Odd Thomas

By Dean Koontz,

Book cover of Odd Thomas

Book description

Meet Odd Thomas, the unassuming young hero of Dean Koontz’s dazzling New York Times bestseller, a gallant sentinel at the crossroads of life and death who offers up his heart in these pages and will forever capture yours.

“The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try…

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Why read it?

7 authors picked Odd Thomas as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I adore this character and everything about him. His psychic abilities are portrayed in such an interesting voice. To be able to see the dead but not hear them is a unique concept and one that I feel carries the character to another level of communication.

Odd is generous, kind, giving, and also the outcast in many ways. But he perseveres and does what must be done to keep the dead moving forward and protect the living. His simplistic view to life is something I really wish I had more of. 

He is a character that I think we can…

From Vicki-Ann's list on paranormal books for talking with the dead.

In this debut novel Odd Thomas, the title character is an engaging 20-year-old fry cook living in the small town of Pico Mundo, CA. 
Odd Thomas is an ordinary guy, except that he sees dead people. They seek him out. They do not speak, but they communicate with Odd telepathically, frequently leading him to their killers. He is a reluctant hero determined to do the right thing in a world full of wrongs. He’s a character that you wish good things for. Guided by love for his soul-mate girlfriend and dead souls, he fights evil, against all odds.

This…

I was recommended this book by someone who compared it to my writing style. “Koontz’s writing in Odd Thomas has a similar tone to your writing,” said the book recommender. To be even slightly compared to a novelist great like Dean Koontz, clearly I ordered the book and devoured it immediately. An easy, exciting, and fun read, Odd Thomas merges dry humor with a loveable, ordinary protagonist who speaks with the dead. It’s insanely cryptic—aka a page-turner—as well as brings abstract elements together in a simple manner, something I’d like to think that I do in my writing. This book…

Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

By Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

Book cover of Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

Patrick G. Cox Author Of Ned Farrier Master Mariner: Call of the Cape

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

On the expertise I claim only a deep interest in history, leadership, and social history. After some thirty-six years in the fire and emergency services I can, I think, claim to have seen the best and the worst of human behaviour and condition. History, particularly naval history, has always been one of my interests and the Battle of Jutland is a truly fascinating study in the importance of communication between the leader and every level between him/her and the people performing whatever task is required.  In my own career, on a very much smaller scale, this is a lesson every officer learns very quickly.

Patrick's book list on the Battle of Jutland

What is my book about?

Captain Heron finds himself embroiled in a conflict that threatens to bring down the world order he is sworn to defend when a secretive Consortium seeks to undermine the World Treaty Organisation and the democracies it represents as he oversees the building and commissioning of a new starship.

When the Consortium employs an assassin from the Pantheon, it becomes personal.

Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

By Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

What is this book about?

The year is 2202, and the recently widowed Captain James Heron is appointed to stand by his next command, the starship NECS Vanguard, while she is being built. He and his team soon discover that they are battling the Consortium, a shadowy corporate group that seeks to steal the specs for the ship’s new super weapon. The Consortium hires the Pantheon, a mysterious espionage agency, to do their dirty work as they lay plans to take down the Fleet and gain supreme power on an intergalactic scale. When Pantheon Agent Bast and her team kidnap Felicity Rowanberg, a Fleet agent…


I've always been a fan of Dean Koontz novels, but the story Odd Thomas took it to a whole new level. I've read thousands of books, but I think Odd Thomas is still the most quirky and likable character I've ever come across. Who knew a short-order fry cook in a small town in the USA could get into so much trouble? The story itself is compelling and Koontz has such a way with words that I was captivated with Odd from the very first page of this thriller. I didn't see the end of the story coming, and I…

From Trevor's list on characters I can’t forget.

Dean Koontz creates a hugely likeable hero in Odd Thomas. Assisted by the silent souls of the dead, that only he can see, Odd Thomas races against time to fight evil, where past and present converge. This book and the ones that follow it are hugely engaging because of the sweetness of Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz's humor, and because of its good versus evil race against catastrophe. Buckle your seatbelt and dive into the world of Odd Thomas. You won’t be disappointed.

I stumbled across the movie version of Odd Thomas a few years after I wrote Restless Spirits, and while I was in the middle of writing the follow-up books in that series, and I was immediately struck by the similarities. So much so that I tracked down the book and quickly devoured it. Like my protagonist Chris Wilson, Odd Thomas has the unfortunate ability to see ghosts, and is frequently haunted by those in need of his assistance, which tends to interfere in his personal life in ways that live up to his unusual first name. Besides being packed…

“The dead don’t talk … I don’t know why.” So begins the wonderful tale of a boy named Odd, who is a master fry cook, his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, dead Elvis, and a gathering, otherworldly evil that is about to invade California. I adore Koontz and I’ve read the first installment of the Odd series several times. Now that I know the crazy twist at the end, you’d think I would get bored or not cry … that is not the case.

From Melyssa's list on killer plot twists.

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