Odd Hours - Hardcover

Koontz, Dean

3.96

47,278 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007267533 ISBN 13: 9780007267538

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2008

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From the mind of Dean Koontz, the 400 million copy worldwide bestseller, comes this supernatural tale of good and evil, and life and death. Find out why Odd Thomas is the master storyteller’s most talked about creation.

Strange times need strange heroes.

Odd Thomas lives always between two worlds. He can see the lingering dead and knows that even in chaos, there is order, purpose, and strange meaning that invites our understanding but often thwarts it.

Intuition has brought Odd Thomas to the quaint town of Magic Beach on the California coast. As he waits to learn why he has been drawn there, he finds work as a cook and assistant to a once-famous film actor who, at eighty has become an eccentric with as long a list of fears as he has stories about Hollywood’s golden days.

Odd is having dreams of a red tide, vague but worrisome. By day he senses a free-floating fear in the air of the town, as if unleashed by the crashing waves. But nothing prepares him for the hard truth of what he will discover as he comes face to face with a form of evil that will test him as never before...

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Review:

There are many reasons why Dean Koontz has managed to remain at the top of the authorial tree for so long (and his sales are the envy of many of his contemporaries). Firstly, of his course, there's his totally assured storytelling skill (something that seemed to arrive fully formed even in his earliest books); his command of a variety of popular genres, from horror to the blockbuster crime novel; and his skill at creating distinctive characters. But -- most of all – it's Koontz's direct contact with his readership - a talent he has few rivals at -- that has assured his popularity.

The Odd Thomas sequence has been one of Dean Koontz's most successful series, with its supernaturally gifted protagonist a strong creation. In Odd Hours, Odd finds himself in Magic Beach, California, an oceanside town. His ability to communicate with the dead is both a blessing and a curse -- and his life is currently in a state of crisis, as he tries to find spiritual peace. He is working as domestic assistant to an elderly film actor -- and part of his job is to listen to lengthy stories of the star's golden past. But Odd is experiencing worrying dreams of a red tide -- and his instincts tell him that something evil is on his horizon. He is not prepared, however, for the magnitude of what he will have to confront.

Koontz admirers will know what to expect here: unsettling, atmospheric prose that exerts a steadily growing grip. Some may be uncomfortable with Koontz taking on the threat of terrorism (is this really his territory?), but aficionados know that he won't let them down. And Odd Hours -- discursive though it is -- is still one for Koontz admirers. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

‘On his day, Koontz can out-King Stephen King’ Daily Sport

Praise for the Odd Thomas series:

‘A blend of humour, humanity and horror, the classic Koontz concoction’ The Times

‘Odd Thomas is a superb character’ Independent

Praise for Dean Koontz:

‘Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler’ The Times

‘Psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying’ New York Times

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