Book Review: Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

One of Dean Koontz's most popular characters is Odd Thomas. Odd Thomas who sees the dead, who is a fry cook in little Pico Mundo, a desert town.

It is hard to say why Odd is so popular, but for me it is the simplicity of his character. He is a bright and resourceful man, but also a quirky rider on the open range. The first in this series was Odd Thomas, the second, Forever Odd and now Brother Odd.

Koontz has a way of taking the ordinary and transforming them into some extraordinary with a few descriptions. Oh, and by the way, Odd Thomas has been accompanied on his adventures by the ghost of the King, Elvis Presley.

What Koontz does with this character in Brother Odd brings a real tear to the eye. The writer has a way of making us believe that is creative and effective. This set is my favorite of Koontz's work. There is something of Odd Thomas in me, something that calls out to the simple world put forth with the writer's sharp prose and profoundly beautiful descriptive writing.

I won't spoil the other two books for you, just tell you we now find Odd Thomas living in a monastery, seeing his first snow and keeping control over a rambunctious, but very dead, monk named Christopher.

The way Koontz describes Oddie's first snow is poetic. You feel a chill and want to huddle down near a warm fire. Alas, there is more than beauty in the snowfall. From out of the white come monsters that seem to be bones all jumbled together in a conglomeration of well-executed joints, but with no manners at all.

One of the residents at the monastery is Jacob. All of the children are special needs children. Some are comatose and some deformed or mentally challenged. Jacob will melt your heart. Inside this deformed body is an artist beyond measure. But he is a target, this boy who draws endless portraits of his deceased mother. The secret about Jacob is heartbreaking.

Of course we cannot have monsters without a couple of battles. And we have a villain of the first order. Pay close attention and see if you can find the thread that interconnects the whole book. Koontz is good with presenting us the obvious, but obscuring the leads so well that sometimes villains just slide by our senses.

The end of this book is delightful and certainly leaves the door open for further episodes with gentle, wise Odd. You won't want to miss what happens with Elvis and who comes to keep Odd company in his place. It is a delightful read and thoroughly enjoyable.