Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

What: The sequel to Koontz’s wildly successful outing, Odd Thomas.

“The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.â€? Odd Thomas isn’t your ordinary 21 year old. He has the ability to see the dead, though they lack the ability to talk to him. In Koontz’s first introduction to the character, we met Odd (yes, that’s his real name) and the quirky residents of Pico Mundo, alive and deadâ€"including Elvis. Odd’s tragic story had a powerful ending and surprises thrown at you constantly.

Several months have passed since the events in Odd Thomas. Odd is on a leave of absence from his job at the grill. He still has frequent ghostly visitors who seek his help. One visitor in particular sets a chain of events into motion that threaten to be too much even for Odd this time. A childhood friend is missing, and Odd’s search for him will lead him into a confrontation with someone even more evil than the protagonists from his last adventure.

Dean Koontz has really changed his writing style in recent years. Whereas his old novels tended to be overblown with more fluff than a king-sized goose-down pillow, his recent books have trimmed most all of the fat to give us a rocket ride adventure. Forever Odd is no exception. The entire book covers a matter of hours of “real time�, leaving little time for those endless rabbit trails he used to go down with his characters (if you lived through False Memory or The Bad Place, you’ll know what I mean. The characters are memorable, but they tend to ramble on incessantly with interior monologues). There are still places in the book where a little trimming could have come in handy, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be.

The book only slows down at the end, which is a shame. The final confrontation between Odd and one of the villains goes on far too long, getting tedious after a while with the “I’m safe…no, wait, there they are again� chase scenes we see too often. But that is the only weak spot in the story. The character of Odd Thomas is a nice guy who just happens to have a strange talent. Even Danny, the boy who gets him into so much trouble, is easy to sympathize with. The baddies in this book are cold-hearted, with great motivation for their actions.

Not a lot is given away about the first book, but two major plot points are mentioned, so if you haven’t read it first, I’d suggest doing so. While not as good as the first Odd Thomas story, it’s still an entertaining read.

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