"Odd Hours" by Dean Koontz - Book Review

"Odd Hours" is the 4th book in the Odd Thomas book series by Dean Koontz. In case you haven't read any of the rest of the Odd Thomas books, Odd Thomas is a gifted boy. He can see the spirits of dead people who have not chosen to move on to the afterlife yet. The dead cannot speak, but Odd does his best to help them come to grips with their deaths and help them find happiness in the afterlife they can go to when they choose to. Along with spirits, Odd can also see what he calls "bodachs", which are evil spirits which usually collect around a person who is either going to commit a crime in the near future or have a crime committed to them. Since he is the only one who can see them, Odd feels an obligation to help where he can, and over the course of the series, becomes involved in a number of major events that impact both his own life and the lives of others around him. The books in the series are Odd's recollection of the events that transcribed.In "Odd Hours", Odd has taken u
p a new job (he used to be a fry-cook - which comes up often) of home-cook for an elderly former movie star in the seaside city of Magic Beach. On one of his walks, he comes across a pregnant girl which he has seen in his dreams (dreams of the end of the world) named Annamaria. While Annamaria and him are talking, a group of large men corner them, and when the head man of the group touches Odd, Odd is transported back to his reoccurring dream (a dream which now the man also sees). Odd becomes convinced that the dream will come true and the man and Annamaria will be involved. Not wanted these dreams to come true, Odd begins to try and do what he can to stop the series of events from coming true. Odd becomes involved in an action-filled plot that involves nuclear weapons, boats, as well as a number of spirits.What made the Odd Thomas series so good is not moved away from in the 4th book. Odd's own narration is one of the best parts of reading these novels. In it, he describes
the events that are unfolding, but does so in a completely unique way. He links the events that are happening to other events that have happened in his life or stories that he has heard. For example, when he meets the pilot of one of the boats, he is reminded a lot of Stormy Llewellyn (Odd's soulmate throughout the series) and we as the readers are brought back to previous memories and scenes of Stormy throughout the series.In addition, many of Odd's unique talents are put to use again, but as always, in slightly different ways. For example, Odd has what he calls "psychic magnetism", which is an ability he has to clear his mind and focus on one thing or person, and if he starts walking, he will eventually end up there even if he doesn't know where they are. In "Odd Hours", the use of this technique leads him to help, even if not the help he was originally thinking of, help that helps him to get himself out of some trouble later on in the novel. Another repeated Odd Thomas p
attern is the reference to those spirits closest to him. In the first three novels, it was the spirit of Elvis Presley. In the 4th book, it becomes the spirit of Frank Sinatra and the spirit of a dog named Boo.What makes "Odd Hours" different than the other novels in the series is the change that occurs with Odd himself. In the previous books, he doesn't believe in weapons and when put in a tough situation, uses what he can find around him to gain the leverage he needs to help. In this novel, however, Odd arms himself and becomes pro-active rather than defensive to try and stop what's about to occur. Part of this is because of the dream, Odd knows what could happen, rather than just knowing only that something bad is about to happen. In addition, after previous incidents seen in the previous novels, Odd has begun to know that bad things have a way of following him, whether he wants them to or not.Personally, this change in Odd's character was hard to see happen. Odd's action
s create a fine line over whether Odd is doing only what is necessary to survive or whether he is going too far. Although "Odd Hours" is still a very well-written novel with great characters and a good story, it was not my favorite book in the series. Despite that, I would still recommend it for those looking for a good book to read.

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