Odd Thomas / Dean Koontz / 480 pages / Horror

Mr. Odd Thomas is indeed one of the nicest characters you will meet in the world of fiction. The young man is humble, a talented fry cook, head over heels in love with his girlfriend, and his only ambition is to move on from frying eggs to selling new tires at the local tire store. By today's standards, he would be considered a first class loser in anyone's book. But there is something special about Odd Thomas, and that is the fact that he can see and communicate with the dead.

As he explains in the narrative, sometimes the departed have a hard time moving on to the next world, whether it be because of unfinished business, a sentimental attachment to the living, or an unawareness of their deadness; Thomas is always there to help if his help is required. In fact he believes it is his moral duty to aid the dead, otherwise why would he have this gift in the first place? The plot unfolds when he spots a strange looking individual who enters his place of work, the Pico Mundo Grille, and orders breakfast.

Surrounding the stranger are bodachs, entities that appear like swimming shadows, which only manifest when death, chaos, blood and destruction will occur sometime in the future. Odd's sixth sense, including the swarm of bodachs, tells him that something is terribly wrong and he begins his investigation. What Odd discovers is chilling and continues to be chilling to the very last page.

Odd Thomas is a wonderful piece of storytelling with some astute observations about the human condition and our culture in general. The story's ending is very moving for the obvious reasons. An excellent read.