If theres something ODD in your neighbourhood.......wh o you gonna call...? (Forever Odd - Dean Koontz)

Member Name: sparkymarky1973

Product:	Forever Odd - Dean Koontz
Date:	30/07/08 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: okay - not a bad story but nothing amazing or ground-breaking and quite formulaic

Disadvantages: Majorly disappoints after the impact of it's predecessor.,....

FOREVER ODD takes Koontz's best-loved character, from his self-titled debut novel, and gives him a second outing set in the sleepy town of Pico Mundo. It is unusual for Koontz to write a sequel as normally his collected works stand alone but it is not without precedent; previously Koontz has written two back-to-back novels about another character named Jonathan Snow who suffers a rare skin condition that means he can only come out at night.

Odd has his own peculiarity as fans of Koontz will recall; Odd Thomas sees dead people- namely those spirits who linger with something left unresolved, normally their untimely death at the hands of another. Following the events of the last novel in which Odd prevented a full-scale massacre at a local shopping mall at great personal expense to himself, Odd has taken a hiatus from his job as a fry-cook and contemplates another career (perhaps one as a tire salesman?) where he will have no need to think and brood over past events. Then his nightly sleep is broken by the arrival of the newly deceased spirit of Dr.Jessup, a local doctor and the step-father of Odd's best friend, Danny who suffers from brittle bones.

Sensing something is wrong, Odd rushes to Danny's house only to find Danny has been kidnapped and the doctor brutally killed. After being tasered by one of the bad guys responsible, Odd sets off in pursuit using his pyschic magnetism, a skill that draws him to people he wishes to find through the power of thought and focus, but it is a trail that will take him through the storm tunnels of Pico Mundo and beyond to a not-so deserted, derelict casino and someone with a very unhealthy interest in Odd's special talents.

As a sequel, FOREVER is something of a disappointment and you get a real sense that this could easily have been a stand-alone novel with just a few alterations to the plot. In fact there is a feeling that this could've been an old story that Koontz had lying around, not sure what to do with it, not good enough to be released on it's own merits until Koontz adapted it for the character of Odd Thomas with the idea of starting a money-spinning franchise. Certainly it is only the first of five other planned Odd sequels but seeing as we are still waiting for the long-promised third Jonathan Snow book (a series that was always intended to be a trilogy by the author's own admission), it will be interesting to see if we ever get to see the sixth book!!!
So far the series has reached book number 4 with ODD HOURS just being released in hardback.

As a stand-alone novel, this wouldn't have been bad- not his best by a longshot but certainly no turkey but, after the high standards set by the previous book, it was always going to be difficult to write a sequel that could match the powerful, emotional impact of the original ODD THOMAS. This feels like a very different novel, as maybe it should- nobody wants to read a rehash of what they got before- but the whole story is just a little too weak to carry a character as strong and with as much potential as Odd!! There seems to be an awful lot of preamble, an almighty build-up and then, when the climax comes, it is like the anticipation of a storm that turns out to be a few drips and drops before the sun re-emerges. Very little for an awful lot of work!!!

It is a shame because I, like the majority of other Koontz fans no doubt, were expecting so much more when they learnt there was going to be a sequel to their favourite ever Koontz novel. Unfortunately, whilst this is an okay read, it is nowhere near as moving or emotional as it's predecessor and is strictly for real, proper, hard-core Koontz fans only. If you can take him or leave him as an author then you would be best passing this one by.

Summary: ODD sets off on a wild goose chase when his best friend with brittle bones is kidnapped