| Subcategories |
 |
Mystery & Thrillers |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Odd Hours
written by Dean Koontz
Studio : Bantam
by Bantam
Release Date : 2008-05-20
Publisher : Bantam
Released : 2008-05-20
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780553807059
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 158 reviews)
List Price : $27.00
Our Price : $9.85
|
|
| |
|
Product Description |
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.
|
| |
|
Americancivilwar.com |
Americancivilwar Exclusive Essay: Destiny and Odd Hours Odd Thomas came to me as a gift, the entire first chapter of his first book having poured out of me as I was in the middle of writing The Face. I wrote it by hand, though I never work that way, and I never hesitated to think what should come next. He was fully-realized in my mind from the moment I began to write in that lined legal tablet. With other stories and characters, I can identify the source of the inspiration, but not with Oddie and his books. He just suddenly was. When I write about him, his narrative voice is so clear to me that I almost hear him in my head. For those among you who long have thought that I should be institutionalized, just relax: I said I almost hear him. Many times over the years, I said I would never write an open-ended series. Then along came Oddie, and he proved me wrong. Or so I thought. As I wrote the first chapter of Odd Hours, the fourth featuring my fry-cook hero, I realized that this was not an open-ended series, after all, but that it would conclude with six or seven novels. I now think seven. I suddenly saw the end point of his journey, the arc of it to the final book, and I was stunned. Beginning with this fourth story, the stakes were being raised dramatically; Oddie was going to face far more physical and moral danger than previously; and he was going to mature toward the fulfillment of a destiny that I had not seen coming until that moment. Initially, I tried to argue myself out of the direction that Odd Hours was taking. I didn't believe that the first three books had put down a sufficient foundation to support the formidable architecture that I saw rising from it in the next three or four novels. When I began to reread the first three books, however, I quickly discovered that I had unconsciously paved the road that the series was now taking. I had thought I was writing a series with an overall theme about the power and beauty of humility. Indeed I was, but it was also something more than that; and Oddie's ultimate destiny will not be merely purification to a state of absolute humility, but will be that and something else I find quite wonderful. What lies ahead will be a challenge to write--or perhaps not. The character of Odd Thomas was a gift to me, and now I see that the entire architecture of a seven-book series was another gift that came to me complete on the same day Oddie arrived, although I needed time to recognize it. This world is a place of wonder, and life is a mysterious enterprise; but nothing in all my years has been more mysterious than Odd Thomas's origins and my compulsion to write about him. -- Dean Koontz
|
| |
|
| |
|
Absolutely EXQUISITE! |
I cannot begin to say how long I have waited for this FOURTH book (having read the others!) and it was WELL WORTH THE WAIT!
The writing flows, and is darn near poetic! Picturesque and wonderful as a story continues and unfolds pages after page.
I read it in 4 days. As usual Koontz never disappoints!
Should you buy it? OF COURSE! Koontz fans will like it, Odd fans will LOVE it!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!! |
| |
|
Believe the nay-sayers on this one! |
|
While I didn't read all the reviews of this book on Americancivilwar, I agree with the one-star reviews. This was the most disappointing of the Odd series by Koontz. The story, while it did jump right into the action, dragged. There was clearly not enough material here for an entire book. And after all that dragging, the ending is left open with lots of unanswered questions that seem completely irrelevant--the coyotes, the bell, the sewer grate business. And the supporting characters were disappointments--a few of them had potential, like Hutch and the woman who gives Odd the gun--but they were not as well developed as the characters in the first Odd novels. And there are pages and pages of annoying dialogue with Annamaria, the new character who at first seems to have a central role, and then spends the bulk of the novel hiding. I approached this book with a mixture of excitement because I love the Odd character and apprehension because I thought the series might be getting stale, particularly after the third novel, which was well-written but the story was lacking. This one was not well-written nor was the story good. I fear that over the last 3 novels of this series it will just get worse. Read the other one-star reviews; they are not wrong. What a disappointment for a long-time Koontz fan. I gave it 2 stars because there was still some entertainment value, however minimal, being written from Odd's point of view. |
| |
|
Odd Hours_Koontz |
|
If you haven't read the previous Koontz novels with the character of Odd Thomas you might be little lost, although not so much to impact the story of this book. It will make curious to read the others. Odd Thomas is one the best characters developed by Dean Koontz! |
| |
|
Odd Thomas Book 4 of 7 |
How long will Dean Koontz keep dragging Odd Thomas into his novels? When will Odd finally join Stormy on "the other side"? It doesn't look like Koontz is stopping anytime soon. This story ends ready for the next novel to begin.
In Odd Hours, Odd Thomas picks up three more companions that he will be taking with him on his next adventure. These comrades include: Annamaria aka "The Lady of the Bell" (who is the most interesting character in this book), Blossom aka "The Happy Monster" and you guessed it - a golden retriever! These three living companions will join his two traveling ghosts of Frank Sinatra and Boo (the ghost dog).
Aside from the drawn out dock episode in the beginning which really made for a sloooow start to this fourth Odd Thomas story (and reminded me too much of the drawn out chair escape episode in Intensity), Odd hours was a pretty darn good book!
I still favor the third in the series, Brother Odd (Odd Thomas Novels), but Koontz gave us lots of interesting characters in Odd Hours, which makes for a very interesting read.
I loved the refrigerator magnets mentioned in the book as well as "The Hall of What Would Jesus Do?".
Besides having several dogs in his novels, Koontz also is known for adding characters with disabilities. Since my wife was born with Cerebral Palsy and I was born with a Cleft Pallet, I couldn't help but laugh at the following dialogue:
"You've got a one-eyed paraplegic brother"
"Yes, sir. With a learning disability"
"Does he have a harelip too?"
"No, sir"
That is probably not funny to anyone but me, but I've included it for the heck of it!
Outside of the world of Odd Thomas, my other favorite Dean Koontz novels include: By the Light of the Moon, Lightning, Life Expectancy, False Memory, From the Corner of His Eye, Cold Fire and The Bad Place.
|
| |
|
Odd Hours |
I have been a Dean R. Koontz for over twenty years. I have read all but three of his books published after 1975 and a couple prior as well. My first and still favorite is Watchers, with Lightning a close second. I am an avid reader, but I tend to stick with the authors I know and love.
I think I'm done with Mr. Koontz.
If you've read more than two of his books, you begin to notice a pattern. The hero is always the same--flawed and weak but determined. The heroine is fierce and strong, but emotionally scarred from a troubled childhood. The villian, in their many incarnations, are always clean and meticulous, assured in their superiority. The Odd Thomas books are a little different, I will admit that, but some of the differences are not necessarily positive.
Anyway, I've gone through this before with his books, but Odd Hours is slow, boring, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. There is so little happening in this story, yet it's takes approximately 350 pages to tell it? Some would call it suspense, I guess, but to me it was agonizing.
The story didn't catch my interest (and I had the book in my possession for two months by this time) until just before Frank Sinatra took matters into his own hands. PolterFrank kept me going for about twenty pages, then I lost it again. So many of the supporting characters could have been interesting, but they were there so briefly, it didn't matter. I admit, I could have put the book down, but Mr. Koontz is such a habit for me by now: He writes a book, I read it. I used to reread his books, but I don't anymore.
I never felt like Odd was in danger. How could there not be danger when nuclear weapons are involved? Where's that kind of suspense? Even the parts when he had a gun to his head were over so quickly, it didn't matter.
Old habits die hard. I finished the book. I am satisfied. I have to say, the only way I did finish it was to read only the first sentence of every paragraph. If it got interesting (two or three places), I would read more. This may be hard to believe, but it makes me sad that it's come to this.
I will always respect Dean R. Koontz. I still hope that they'll make a movie out of Lightning and Twilight Eyes someday. (Two movies for Twilight Eyes to do it justice.) I really do love a lot of his books and I would highly recommend Watchers, Lightning, Strangers, Twilight Eyes, Whispers, and Cold Fire. |
| |
|
|
|
