Odd Hours (Odd Thomas #4) by Dean Koontz

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Poor Odd. The things that he has to go through. It amazes me that the Odd books take place over such a short period of time. This book covers about 7 hours in one night of Odd's strange life.

I love Odd. The way that he looks at the world with a sense of humor no matter what he is facing. The conversations that he has with people who are intent on killing him. The friends that he makes along the way on his journey of life. The vulnerable side of him that is forced to face and deal with the things that he has to do in order to save the world.

We meet some interesting new characters in this book and I am curious to see where Koontz is going to go with the series. Is Odd going to be stuck in a cycle of constantly having to save the world or are we going to eventually get to see him earn his reward and somehow be reunited with his girl?



Only a handful of fictional characters are recognized by first name alone. Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas is one of those rare literary heroes who have come alive in readers’ imaginations as he explores the greatest mysteries of this world and the next with his inimitable wit, heart, and quiet gallantry. Now Koontz follows Odd as he is irresistibly drawn onward to a destiny he cannot imagine and to undreamed of places where the perils he will face and the stakes for which he fights will eclipse all that he has known.

The legend began in the obscure little town of Pico Mundo. A fry cook named Odd was rumored to have the extraordinary ability to communicate with the dead. Through tragedy and triumph, exhilaration and heartbreak, word of Odd Thomas’s gifts filtered far beyond Pico Mundo, attracting unforgettable new friends—and enemies of implacable evil. With great gifts comes the responsibility to meet great challenges. But no mere human being was ever meant to face the darkness that now stalks the world—not even one as oddly special as Odd Thomas.

After grappling with the very essence of reality itself, after finding the veil that separates him from his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, tantalizingly thin yet impenetrable, Odd longed only to return to a life of quiet anonymity with his two otherworldly sidekicks—his dog Boo and a new companion, one of the few who might rival his old pal Elvis. But a true hero, however humble, must persevere. Haunted by dreams of an all-encompassing red tide, Odd is pulled inexorably to the sea, to a small California coastal town where nothing is as it seems. Now the forces arrayed against him have both official sanction and an infinitely more sinister authority…and in this dark night of the soul dawn will come only after the most shattering revelations of all.

Burnishing Dean Koontz’s stature as a master of suspense and one of our most innovative and gifted storytellers, Odd Hours illuminates a legacy of mystery and hope that will shine on long after the final page.

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The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

Synopsis
With each of his #1 New York Times bestsellers, Dean Koontz has displayed an unparalleled ability to entertain and enlighten readers with novels that capture the essence of our times even as they bring us to the edge of our seats. Now he delivers a heart-gripping tour de force he’s been waiting years to write, at once a love story, a thrilling adventure, and a masterwork of suspense that redefines the boundaries of primal fear—and of enduring devotion.
Amy Redwing has dedicated her life to the southern California organization she founded to rescue abandoned and endangered golden retrievers. Among dog lovers, she’s a legend for the risks she’ll take to save an animal from abuse. Among her friends, Amy’s heedless devotion is often cause for concern. To widower Brian McCarthy, whose commitment she can’t allow herself to return, Amy’s behavior is far more puzzling and hides a shattering secret.
No one is surprised when Amy risks her life to save Nickie, nor when she takes the female golden into her home. The bond between Amy and Nickie is immediate and uncanny. Even her two other goldens, Fred and Ethel, recognize Nickie as special, a natural alpha. But the instant joy Nickie brings is shadowed by a series of eerie incidents. An ominous stranger. A mysterious home invasion.
And the unmistakable sense that someone is watching Amy’s every move and that, whoever it is, he’s not alone.
Someone has come back to turn Amy into the desperate, hunted creature she’s always been there to save. But now there’s no one to save Amy and those she loves. From its breathtaking opening scene to its shocking climax,The Darkest Evening of the Year is Dean Koontz at his finest, a transcendent thriller certain to have readers turning pages until dawn.
From the Hardcover edition.

Annotation
Dear Reader,

The Darkest Evening of the Year is meant to be (but you'll be the judge) an edge-of-the-seat, funny, uplifting novel about dogs and the wonderful people who rescue dogs that have been abused or abandoned. It's about an exceptional woman, Amy Redwing, and a mysterious golden retriever, Nickie, who go on a magical journey through some dark territory that will require all the courage and all the faith in each other they can muster. I hope you'll think I've done dogs proud, because I've known few human beings who can match the goodness of the average dog!
--Dean Koontz


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This was a totally enjoyable read. I love Koontz but have been a bit disappointed in his last few books. This one was not disappointing! He has gone back to his supernatural twist and this book was great. The seemingly unrelated events that we follow lead to a very interesting climax, that while it is not totally a surprise, is interesting when it comes together.

#65 The Good Guy by Dean Koontz

From the Publisher
Timothy Carrier, having a beer after work at his friend’s tavern, enjoys drawing eccentric customers into amusing conversations. But the jittery man who sits next to him tonight has mistaken Tim for someone very different—and passes to him a manila envelope full of cash.

“Ten thousand now. You get the rest when she’s gone.”

The stranger walks out, leaving a photo of the pretty woman marked for death, and her address. But things are about to get worse. In minutes another stranger sits next to Tim. This one is a cold-blooded killer who believes Tim is the man who has hired him.

Thinking fast, Tim says, “I’ve had a change of heart. You get ten thousand—for doing nothing. Call it a no-kill fee.” He keeps the photo and gives the money to the hired killer. And when Tim secretly follows the man out of the tavern, he gets a further shock: the hired killer is a cop.

Suddenly, Tim Carrier, an ordinary guy, is at the center of a mystery of extraordinary proportions, the one man who can save an innocent life and stop a killer far more powerful than any cop…and as relentless as evil incarnate. But first Tim must discover within himself the capacity for selflessness, endurance, and courage that can turn even an ordinary man into a hero, inner resources that will transform his idea of who he is and what it takes to be The Good Guy.

My Opinion
This was another book in a string of books by Koontz that tends to follow the same path. Reminiscent of ‘The Husband’ this book is about a man, who is unknowingly dragged into a circumstance that he would rahter have no part of but handles brilliantly. Tim Carrier is just another guy having a drink in a friend’s bar when he is approached by a man and mistakenly identified as a hit-man. Then a few moments later as he is trying to digest what is has just happened to him, he is mistakenly identified by the real hit-man as the person who has contacted him about a job. This sets Tim on a path of intrigue and danger that a normal mason would be ill equipped to handle. But then Tim is so much more than he appears to be at first glance.

I like how Koontz introduced us to the main characters with very little information about them, and throughout the book adds a few more details at a time, until finally we see who Tim and Linda really are. I enjoyed the book and really liked the way that everything was tied together in the end.

An enjoyable read, by one of my favorite authors, even if he does seem to have mellowed a bit with age. I enjoyed his earlier books that had elements of supernatural, but these books recently, that are basically thrillers, are okay.

#64 -- Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

From the Publisher
Loop me in, odd one. The words, spoken in the deep of night by a sleeping child, chill the young man watching over her. For this was a favorite phrase of Stormy Llewellyn, his lost love, and Stormy is dead, gone forever from this world. In the haunted halls of the isolated monastery where he had sought peace, Odd Thomas is stalking spirits of an infinitely darker nature

Through two New York Times bestselling novels Odd Thomas has established himself as one of the most beloved and unique fictional heroes of our time. Now, wielding all the power and magic of a master storyteller at the pinnacle of his craft, Dean Koontz follows Odd into a singular new world where he hopes to make a fresh beginning—but where he will meet an adversary as old and inexorable as time itself.

St. Bartholomew’s Abbey sits in majestic solitude amid the wild peaks of California’s high Sierra, a haven for children otherwise abandoned, and a sanctuary for those seeking insight. Odd Thomas has come here to learn to live fully again, and among the eccentric monks, their other guests, and the nuns and young students of the attached convent school, he has begun to find his way. The silent spirits of the dead who visited him in his earlier life are mercifully absent, save for the bell-ringing Brother Constantine and Odd’s steady companion, the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

But trouble has a way of finding Odd Thomas, and it slinks back onto his path in the form of the sinister bodachs he has met previously, the black shades who herald death and disaster, and who come late one December night to hover above the abbey’s most precious charges. For Odd is about toface an enemy who eclipses any he has yet encountered, as he embarks on a journey of mystery, wonder, and sheer suspense that surpasses all that has come before.

My Opinion
I liked this story of Odd Thomas better than the last book. I really enjoy Odd's personality. He is a humble hero, with a wonderful, yet simple, sense of humor. I love the way he interacts with people as well as with the spirits of those who are attracted to him after death.

A lot of this book is about his interaction with the residents, the nuns, brothers, children, guests, and spirits at the Sanctuary where he has retreated after his horrible experiences in the last book. While he is trying to shelter in this out of reach world, he again encounters the horrible bodachs that always fortell of tragedy, suffering and death. He has to try to figure out what is coming and how to stop it. With the help of a few trusted and quite memorable characters, Odd find himself once again in the role of a savior and hero.

The ending of the book makes it quite clear that Koontz is not finished telling us about the adventures of Odd Thomas and I for one look forward to more of Odd's tales.