Odd Thomas

by Dean Koontz
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 9 discs
read by David Aaron Baker
genre: paranormal mystery

I'm surprised I haven't already blogged about this book. I listened to it a year or so ago and was impressed. Odd Thomas can see the dead, but few people know about his "gift." The love of his life, Stormy Llewellen(?), and he are unusual people and perfectly compatible.

Interesting story. I re-listened so that I can continue with the other Odd Thomas books (one in my car already and one on hold at the library). Baker voices Odd Thomas well.

 

<Above published 2.2.12. Below added 1.1.24.>

 

I listened to this story again. I don't love the author's / main characters' perception of life after death (with Stormy's description of this life being "boot camp" . . . ) but this is a very creative work of fiction. The "bodocks" (sp?) as evil spirits is very realistic from a Christian perspective! The theological issues I have with the story don't really detract from all the things I like about it.

 

Little Ozzie, Chester his cat, Odd's own sweet strange self . . . I stopped to write down (pausing, going back, etc.) one quotation that jumped out at me.

 

"Guilt and shame have until now kept me silent on this issue. I am old enough even if just twenty to know that I have no logical reason to feel either guilt or shame, that I was the victim, not the victimizer. Yet I've been so long marinated in both emotions that they will forever flavor me."

 

The language here really struck me. Being marinated in guilt and shame . . . made me think of the household I grew up in. I'm not sure my parents even realized how much these tools were used. Of course, Odd's mother was really mentally ill. My parents were just raising us the way they had been raised.

 

I don't plan on continuing with the Odd Thomas series this time. In fact, I may weed out the Odd Thomas books I own (at the lake). There are so very many other books I want to read!