Saturday, March 28, 2015

Finished: Koontz's 'Saint Odd'

This was the seventh and last of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series. Reading the novel, while knowing that, was like reading a person's obituary.

The trouble with series is that the author usually has to restate things from previous books, assuming there's always some goofball out there who starts with the most recent book instead of starting at the beginning of the series.

Koontz does a great job of managing that background while introducing clever new characters. He is my favorite living author, showcasing a versatility you don't see in many of the most prolific writers. I've always thought it's tougher to write an original novel now than it was 100 years ago, and tougher next year than last year, simply because the plots have been taken, the mysteries have been solved, and there are only so many ways to kill a person or make them interesting. But Koontz does.

I gave it a 7-plus on the Haugenometer. Goodreaders gave it a high 4.13 of 5, and Amazonians a 4.4 of 5. So I was even low by their standards, where you don't see many 4s.

And Odd always has great lines appropriate to our day:

"Everything barbarians do is nothing, no matter how loudly they insist it's something."

"I never knew if I was drawn to eccentric people or if they were drawn to me."

"Free will. The thing that makes life worth living in spite of all the anguish it brings."

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