Odd is back with Crazy thrown in! (Forever Odd - Dean Koontz)

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	Forever Odd - Dean Koontz
Date:	07/10/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Another excellent story of Oddy.

Disadvantages: Nothing

Odd Thomas is back in the second book in this series and this time he faces an adversary that proves to be much harder, physically and mentally than any he has faced before.

His best friend, Danny, who is crippled with a brittle bone disease, has been kidnapped and his step-father brutally murdered in the process. Dr Jessup, Danny's step-father, visits Odd Thomas in the night as a spirit and leads him to the house so he can find his body and the realisation that Danny has been kidnapped.

Odd true to form, cannot let this go and using his "physic magnetism" ends up tracking Danny down to an abandoned hotel room. He is tied to a chair, rigged to a bomb. His captor? Datura, a completely insane, crazy woman who wants to "see" a ghost and believes Odd Thomas can conjure them up for her pleasure. Kidnapping Danny was the only way to get Odd here.

All Odd has to do now is rescue Danny without the bomb going off, kill Datura and her two evil henchmen and get his friend out of the abandoned hotel with both of their lives still intact. Easy?

I was pleased I had aquired all four of the Odd Thomas books before I started to read, as once I had finished the first book I wanted to start this one straight away. Forever Odd was just as exciting in a completely different way, with Odd knowing who his adversary was pretty early in, compared to the first book where he was unsure what and who would cause the problems for him.

An explanation of Odd Thomas is needed I think - he is a regular young man with one exception. He sees dead people wandering around Pico Mundo, the small desert town where he lives, and each is clinging to this life for a reason. As they can't talk, Odd finds it difficult to help them but occasionally, like in the case of Dr Jessup, he can easily figure it out simply by following them and the truth is revealed in all its grisly nature.

This second book was excellent as much as the first, and I particularly liked Datura the evil kidnapping killer in this story. She is completely off her rocker and Koontz gets that state of mind over really well. She comes across as bonkers but with a dangerous edge and a "don't care about anything else" attitude which makes her an excellent character to use.

Odd is again endearing, sweet, kind and determined to rescue his lifelong friend and you really feel for him in some parts of the book, especially at the beginning.

This book had a different edge to it than the first which gave it a fresh feel, something that can be difficult with a series, but we also got enough feedback from the first book to know how things panned out for him. Also for a first time reader who had not read the first book, it was possible to get his history without overloading repeats for the continuation of others.

Overall I really enjoyed this second book, following Odd Thomas as he tried to sort out this latest crazy chapter of his life. Highly recommended although I would definitely read Odd Thomas first as it will heighten the pleasure of this one.

Summary: RECOMMENDED xx -