Commanded to By a 400 LB. Man With 6 Fingers

Odd Thomas, an unordinary fry cook at the local diner, tells his story in a first person narration full of wit and whimsy. Scattering us here and there with his thoughts, while dealing with dead people and impending evil, he takes us on a ride through his home town of Pico Mundo that no one will envy.

Odd's most famous non-living friend is Elvis Presley. Elvis drops in to see Odd at his one room apartment, now and then, to listen to his music. Most of Odd's ghostly friends are there for a purpose, though. For instance, Penny Kallisto, a 12 year old girl that had been strangled, shows up to point Odd towards her killer.

Odd has plenty of living friends, also. P. Oswald Boone (Little Ozzie) is his 400 lb, six-fingered, literary friend that commands Odd to write this book. Chief of Police Porter and his wife, Karla, are the parents Odd wished he had. His boss and mentor, Terri Stambaugh, lends a hand to Odd, whether it's borrowing her car or a shoulder to cry on. Terri is, also, an authority on Elvis's life. All know, to some extent, of Odd's capabilities. None know as much as Bronwen "Stormy" Llewellyn, the woman Odd is destined to be with. How do they know they are destined to be together? Because a gypsy mummy told them so.

Little Ozzie told Odd to keep this book "lighthearted." When racing against the clock to stop impending disaster and loss of life, Odd isn't always able to do so. He's not sure what will happen, but with the presence of so many "bodachs", Odd is positive something will happen. (Bodach: shadowy figures that appear to Odd before violent multiple deaths occur)

Odd wades into the midst of the paranormal and real terror to find that the greatest threat of all...comes from those that should be trusted. Racing against time, Odd uses every resource and capability available to him to try and stop the death of the townspeople, his friends, himself and the one he is destined to be with, Stormy.

Possibly...
Odd Thomas is my favorite Dean Koontz story. I'm in the process of re-reading all of my Koontz books, but this is the one that can get me to chuckle, shed a tear and give me goosebumps. Odd's whimsical way of drifting off on a tangent brings quite a bit of humor to the story, but it, also, brings a few moments of "ok, get back to the main plot".

This book could have gone wrong with telling the story of Penny Kallisto. Koontz spins this possible misstep into a vision of how happy the young girl is where she's at. I didn't get the feeling of "put the book down and read no further" as I usually do with something in the storyline like this.

When a visitor to my home spies my collection of Koontz books, they, invariably, ask which one I would suggest they try. I give them Odd Thomas to start out with. No one has brought the book back without asking to borrow another one.

This book has something for everyone; paranormal, good vs. evil, dysfunctional family, murder, mayhem, great friends and love. If you only read one Dean Koontz book in your life...pick this one.

More Dean Koontz
Brother Odd
Phantoms
Darkfall
The Face of Fear