The Unforgettable End Days of Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas

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As fiction heroes go, Odd Thomas is unique. He has no father; born with one foot in the land of the living and one foot in the land of shades, he can speak to the dead, who often come to him for help. Unlike the many horror-novel characters motivated by hatred or revenge, Odd seeks to serve a higher good. Most unusual of all, from the very beginning he’s told the reader how his saga will end: with his own death. Now, in Saint Odd, the seventh and final book in Dean Koontz’s mesmerizing series, Odd’s moment of truth has arrived. Will he achieve his destiny, the purpose for which he was born?

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All roads lead to home
Throughout his travels, Odd has been guided by an inner force, a “psychic magnetism” that tells him where to go. After wandering the American West and helping many souls large and small, he finds himself drawn back to the place it all began: his hometown.
A love that knows no bounds
A tragic mall shooting claimed the life of Odd’s first love, Stormy Llewellyn. Odd has always believed the fortune-teller’s card that said they’d be together forever, but his faith will be sorely tested by what lies between him and his lost love.
Cult of the demon
Dean Koontz is widely considered one of horror’s grand masters, and what makes his work so chilling is that in his stories, more often than not, evil wears an ordinary face. Bloodthirsty cultists who serve a demon named Meridian want to wreak chaos on the world, but (this is the kicker) they look just like you or me. Anyone—the postman delivering mail, the store clerk ringing up lotto tickets and gum—could be a member. It’s enough to make you look twice at your neighbors.
The power of friendship
Luckily, Odd doesn’t have to take on the cult alone. Though few people even suspect its existence, Wyatt Porter, the town’s chief of police, and local writer Ozzie Boone know the truth, and both would follow Odd to the gates of hell itself.
Apocalyptic visions
“No sounds existed now except those I made, as if the outer world had ceased to exist, as though I had become the world entire, isolated and adrift in a void.” Odd has the gift of visions, and one night he dreams of a catastrophic flood, of a dam breached and corpses floating by with their faces frozen in terror. Will he understand the dream in time to stop it from coming true? Then there’s the cache of C-4 explosives that’s gone missing from the local military outpost…
A moral universe
Koontz once told an interviewer he “would never write a story that says life is bleak or meaningless, that paints humanity…as a species beyond redemption.” This, in a nutshell, is the secret of his success. The fact that he DOES care about humanity shows in every line he writes. His characters may suffer unspeakable pain, there may be scenes of nightmare-inducing, Hieronymus Bosch–like horror, but it’s always for a reason. And ultimately, we know, the forces of good will triumph. In today’s cynical world, being able to count on that is a gift.
Fully smooth and blue
Though Odd’s millions of fans will mourn his passing, one thing’s for sure: with Saint Odd Koontz has given him an ending worthy of his remarkable journey.

Fiction