Forever Odd
Book Two in the Odd Thomas Series
Dean Koontz

We're all a little odd beneath the surface. He's the most unlikely hero you'll ever meet - an ordinary guy with a modest job you might never look at twice. But there's so much more to any of us than meets the eye - and that goes triple for Odd Thomas.
For Odd lives always between two worlds in the small desert town of Pico Mundo, where the heroic and the harrowing are everyday events. Odd never asked to communicate with the dead - it's something that just happened. But as the unofficial goodwill ambassador between our world and theirs, he's got a duty to do the right thing. That's the way Odd sees it and that's why he's won hearts on both sides of the divide between life and death.
A childhood friend of Odd's has disappeared. The worst is feared. But as Odd applies his unique talents to the task of finding the missing person, he discovers something worse than a dead body, encounters an enemy of exceptional cunning, and spirals into a vortex of terror.
Once again Odd will stand against our worst fears. Around him will gather new allies and old, some living and some not. For in the battle to come, there can be no innocent bystanders, and every sacrifice can tip the balance between despair and hope.

As previously mentioned, I made the mistake of reading the third book in the series first, though it was still excellent as a stand alone book. In fact, it was so good that I knew I had to read the entire series. So here we are with book two.

This book takes a different approach than the first one. In the first novel, most of the book is suspense building up to the final act of the mall shooting. In this novel, the murder comes first and the rest of the book is all about Odd trying to find his missing friend and dealing with a completely insane woman who demands to see the dead.

Though done in a different way, this book is just as exciting as the first and makes me want to read the whole series. Odd Thomas is not the typical hero that most books have, heck, he's not even a typical protagonist - but he's one of the most likeable, sympathetic, and even realistic character that's come along.

Once again the dialogue is spot on and the exchanges between Odd and Ozzie Booth (the four hundred pound writer with eleven fingers and an immortal cat named Terrible Chester) always leaves a smile on my face.

While I do recommend reading this series in its proper order, I highly recommend reading this series. It's one of the best I've seen in a long time.

My rating: Five out of five snails.

P.S. I just found out that there will be a movie of Odd Thomas coming out sometime this year. While I'm excited about it and will definitely be seeing it, I also hope that it holds up to everything that the book and the series is.