Odd Hours

I know that other reviewers loved this book and felt that it was the best of the bunch, but not me. Actually, my favorite was the previous one, Brother Odd. That book was funny with just the right amount of wordplay and action to keep my interest. Then we hit the proverbial wall.

Odd Hours does not seem to have the same dry wit. Odd just seems to be trudging along with an occasional quip, but that is all. I did love the character of Lawrence “Hutch” Hutchinson. His humor was what kept me reading this book. Too bad he only had a limited appearance I was hoping for so much more.

In a quite forgettable middle of the road book, once again, Odd Thomas confronts the strange. How can a simple walk on the pier turn into a life or death fight with homegrown terrorists trying to smuggle nuclear weapons? Koontz weaves the unbelievable with the dubious and out comes a scatterbrained romp.

The whole book felt like a “oh crap, I have a deadline let’s throw it all at the wall and see what sticks” last minute undertaking.

Dean Koontz has said that this is not an open-ended series and will conclude with six or seven novels. Well, he had better step up the game and get Oddie back on track if he wants his readers to stick with this series.

I guess there will never be another Watchers, but if you lower your standards this book might have some redeeming qualities - Birdie is a nice character and Frank Sinatra makes a very dramatic appearance; but overall, not the best of the bunch.