Surprisingly not. The closest is an ex-NFL star who talks to animals. Most of the main characters are surfers, actually. Koontz oddly enough insists that they are real people he is writing about. If so the world is in trouble.

Speaking of convenient characters, Dark Rivers of the Heart and The Face both had cops, black ops, etc type guys as characters but still turned out to be amazing. I was surprised. In fact I think of the stuff of his that I have read, those two are some of the best work ( and some of last good work) he has done.

I'm glad to hear it. One of the funny things about Koontz, it does depend upon when you start reading him. After I was tired of his novels and had moved on, he still had a group that was just discovering his work and truly appreciated his new stuff. For myself, I love the guy because he wrote "Twilight Eyes". Slim McKenzie may have been his best character ever. (the character I suspect he ripped off to get Odd Thomas) All in all, I'm glad to have something different from him to read, I do like his books.

Dragon Tears was my frist Koontz read, followed by Darkfall.

These two are still my top 2 favorites. I will agree that his later works have gotten somewhat stale and predictable, but his older stuff is what keeps me as a fan.

Life Expectancy was great up until the "final twist" at the end...that's where he lost me on that one.

I've only read the first Odd Thomas book and that was years ago. I remember it was quite enjoyable.

Also I couldn't get into the second Chris Snow novel, (The first was great) but I think that could be because I was kind of burned out on Koontz at the time, having read like 4 of his books in a row.

I read The Bad Place a few months ago and frankly it was a little too much for me. All the horrofic twists and "surprises" at the end had be turning my head in disgust. I did finish it and ended up donating it to the library here on camp.

I think my favs are still:

1. Darkfall
2. Dragon Tears
3. Watchers
4. Lightning

Glad to hear it. I just hope they do more justice to this story on the silver screen than they did with "Watchers". On a side note though. When I was reading the books, I always pictured Bluesman Mike as Odd Thomas. Weird huh?

Haw! Thank you, Ken. I haven't read the novels yet, but I've been told they're terrific. There was a piece on Koontz and them in NR, if I recollect rightly, a couple of months ago--very positive. But please be advised it's been a =long= time since I was 19!

Yes I can, but I wouldn't post it publicly. Mike and Odd are not alike, not in my mind, not at all.

Aren't we both sweet creatures? Dear children of God?

"From the Corner of His Eye" was the last good book I read by Koontz. For some reason that story touched me. Up until the contrived ending that is. Again, Koontz goes full steam and has the story fall to shit. It's like he writes himself into a corner and doesn't know how to get out of it so he just comes up with some phantasmagoric finale.

I finished reading Odd Thomas last night, and really enjoyed it. Very emotional story, really got my money's worth out of it.

I couldnt figure out though . . . is Odd Thomas a spazz?

Sometimes he can be quite Rain Man-ish (like when he babbles about being a short-order chef or selling tyres etc) but then sometimes he is very perceptive and well reasoning (figuring out what's going on).

I recently read The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon and the character was sometimes similar, sometimes not. :confused:

"From the Corner of His Eye" was the last good book I read by Koontz. For some reason that story touched me. Up until the contrived ending that is. Again, Koontz goes full steam and has the story fall to shit. It's like he writes himself into a corner and doesn't know how to get out of it so he just comes up with some phantasmagoric finale.

The ending... ooohhhh, how I hated it!! I was loving this book, and then Koontz just dropped trou and plopped an anti-climactic steamer. I don't think I'll ever get the stench out of my nose. I list this as my most hated ending to a good story.

I'm pissed off he STILL hasn't finished the Chris Snow novels.

Same here. I was into this character. Koontz is great at creating interesting characters but often lacks the ability to create a good story for them.

Same here. I was into this character. Koontz is great at creating interesting characters but often lacks the ability to create a good story for them.

Ditto for me, too. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED that character and wanted more. Koontz seems to write himself into a corner from which he can't create an exit. His books are nearly all wonderful for 7/8 of the story. That final 1/8 is often a rushed let down. Too bad. Wonder why that is, especially so consistently.

Ditto for me, too. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED that character and wanted more. Koontz seems to write himself into a corner from which he can't create an exit. His books are nearly all wonderful for 7/8 of the story. That final 1/8 is often a rushed let down. Too bad. Wonder why that is, especially so consistently.

I thought Odd Thomas had an excellent ending. What did you think?