient foundation to support the formidable architecture that I saw rising from it in the next three or four novels.

When I began to reread the first three books, however, I quickly discovered that I had unconsciously paved the road that the series was now taking. I had thought I was writing a series with an overall theme about the power and beauty of humility. Indeed I was, but it was also something more than that; and Oddie's ultimate destiny will not be merely purification to a state of absolute humility, but will be that and something else I find quite wonderful.

What lies ahead will be a challenge to write--or perhaps not. The character of Odd Thomas was a gift to me, and now I see that the entire architecture of a seven-book series was another gift that came to me complete on the same day Oddie arrived, although I needed time to recognize it.

This world is a place of wonder, and life is a mysterious enterprise; but nothing in all my years has been more mysterious than Odd Thomas's origins and my compulsion to write about him.

-- Dean Koontz

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Customer reviews

review by: HoundMom date: 2008-08-21 rating:
Just plow through the first few chapters
I've read all the Odd Thomas books and loved them; just finished Odd Hours last night. The first few chapters after the first 2 were tedious ~~ too much hide and seek wore me out ~~ but get through those chapters and the rest of the book is great Odd Thomas stuff all the way!

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review by: date: 2008-08-20 rating:
I Guess I'll wait for the FIFTH one...
O.K., I absolutely LOVED the first three books in the Odd Thomas Series & I was so excited to discover there was a fourth...however, before I decided to actually purchase this book, I noticed the review section and noticed A LOT of poor reviews. I KNOW I'll STILL read this book, but I'm going to wait to read and buy it until I have the FIFTH one in my hands also. THAT way, it won't be such a dissapointment if all the unanswered questions will get answered in the next one, right?

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review by: Amanda date: 2008-08-20 rating:
Disappointing the entire way through
I have been such a huge Dean Koontz fan throughout the years and this has to be hands down the worse Odd Thomas book so far, the reading was tedious and not enjoyable the story lagged on and when usually he catches my attention and I'm reading the entire night through I had to force myself to finish this book. I thought surely the ending would make up for the lack of storyline but I was wrong

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review by: date: 2008-08-18 rating:
Odd Thomas in name only
Sadly the main character in this book was Odd Thomas in name only. He had very little else in common with the wonderful character readers fell in love with in the first book. He's more like the pod-person of Odd: doesn't see many dead people, and runs around being action-heroy and shooting people. (Shooting. People. is so not Odd Thomas! He hates guns, hates even touching them, and hates killing people even more. This should not happen. It's not who he is.)

The plot was ridiculous and there were far too many "ooo, spooky, mysterious!" moments that were irrelevant to the story and never got explained. Having one particularly cryptic character turn out to be totally left as a cliffhanger was a particularly cheap and dirty trick, I thought. A cheap trick designed to leave you waiting impatiently for the next book - were the "cliffhanger" character not so completely annoying that you'd actually CARE what happens to her!

I'm sad to say this book was a waste of the paper it was printed on and the time I took reading it, because I truly love Odd Thomas and his earlier stories. Odd Hours is a blight on the formerly good name of Odd Thomas. I can hope there will be a 5th book that returns the series to its former enjoyable quality, but I won't hold my breath.


review by: date: 2008-08-18 rating:
Loved it...but...
STILL waiting on the next Christopher Snow novel. It's been HOW MANY years now? Come on, I know I'm not the only fan waiting somewhat patiently for the next Snow book. It's long past due. I love Odd...love the banter between characters and Odd in general. I love the dead stars that can't move on, the dog boo, love the whole book, but am ready for a change. Give me Snow!!!

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