What can I say? It's Odd on another adventure. :-) ( )

This is the last of the Odd series in my possession and I thought for some reason that it was the final volume, but having read it I see that is not the case. The one I read before this was 'Brother Odd' so this was quite a departure as it dropped straight into Odd's vaguely threatening situation in a way that made me think some back story must have been established in a previous book. Only as it went on did I realise this was just the author's way of confusing the reader for no real point.

Odd Thomas is staying at a grand house within a gated community, owned by a rich recluse. Only slowly does it become more obvious what is really going on, but the initial strange event is that Odd keeps encountering the spirit of a murdered woman on her spirit horse. As before, spirits cannot speak so she can only convey limited information to him, but it appears that there is a boy locked away in the house who is in great danger. The various servants about the estate are all peculiar in some way, and it is also strange that Odd and his companion Annamarie, who I gathered was a character who had joined him on his travels in the previous book, have been invited to stay by the owner.

Odd feels a sense of evil about the house and feels he has been drawn there to help the boy. He starts to experience weird timeslips where it appears that some apocalyptic future is intruding into the present and those sequences are genuinely creepy, especially the one where he has to lock himself in a storage bin in the barn to try to hide from unseen but ravenous creatures. The creatures are eventually revealed and at that point they lost a lot of their menace - they were more scary when they could only be imagined from what Odd could hear and smell.

Unlike previous books he does not see the dark forms which are drawn to the site of impending violent death - rather odd in light of what happens in this book, although maybe the Teslar inspired technology which permeates the property was supposed to be keeping them at bay. At no point however does Odd wonder why he is not seeing these things especially in light of certain horrific discoveries which he makes in his explorations so that for me was an anomaly.

I suppose the ideas introduced about a horrific future may be developed in future books, but having read this one I don't have any interest in continuing the series. I found it annoying that the Annamarie character is just as obtuse and unforthcoming with information to Odd as the cast of minor villains - she seems to have powers of some sort to disarm even serial killers and yet makes deliberately obstructive responses whenever he wants to know what is going on, along the lines that he must find out for himself. This leant the whole book an air of being unnecessarily obscure and unforthcoming - perhaps the author thought, mistakenly, that this would intrigue the reader when it just irritates.

So for all the above reasons, I can only rate this an OK 2 stars.

( )

Koontz delivers another winner based on an amazing character, Odd Thomas. Narration is handled well. Highly recommend entire series in any format

FROM AMAZON: Once presided over by a flamboyant Hollywood mogul during the Roaring ’20s, the magnificent West Coast property known as Roseland is now home to a reclusive billionaire financier and his faithful servants. And, for the moment, it’s also a port in the storm for Odd Thomas and his traveling companion, the inscrutably charming Annamaria.

In the wake of Odd’s most recent clash with lethal adversaries, the opulent manor’s comforts should be welcome. But there’s far more to Roseland than meets even the extraordinary eye of Odd, who soon suspects it may be more hell than haven.

A harrowing taste of Roseland’s terrors convinces Odd that it’s time to hit the road again. Still, the prescient Annamaria insists that they’ve been led there for a reason. Just how deep and dreadful are the mysteries Roseland and her masters have kept for nearly a century? And what consequences await whoever is brave, or mad, enough to confront the most profound breed of evil? Odd only knows. Like his acclaimed creator, the irresistible Odd Thomas is in top-notch form - as he takes on what may well be the most terrifying challenge yet in his curious career. ( )

I love Odd Thomas and really enjoyed this book. He is such an interesting nice character and this book was very interesting. I loved the science stuff in the book. I listened to this on audio and like the narrator also. ( )

I try to express only my most honest opinion in a spoiler-free way. Unfortunately, there is still always a risk of slight spoilers despite my best efforts. If you feel something in my review is a spoiler please let me know. Thank you.

So this book went way off the rails. It was a crazy mix of multiple issues. I love Odd Thomas but this book does not do the series justice at all. Took me forever to get into and even then, just barely. It was also missing one of the best parts, the dialogue. The banter that Odd throws back and forth with others is one of my favorite parts but this book has very little of it. I just feel that the series is not going in the right direction so I'm not looking forward to the next book but maybe it will get better with the next book. I guess I'll find out. ( )