Saturday, September 25, 2010

Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

Grieving the loss of his fiancee ,Stormie, killed during the climax the previous novel. Odd Thomas returns a year older later, now 21 he feels almost ancient and more rueful than ever about his gift for seeing ghosts. Elvis is still around and seems more morose than ever.

Early one morning Odd is awakened by Dr. Wilbur Jessup who appears in his pajamas. Instantly Odd knows that Dr. Jessup is dead and goes to investigate and finds the physician brutally murdered and Danny missing. Dr. Jessup is the stepfather of Danny who is Odd's best friend. Odd tracks Danny and his abductors to an abandoned casino-hotel, closed by an earthquake that killed dozens five years ago.

Quickly Odd discovers that it's a trap. Danny is bait to draw Odd to Datura, a spookily self-absorbed, wealthy porn entrepreneur and New Age nut, who, obsessed with violent death, wants Odd to make ghosts visible to her. He can't, but there are eight ghosts in the casino, one of whom comes in handy when Odd escapes Datura and her two gorillas, rescues and hides Danny, and engages in the protracted, lethal game of cat-and-mouse that changes everything for Odd.

I'm intrigued by how Koontz is developing the Odd Thomas storyline and curious to see how the future books develop.