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The Odd Thomas series was off to a great start with the first three novels but this last one, "Odd Hours" was a horrible follow-up. The plot line overall is shamefully weak. The character development with a series of unique individuals -- usually the wonderful part of these novels -- was frustratingly lacking. The ending seemed so out of character for Odd that I was shocked. I suggest, if you have read the other three Odd novels, then you MAY want to struggle through this one as I did (yes, it was in fact a struggle -- a rare event with a Koontz novel for me) in order to continue following the series as there will undoubtedly be other Odd Thomas books. If you have NOT read the other novels, please don't start with this one. Go read "Odd Thomas", the first in the series and a wonderful, emotional rollercoaster of a novel. It is a million times better.

Fantastic!!! Love all the Odd novels. Can't wait for the next one!! Hint for Dean Koontz to get busy on another Odd novel.

I really loved Odd Thomas, the first Odd book in the series, it was absolutely wonderful. The second, Forever Odd, was very good, just not quite as good at the first. The third, Brother Odd, had its moments, but the reason for the 'odd' happenings was so off the wall, well, it strained credulity. NOW, this book, Odd Hours, takes that strain and snaps it. I could not believe that Odd, a character I love, would do the things Koontz has him do in this book. I felt none of the urgency to continue reading the adventure as I did with the first two books. The ending was totally unsatisfying. It seems to me as if this book was written by someone else or by someone lookin' to make a buck rather than someone continuing his precious character's adventures. It felt so cold and so mechanical, so unbelievable. I would NOT recommend this book. I, too, have heard that this is to be a series of six or seven, but if the next one doesn't improve GREATLY, and go back to the original warmth and quaintness of the first Odd Thomas book, I will stop reading the series altogether. And that would be a truly sad day for me.

This has to be one of the most uneven series of books about the same character I've read. I LOVED Odd Thomas, the first book because of all the characters in Pico Mundo, all the detail Koontz put in about Odd's abilities, etc. The second book, Forever Odd was far less appealing, mainly NOT set in the town we grew to love in book #1, and just plain wasn't as good. The third book (Brother Odd) made me remember what I liked about the original, was suspenseful, full of rich characters and Odd's abilities played a large role in the plot. This fourth one is just plain bad. First of all, why does every Odd Thomas book have to be set in a different place? Why ISN'T there the character development in this one that exists in 1 and 3? Why are Odd's abilities almost irrelevant in this book? This feels to me like Koontz wanted to toss another Odd book out this year and didn't really spend too much time worrying about what was in it. I still love almost everything Koontz writes...including all his recent stuff....so I'm willing to cut him some slack on this one. I just hope he doesn't turn into another James Patterson, churning out books and putting his name on worthless crap.

I have liked Koontz in the past, I got away from reading his work and this week I was given Odd Hours, and gobbled it down in a few hours. Odd Hours the first Koontz I have read since The Corner of His Eye, and I am glad I broke my rules of not starting the middle of a series, as this read made me want the rest. The protagonist Odd Thomas, is somewhere between the Ghost Whisperer and the old western Paladin. Koontz has some quirks that on the one hand I don't like. For instance, every few pages has a large blank spot, so you don't get a lot of reading for the amount of pages, but on the other hand, it makes for perfect reading on a plane trip or for break-room reading. Koontz isn't a gritty mystery writer like LeHane, but he writes in a way that you can feel comfortable sharing with anyone, but more to the point, he writes about supernatural suspense, without making you feel dirty or evil, and frankly for my part, he is just a much better writer than say Stephen King, and he always helps me reach a personal goal of finding a memorable quote for each book I read. It isn't all gems but there are certainly great gems to be found. 3 ¾ * Great fun for what it is!

Reviews

So Koontz has basically run out of ideas so is starting to recycle old material. Sadly, this recycling process produces unbelievable characters and situations. Here's an example: Let's say you're sleeping peacefully and someone you know breaks into your house and Taser's you. What would a normal person do? Call the police maybe? What would a rich bestselling author do? Maybe call the police, hire 24 hour security/bodyguards, hold a press conference and finger the guy? Yep sounds reasonable. What does the character in this book do? He jokes with his wife, makes up reasons why he shouldn't call the police, makes breakfast for his kid, oh and packs for an road trip to think about what to do. Huh? Come on Koontz, I'll accept characters with super powers but not characters that act like morons. As the plot develops the silliness just increases but really the worst part is the dialogue and the nonstop joking in the face of life threatening situations. The end comes way too fast, is the typical Koontz let-down, and just kinda ends with no explanation of anything. If you want to read a real thriller read "Intensity", not this garbage.

Too confusing to me. Seemed like it wanted to be witty, clever, funny at times but then it turns serious, action like at others, then throw in sci fiction and you end up with a mess. just didnt seem to come from an author as famous at Koontz. i wonder if it was an up and comer, no name author if it ever would have been published. i really wanted to like it but it just did not deliver. And the ending, wow talk about rushed and over, bam. Seemed like a lot of work for this family then bam, throw in some science fiction and bam its a magical, mystical ending. Never new much about the bad guy Waxx, seemed to stiff, no good back ground of a evil character. It was all silly with a family that had a goofy sense of humor. Oh well, better luck next time.

Even the tagline on the front of the novel sounds kind of uncertain - seems like Dean has read a bad review and this book - which tells the story of an evil book critic who hunts down a wonderful writer and his family - is intended to be his revenge. It is a disaster on every level - self-indulgent, meandering, with unbelievable characters and a disappointing 'deus ex machina' ending which totally negates any suspense or shred of credibility the story might have had up to this point. The hero and his family are not remotely credible and the villain, Sherman Waxx is no Hannibal Lector. In fact he is virtually nothing at all - he is given no credible backstory, motivation or dialogue and by the time we get to the dreary ending he is about as scary as a cardboard cutout. It doesn't help that anytime the story seems in danger of becoming scary or suspenseful, Koontz blows it all by shifting gear into some heavy-handed 'why oh why' moralising (I think he has forgotten that his hero is a young man in his 30s, not some grumpy old curmudgeon), or we switch to more idiotic banter between the husband/wife and kid, who act more as if they were on a happy family trip than fleeing from a mad killer. Despite Koontz feeding us some truly harrowing tales of torture and murder it never feels like there is really anything at stake for this family, who in reality would not survive for five minutes if they were being hunted down. They never do anything remotely sensible like call the police or even take refuge with Penny's survivalist parents, preferring instead to make themselves easy targets by touring the countryside looking for other victims of Waxx. (The idiotic Cubby even seems surprised when Penny insists at one point that they all stick together despite having been told of Waxx's almost supernatural ability to whisk away family members as soon as an fellow victim's back is turned.) In fact the only thing that saves them from certain doom is the super-inventing powers of their child prodigy son - which have been fairly heavily hinted at but turn out to surpass all expectations (and don't get me started on the teleporting dog!) As others have said - no way would this book be published at all if it had been by a unknown author. At best it reads like a first draft which needs some heavy editing and a complete rewrite of the ending. Koontz needs to realise that some of harshest criticism comes not from some sinister group who have set out to suppress life-enhancing art but from former fans who spent their money on what they hoped would be a good scary book but turned out instead to be a piece of self-indulgent twaddle!

What's happening with the good writers? Where's the plot? Where's the writer's wit? This book could be written in about 250 pages! What a waste.

My friend recommended this one to me since she's a big Dean Koontz fan and I'm not. She said this was Koontz at his best. So I figured I give it a try through an audio CD. This was my first audio book and I was not disappointed. I listened through in just a few days and even my hubby was anxious for the ending. Cubby, his wife Pennie, and their prodigy son Milo, and their magical dog Lassie are running for their lives when a psychotic book critic threatens their lives. But the conspiracy seems to go even farther up the chain than first realized and they are determined to put an end to it one way or another. The storyline is a bit unbelievable with government conspiracies, magical dogs, and a too-genius son. But it's fun and entertaining. But not enough to make me a huge Dean Koontz fan.

Reviews

I read this book and Darkest Evening of the Year just a few weeks apart from each other and felt they both had the same downfall. Dean Koontz spends so much time developing his characters and the story that he seems to run out of steam when it comes time to wrap things up. The ending came across as very anticlimatic to me with too many loose ends.

This is the last Dean Koontz book we will read. The plot was long, drawn out, and turned out to be an excuse to go on some feeble tirade against evolution. Has he bothered to familiarize himself with science at all? What's next, Kirk Cameron's croco-duck? Man, he used to write pretty good novels. it's just been a nose dive to the bottom lately. Never again. Not even if someone gives me his next one for free. I would rather do something more intellectually stimulating with my time. Like look at pictures of lolcats. My favorite part - when the mathematician "disproves" evolution. And then says evolutionists hate mathematicians. I don't hate mathematicians. Just idiotic authors. So now I will disprove chaos theory using cell biology and the Dean Koontz (tm) method. See, the existence of cells which aren't randomly affected by small events which amplify over time completely disproves mathematics, especially chaos theory. This is why mathematicians hate biologists. Or at least why rational people hate muddled thinking.

This was a really good book! It was well written, I read it every chance I had!!! I was sorry I read it so fast but enjoyed it enough to re-read it. It has a little bit of everything that makes up a great mystery.

If you enjoyed One Door Away from Heaven or The Taking, you will probably enjoy this slower paced Koontz novel. If however, his novels like "The Husband," "The Good Guy" or "Intensity" and "Relentless" are your favorite Koontz novels, you will most likely hate this one. This contains the standard Koontz themes: Good is stronger than evil Innocence is its own reward Dogs are always good - even sometimes the heroes There is something Good that is powerful out there The government is screwed up Like "One Door Away from Heaven" and "The Taking" as well as many of Koontz's books, the ending is really an "open ending." The book isn't an end in and of itself, but a new beginning into a potential future. Perhaps the best part of the book was the careful way in which Koontz involved probability analysis and chaos theory into the novel. However his development of evil (and the resolution) seemed almost to be a side story to the actual storyline. I give it four stars because I enjoyed the possibilities which were addressed - the whole "what if?" questions I found myself dealing with once the story was done.

If you are a Koontz fan I believe you will be mightily disappointed with this book. I have read a great number of his books that I greatly enjoyed. This book is a mishmash of strange and incongruent themes haphazardly thrown together to make a story.