Dean Koontz ‘Saint Odd’ Review

Written by: Wayne C. Rogers

Saint Odd by Dean Koontz is the newest “Odd Thomas” novel to appear.  It is also the last one in the series.  This book is supposed to end Odd’s journey and reunite him with his former girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn.  I suspect that like myself, there are thousands of other readers out there who don’t want to see Odd Thomas die after spending a decade with him.  To put it bluntly, Oddie is simply too good of a character to kill off.

You’re going to have to read the book to find out what happens at the end.

But here’s a warm up to the countdown.

Odd Thomas knows he’s destined to return to Pico Mundo, the small California town where it all began two years before.  With his psychic abilities, Odd knows that something terrible will happen in the town, making the previous massacre at its mall seem like child’s play.  What will happen is anybody’s guess.

Odd, however, knows who will do it.

In one of the previous novels, Odd Thomas had to fight a cult of Satan worshippers who sacrificed children to the evil entity.  The thing about Satanist is that they never forget a slap in the face and will seek revenge for however long it takes to achieve it.

Such is the case with the Odd one.

From the moment he hits the road to Pico Mundo, Odd is besieged with Satanists attempting to kill him.  He barely escapes with life while out on the highway, and then encounters more at the empty, desolate Green Moon Mall in his hometown where he lost Stormy on that faithful day.

But these encounters are just the tip of the iceberg.  Odd knows that something big is planned for his town, and he has to find out what it is before the event happens.  Needless to say, it’s a countdown to the finish as Edie Fischer and the good guys trying to help Odd Thomas work his way to the goal as much as possible.  But in the end, it’s really about him, the Satanists, and his destiny.

Mr. Koontz certainly keeps the reader guessing right to the end and then throws in a nice twist that offers somewhat of a resolution for his many “Odd Thomas” fans.

I have to admit to also watching the movie, Odd Thomas, with Anton Yelchin as Odd and Addison Timlin at Stormy Llewellyn and Willem Dafoe as Sheriff Porter.  They played the characters in the movie so true to life that I now see their faces when referring to Odd Thomas, or Stormy, or Sheriff Porter.  They helped to bring the novel even more alive to me and to prepare me for the final ending.

Saint Odd by Dean Koontz may be the last novel in the series, but it was definitely the journey and not the eventual destination that made everything so wonderful and carried a young, sincere fry cook from beginning to end, to hell and back, inviting all of us to travel with him in regards to his battles between good and evil.

A great read for the fans of Odd Thomas and highly recommended!

Order it here.

Rating: 5/5