Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

In "Forever Odd", the second novel of the Odd Thomas series, Dean Koontz returns the curious reader to Pico Mundo, hometown of our fry cook hero. All is not well. Struggling to adapt to the recent loss of his girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn, Odd Thomas finds that yet another dearly departed has not only not departed, but has sought out Odd to prevent a murder. As difficult as it is to deal with unknown spirits, this time Odd Thomas must cooperate with a ghost previously known to him in the land of the living, making the task an emotionally disturbing one as well. The life of a friend hangs in the balance as Odd seeks clues as only he can.

As in the first novel "Odd Thomas", Dean Koontz takes the reader on a well timed run through the life of Odd Thomas, fry cook and communicator with the dead. Koontz populates his literary landscape with a host of interesting characters including Elvis, Terrible Chester the cat (watch out for your shoes!) and Little Ozzie, whose weight is matched only by his intellectual prowess. Koontz plants little gems of wisdom here and there among the paragraphs and the thinking reader will enjoy searching them out on perhaps the second reading, because on the first time through one is wrapped up in the story, as it should be.

"Odd Thomas" provides a fast paced plot that, as in the first novel, catches the reader up into the storyline, making one quickly turn page after page to get to the next scene, the next chapter. While I preferred the first novel more (like Odd, I miss Stormy) this second novel stands well on its own. Koontz delivers entertainment as well as intelligent, thought provoking prose as very few writers can.

As a further teaser, a small one mind you, I'll reveal an extra complication Koontz threw into the mix: a mysterious female who keeps calling Odd via cell phone with cryptic messages. Now while sultry, even sexy female phone callers have their place in many mystery/thriller novels, I was a bit surprised at the inclusion in Koontz' book. I was afraid the second novel was about to take a gratuitous turn for the worse, but fear not gentle reader. Suffice it to say that there is little to fear in that Koontz makes excellent use of the character without taking the feared pornographic turn. I'll confess I hoped it would be Odd's deceased girlfriend, Stormy, but I'll insist you read the book if you want to find out for yourself.