Resumo de Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas (a novel by Dean Koontz)
Review by Stacy Taylor

I lead an unusual life. ? Odd Thomas

Odd Thomas is a young man who lives up to the name on his birth certificate, Odd. In a phrase, he communes with the dead, but in additional areas of his life, the name applies just as surely. He is a dedicated short order cook, has dreams of changing his career to employment in a tire store, shares matching birthmarks with his love and soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and his parents are more dysfunctional than many of the guests appearing on various late night talk shows.

Odd Thomas opens on an early August morning in the sweltering town of Pico Mundo, California, Odd?s lifelong home. A young girl, Penny Kallisto, is waiting for Odd outside his apartment, which seems an ordinary enough event, but as they stroll the shaded Pico Mundo sidewalks together, that sense of normalcy evaporates. Penny, through supernatural communication, leads Odd to her murderer. Saddened, Odd must give chase and bring Penny?s killer to justice.

Such is the odd life of Odd Thomas, but on this same blistering southern California day as Odd toils in the kitchen of the Pico Mundo Grill, he senses an awesome danger to his sleepy little town. The new evil comes first in the form of a spooky stranger with a voracious appetite who is trailed through the city by slithering, otherworldly shades.

Odd enlists the aid of his friend, Chief of Police Wyatt Porter, who is sympathetic to Odd, and grateful for his assistance. Thus begins two days of frenzied investigation, the occasional dead body, and ever increasing numbers of death hungry shades.

Through all of Odd?s strange adventures, he remains a calm, reassuring, and whimsical narrator. We readers trust him without hesitation and care about what happens to him and his friends. His genuine kindness is the perfect background upon which to layer the evil that he battles. Nearly always, Odd?s concern is for those around him?even the dead.

While this novel is rich in plot twists, intrigue, wonder, conflict, horror, and even romance, it is the quirkiness and originality of the people who populate Pico Mundo that make the story work as well as it does. Mr. Koontz has written this book with such skill and care that by the time its readers turn the last page they are regretful that the tale has reached its end.

Originally published in Lost in the Dark webzine, Fall, 2004.

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