‘Odd' adventures keep coming FICTION
'Odd' adventures keep coming

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Published: June 15, 2008

Dean Koontz's "Odd Hours” (Random House, $27) is the author's fourth novel about a fry cook named Odd Thomas, whose ability to communicate with the dead comes with added responsibility to meet challenges presented by international smugglers.

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Thomas' storied reputation began in the town of Pico Mundo, Calif., among a circle of select friends, such as deceased Elvis Presley. He is accompanied in this story by the ghost of Frank Sinatra and his dog Boo. Odd Thomas is haunted by persistent dreams of an all-encompassing red tide tsunami, ending all civilization.

He is drawn to a small California town called Magic Beach. There he meets a mysterious young pregnant woman, Annamaria, while walking on the fishing pier. Together, they encounter a trio of thugs, a Cro-Magnon type and two red-haired brothers, intent on mischief.

The woman escapes, and Thomas fights his way to freedom, ending in a church where he is befriended by the Rev. Moran. While they feed his dog, the police come, and Odd Thomas is arrested by the local police chief, Hoss Shackett, to be shackled in the dungeon torture chamber below the jail.

He escapes with the aid of ghostly antics by his friend, Sinatra. They discover a secret plan for imports that starts them on an adventure whose stakes are the highest imaginable for the human race. The adventure ends on a tugboat off the coast of California.

Odd Thomas is grappling with the reality of a veil separating him from his dead soul-mate and a former otherworldly sidekick, Presley. He only longs to return to a quiet life of anonymity, but his gifts come with the responsibility of meeting greater challenges.

Koontz handles his sequential hero with intelligent humor and references to Shakespeare, making him a memorable character as he tells of great mysteries of this world and the next. Koontz's writing will spur readers' imagination long into the future.

Koontz, the author of many best-sellers, lives with his wife, Gerda, and their golden retriever, Trixie, in Southern California.

— Russ Long