Brother Odd (Odd Thomas Novels) [Paperback]

Dean Koontz (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 28, 2008 | Series: Odd Thomas Novels

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. . . .Brother Odd.

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rarely has a character been so instantly embraced by readers as Koontz's unlikely hero, Odd Thomas, the wise and gentle fry cook, who just happens to see dead people. It is just as rare for a narrator to so perfectly capture the essence of a character that it is hard to imagine anyone else giving him voice, but such is the case with Baker. In this third adventure, Odd has left his hometown and taken up residence in a monastery high in the Sierras. Surrounded by loving but eccentric brothers and sisters, Odd hopes to rest and recover from the horrific events of the last two books. But after he discovers the body of one of the monastery brothers, Odd finds himself going up against a supernatural force that threatens the lives of everyone who lives within the monastery walls. Baker beautifully interprets the first-person narration. Like Odd himself, Baker's delivery is mellow and low key, perfectly fitting Odd's calm, self-possessed point of view. Suspenseful, funny and heartbreakingly sweet, this is a fine, enjoyable production.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The third adventure of Odd Thomas, the boy (well, he's 21, but still . . .) who sees ghosts, has a lighter feel to it than the gruelingly suspenseful Forever Odd(2005) and the funny and moving Odd Thomas (2003). It's reminiscent of a sunny monster-movie sequel--say, Son of Frankenstein--in which stock characters do their shtick with a wink and a nod: "Dontcha just love us?" In this case, yes, we do. Odd has retreated to a monastery in the Sierra Nevadas that permanently hosts a billionaire physicist in an underground lab. The mogul has given his entire fortune to support the monastery and attached convent in their work of housing and educating severely damaged children, the most interesting of which is now a 25-year-old artistic savant. As the story opens, bodachs--animated shadows that gather in anticipation of lethal violence, which only Odd among the living sees--are invading the children's quarters. Can Odd mitigate the coming cataclysm? Of course he can, despite the arrival of murderous bone creatures and grim Death itself, for the monks include quite a contingent of reformed martial sinners, most memorably Brother Knuckles, formerly of the New Jersey Mob, and another guest, a mysterious Russian librarian from Indianapolis, who is more and different than Odd thinks he is. Koontz salts Odd's narration with some wonderful zingers at the expense of cultural degeneracy and political folly. A darned good time should be had by all readers. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Reprint edition (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553384589
• ISBN-13: 978-0553384581
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (364 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania where I graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University). When I was a senior in college, I won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and have been writing ever since. My first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where I was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. During my first day on the job, I discovered that the previous occupier of my position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and I was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. I wrote nights and weekends, which I continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, my wife, Gerda, made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "I'll support you for five years," she said, "and if you can't make it as a writer in that time, you'll never make it." By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of my writing career. Gerda and I, along with our dog, Trixie, live in southern California.

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#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

#12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#14 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

#16 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#17 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

#12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#14 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

#16 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#17 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

137 of 142 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Sequel to Odd Thomas December 3, 2006

By Thriller Lover VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Dean Koontz is one of my favorite writers. He has been writing novels for longer than I've been alive (and I'm approaching middle age!). I've read most of Koontz's fifty plus novels, and I'm happy to say that BROTHER ODD is definitely one of the better ones.

BROTHER ODD is the third in a series of novels featuring the character of Odd Thomas, who Koontz introduced to the world in 2003. Many Koontz fans consider the first ODD THOMAS novel to be one of Koontz's best books, perhaps rivaled only by WATCHERS, his 1980s classic.

I personally agree with this assessment. The first ODD THOMAS was a true masterpiece of popular fiction. It is a remarkably well done novel with a highly imaginative plot and fully-drawn characters. Odd Thomas, the title character, is a enormously likable young man from the small town of Pico Mundo who has the uncanny power to see the lingering dead. He is probably my favorite Koontz character of all time. If you have not read ODD THOMAS, I strongly recommend that you give it a try; Koontz has received more reader mail about that book than any other novel in his forty year writing career.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of ODD THOMAS, Koontz released a lackluster sequel, FOREVER ODD in 2005. That sequel is considered a major disappointment by most fans, lacking the fine characterization and strong plotline of the first book. I personally found it to be Koontz's worst novel in several years. Needless to say, after reading FOREVER ODD, I was not thrilled to learn that Koontz was planning a third entry in the series.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by BROTHER ODD. This novel is a major return to form for Koontz, and is very similar in tone to the first ODD THOMAS novel. I won't rehash the plot, but it involves Odd retreating to a monastery in response to the events of earlier books. This novel has a much stronger plot than FOREVER ODD, and Koontz has wisely decided to spend more time on creating a brand new set of likable and interesting characters. I found this novel to be a pleasure to read. I especially enjoyed the funny and clever dialogue scenes between Odd and the other (highly eccentric) occupants of the monastery.

This novel isn't perfect, however. My major quibble with BROTHER ODD is that it's far too short. BROTHER ODD had a bit of a rushed quality that I found unfortunate. There are a lot of very interesting characters in this novel, but some of them only last for a few pages or so. Koontz writes two or three books a year now, and as a result his novels are dramatically slimmer than they used to be. A shorter length is fine for a fast-paced suspense novel like VELOCITY or THE HUSBAND; but I think the Odd Thomas books should be longer to allow more room for character growth and development. If Koontz had spent a few more months on this novel, he could have produced another masterpiece in my opinion.

Overall though, BROTHER ODD is a winner. If you read and enjoyed the first ODD THOMAS, you should enjoy this third entry. Highly recommended.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Series, Absolutely Perfect! January 12, 2007

By Marion VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I never, ever read a Dean Koontz novel in my life until a few weeks ago when I stumbled across a review of the first 'Odd Thomas' book. I have now read all three of them and I can say that I have never read a series of books with a recurring character that I have enjoyed this much. I hope and pray that there will be MORE!!!!

Odd Thomas is one of the most loveable, humble, engaging and endearing "people" I know....even if he does see ghosts and is only a lowly fry cook! I came away from the series feeling as if I'd made a quirky, sweet, new friend. The scenes with the ghost of Elvis are both bittersweet, heart-rending and funny as hell.

When I finished this book, I was crying my eyes out and my husband walked in shaking his head and said, "I don't think I've ever seen a person crying over a Dean Koontz novel!" I won't give away what made me cry, but it was joyous, poignant, moving and heartrending. I read it again later and cried again.

This is a fabulous, different, enjoyable series and a must-read if you like fabulous characters.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Forever Odd November 29, 2006

By Samer T Ismail

Format:Hardcover

If you look at my review for "Forever Odd," you'll find that I was a bit unimpressed by it--although that was, in large part, because of the high hopes the first book had set. [A word of warning, by the way: if you haven't read "Odd Thomas" and "Forever Odd," you may want to read them first, as this book gives away a lot of details from those books--especially the former.]

This third book in the Odd series sets the bar higher, and does so from the very first chapters. Even if you haven't read the first two books in the series, it's pretty clear that some terrible things are about to happen--and yet it took me a very long time to figure out what those things were, and why they were about to happen. And even before those terrible things unfold, there are some truly nightmarish scenes (it reminded me of "The Taking"). Amazingly, though, Koontz managed to keep some surprises even for the very last chapter (which may not be the end of the series).

My only complaint with the book is that Koontz trots out some of the same arguments he's been making for years (for example, there's one rant that could have been lifted verbatim from "One Door Away from Heaven"). But even that doesn't really detract from the novel: Koontz brings the monastery to life while simultaneously crafting the spookiest book he's written in quite some time.

If you're a fan of Koontz or Odd, you won't be disappointed.