Odd Thomas Books

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Odd Thomas is a twenty year old male who works as a fry cook in Pico Mundo (a fictional desert town in California). He can make himself heard by and see spirits of the dead. They can only signal to him and mouth words to him, and even help him prevent certain things from happening, but they cannot talk to him in a way that he can hear.

At times, the spirits that talk to odd want justice for something that happened long ago. And over the course of the novels, he even talks to different dead celebrities like Alfred Hitchcock, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra. Besides having a unique gift to see spirits, he also has some writing ability.

His odd name is an error that found it’s way onto his birth certificate; he was supposed to be named either Dodd or Todd, just like his uncle who Odd has never met. He has his girlfriend Stormy Llewllyn, and is one of three people who know about his gift. The other two are the local police chief (Wyatt Porter) with whom Odd helps solve crimes from time to time and a local reclusive and eccentric author friend (Little Ozzie ) that he has.

The series is a series of thriller novels and the first of which came out in 2003, with novels coming out two years or so. The series is meant to be read in order, without a while lot of skipping around (this includes the short stories). Not only are there seven novels to the series, but there are also some short stories and graphic novels (that serve as prequels to the first novel) and even some webisodes that help fill in the gap between “Brother Odd” and “Odd Hours”.

In addition to the novel and its six sequels, there is also three graphic novel prequels: In Odd We Trust, Odd Is On Our Side and House of Odd.

ODD THOMAS AWARDS:

“Saint Odd” won Goodreads Choice Award for Horror award in 2015. The first installment of the series is also a New York Times Bestseller.

ODD THOMAS BOOKS INTO MOVIES:

The first novel in the series, “Odd Thomas”, was made into a movie that was released in 2013. The movie was in production for some time as Dean Koontz first told fans that he had a script from na unknown screenwriter for the book way back in 2008. He was very pleased with the script and excited to see it made, that screenwriter turned out to be Stephen Sommers who would go on to produce and direct the film as well. The film ended up as an independent production.

Odd Thomas the movie starred Anton Yelchin as Odd Thomas and Willem Dafoe. Directed, written and produced by Stephen Summers who said that Yelchin was his only choice to play Odd Thomas. There were a lot of early casting announcements that never played out including rapper 50 Cent as Shamus Cocobolo.

The film received mixed reviews from critics with a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie did have one very important critic who enjoyed the film as author Dean Koontz who said that the film was “so wonderful that I am whacked flat by happiness.” It was also said to be the best Koontz adaptation by a large margin by IndieWire’s Drew Taylor.

Unfortunately, the film wasn’t a very success at the box office as it earned just $1.1 million against a budget of $27 million. There were a lot of issues as the release was delayed by a series of lawsuits. The movie has gained a new life through streaming services like Netflix.

BEST ODD THOMAS BOOKS:

Novels in the “Odd Thomas” series that stand out among the rest are “Odd Thomas”, “Forever Odd”, and “Saint Odd”.

Odd Thomas: The first novel in the series and a great place to start; as it introduces everything to the reader. Odd has to stop a new guy who comes to the town of Pico Mundo looking to bring a catastrophe. Odd has to race against time to stop it before things go terribly wrong. He realizes right from the first time he meets the new man (after dubbing him Fungus Man) that there is not something quite right about the guy, and finds out that not only is the guy a bodach (an evil spirit that feasts on pain whose presence alerts those who know that violence is on the way)

Forever Odd: The sequel to “Odd Thomas”, the novel takes place just six months after the first novel. Odd finds out that his friend Danny from when he was a kid has been kidnapped, and Danny’s step-dad has been murdered in a brutal manner. The assumption, at first, is that the boy’s father who has just been released from prison has kidnapped his son. Through his psychic abilities, Odd is able to find Danny, and he tells Odd that he met a woman through sketchy means and he informed the woman of Odd’s gift. So she kidnapped him in order to meet Odd.

Saint Odd: The final novel in the series. Odd’s return to Pico Mundo sees him coming under attack from the cult that he came up against in other books in the series. He is able to get himself to a safe house where he runs into Mrs. Fischer, someone he helped in another novel. This book won the Goodreaders Choice Award for Horror in 2015 and was considered a fitting end to the series.

OTHER BOOK SERIES YOU MAY LIKE:

For those who enjoy the “Odd Thomas series, here are some other series that you may also want to check out.

The “Sandman Slim” series by Richard Kadrey. The series stars James Stark, a man who died and went to hell and spent eleven years working as a hitman. He was able to escape and made it to the hell that is Los Angeles.

“Pretty Little Dead Things” by Gary McMahon. The series stars Thomas Usher, a man who loses his wife and daughter and gains the ability to see the recently departed, and it is usually pretty bad.

What Is The Next Book in The Odd Thomas Series?

There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Odd Thomas Series. The newest book is Saint Odd and was released on January, 8th 2015.

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