Have never read Dean Koontz, as popular as he is.  Have also never heard of this "Odd Thomas" series, which features a very young and itinerant fry cook who see ghosts and has a mishmash of other psychic powers. There are several of these Odd Thomas books, and I accidentally ordered one toward the end rather than the first one.  It worked out.  It was a super cool book and, of course, odd.

I think Charlaine Harris stole the format of this series for her Sookie storyline, but I doubt she got anywhere near what made this book so much fun and near impossible to put down: Odd Thomas's observations and reveries about everything that happens around him.  The odd (so odd, the way Odd has conversations with people that never quite intersect what they say in return, the way Odd  really is so alone with only his thoughts) story serves as a plate for the main course: what is running through Odd's mind.      

Some bites of what is in there:

"Every talent is unearned, however, and with it comes a solemn obligation to use it as fully and as wisely as possible.  If I didn't believe in the miraculous nature of talent and in the sacred duty of the recipient, by now I would have gone so insane that I'd qualify for numerous high government positions."

"Anyway, the dead can be even more frustrating to deal with than are many of the living, which is astonishing when you consider that it's the living who run the Department of Motor Vehicles." 

"But you can't  stand an idea up against a wall and shoot it."


Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable.  Terrifically written.  His first name is really Odd, too.  I don't know about Dean Koontz's other stories, but I think I would really enjoy reading more Odd Thomas stories.  

Lessons for Writers: In reality, we ourselves keep a running commentary of what is happening around us.  Perhaps this reaction and involvement with the story by a character is too often forgotten in writing.  We remember to write down reactions only in the most rudimentary way, but not the way we really think about things.  It's magical almost.  And odd!

And lest we forget, Dean Koontz owns airport books sales.  

I just finished Susan Ee's last book in her Penryn trilogy.  During this Fantasy Reading List, I've read many books that are parts of series, but few of those series have drawn me in enough to command me to read the others: they are in fact only John Crowley's Aegypt series, David Gemmel's Troy series, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and this snarky, frightening Apocalyptic series by self-published author, Susan Ee, who just released this last book in May.

I loved Angelfall.  I loved World After. 

I liked End of Days.

The heroine Penryn and all her companions return in this last book.  I read this book in two days, and there were lots of new monsters, lots of "Oh, no, you didn't!" moments, and new emotional territory for Penryn that was more precarious than her surroundings.  But...

But this longer book felt like it didn't have quite enough content to fill it, which is odd, given its lush-for-description Apocalyptic theme.  The plague that could be contracted immediately just by being in the vicinity of the carrier also threw my toxicology-and-epidemiology-sense for a loop.  And the ending is very, very pat, wrapped up, and happy, which is also odd, given the lush-for-sorrow theme.

Lessons for writers:  I know a certain format is expected of stories, especially to get published these days, but I don't think it should force your themes to go against themselves.


But I would certainly read more from Susan Ee.