Odd Apocalypse

This was...not good. Maybe Koontz just is no good at writing ongoing series? I don't know, I know there's a trilogy or two out there, maybe those are better. I almost feel bad, as his stand alone stuff is fun and engaging and these Odd books are at best okay and at worst, well, we have Odd Apocalypse.
I've skipped around in the series, so at first I thought the fact that Odd and Annamaria were in a completely unfamiliar setting and kept interacting with characters they knew and it seemed as if I the reader should know was because I had missed some back story from the previous book.
Turns out...nope...just some in media res shit that doesn't work. Just some in media res shit that in practice didn't work. It kind of fed into what I thought show more might be an intentionally weird, confusing, almost dream like, feel to the setting. Again, turns out, nope, just bad writing/narration that only sort of gets explained by the resolution to the story.
Odd's abilities also seem mostly pointless here, and Annamaria just isn't half as mysterious or interesting as Koontz clearly wants her to be. There's a pretty obvious reveal coming, and she's just kind of irritating because of it.
This has pretty much turned me off the rest of the series entirely. show less

This was one of those books where I kept turning the pages not because it was a great page-turner, but because it always verged on the point of being great, but never quite achieved it. It was the same from beginning to end. Very little was explained, and none of the things I needed explained were explained. It was unsatisfactory in that respect. The first three Odd Thomas books were wonderful. This second trilogy is frustrating.

I was undecided between 4 and 5 stars on this one. I was going to take off a star for inconclusive ending and a few minor things that are beginning to bug me about Dean Koontz, but then I'd have to add it back for a very suspenseful plot and memorable characters. So... back to 5 stars. Unlike most people, I liked the previous installment a lot, and this one continues kind of in the same vein. Odd is once again a darker character, and he uses guns in a way I haven't expected from him. Admittedly, spending time in Odd's head, we know he's not entirely comfortable with these new character developments. The ending gets surprisingly tear-jerkey, and considering the character's history, I found this turn welcome rather than manipulative. This show more is a book sure to invite discussion and more speculation as to what's to come. show less

Back on track. I enjoyed this book much more than I did the last Odd Thomas book. It promised and delivered on suspense and brought back some of the humor present in the first three books. It will be nice to read the next in the series to see what transpires with Odd and his two companion's...

Odd’s new friend Annamaria has used her unusual charm to convince the current and reclusive owner of Roseland to allow them an extended stay in the guest-house of his estate. Despite its name there is nary a rose to be found, but there are numerous goings on that can only be described as thorny. Of course with Odd’s ability to see ghosts, the action in this book begins with a ghostly horse and rider. But that is only the tip of the iceberg … throw in some unusual beings, some suspicious architecture, strange inhabitants with even stranger habits, a little science and a bit of history and you have a really good Odd Thomas Book.

Personally, I have found Mr. Koontz (one of my long time favourite authors) to be a bit “hit and miss” show more lately (I really hated 77 Shadow Street) so I was a little apprehensive about picking up the Odd Thomas instalment. I enjoy Odd because he is quirky and, well, odd. As I started reading I could feel myself beginning to cringe as I turned each page because it seemed Odd’s self-deprecating wit and sarcasm had been lost. But I didn’t give up and sure enough, in a perilous scene Odd did a very Odd-like thing and with that I chuckled and we were off to the races. Mr. Koontz had found Odd’s voice again. A definite “should-read” for Odd Thomas fans. show less

This is the last of the Odd series in my possession and I thought for some reason that it was the final volume, but having read it I see that is not the case. The one I read before this was 'Brother Odd' so this was quite a departure as it dropped straight into Odd's vaguely threatening situation in a way that made me think some back story must have been established in a previous book. Only as it went on did I realise this was just the author's way of confusing the reader for no real point.

Odd Thomas is staying at a grand house within a gated community, owned by a rich recluse. Only slowly does it become more obvious what is really going on, but the initial strange event is that Odd keeps encountering the spirit of a murdered woman on show more her spirit horse. As before, spirits cannot speak so she can only convey limited information to him, but it appears that there is a boy locked away in the house who is in great danger. The various servants about the estate are all peculiar in some way, and it is also strange that Odd and his companion Annamarie, who I gathered was a character who had joined him on his travels in the previous book, have been invited to stay by the owner.

Odd feels a sense of evil about the house and feels he has been drawn there to help the boy. He starts to experience weird timeslips where it appears that some apocalyptic future is intruding into the present and those sequences are genuinely creepy, especially the one where he has to lock himself in a storage bin in the barn to try to hide from unseen but ravenous creatures. The creatures are eventually revealed and at that point they lost a lot of their menace - they were more scary when they could only be imagined from what Odd could hear and smell.

Unlike previous books he does not see the dark forms which are drawn to the site of impending violent death - rather odd in light of what happens in this book, although maybe the Teslar inspired technology which permeates the property was supposed to be keeping them at bay. At no point however does Odd wonder why he is not seeing these things especially in light of certain horrific discoveries which he makes in his explorations so that for me was an anomaly.

I suppose the ideas introduced about a horrific future may be developed in future books, but having read this one I don't have any interest in continuing the series. I found it annoying that the Annamarie character is just as obtuse and unforthcoming with information to Odd as the cast of minor villains - she seems to have powers of some sort to disarm even serial killers and yet makes deliberately obstructive responses whenever he wants to know what is going on, along the lines that he must find out for himself. This leant the whole book an air of being unnecessarily obscure and unforthcoming - perhaps the author thought, mistakenly, that this would intrigue the reader when it just irritates.

So for all the above reasons, I can only rate this an OK 2 stars. show less

I had an Odd Thomas marathon this weekend and read both this title and Deeply Odd in the course of two days. I have great affection for "Oddie" and love his unique voice, and Koontz's willingness to address spiritual issues. This one was a bit of a departure because some of the usual weird events were caused by science instead of the supernatural, but there was enough good versus evil and discussion of morality, mortality, and the afterlife to keep it in tune with the rest of the series.

Loved it!