Guys who wear porkpie hats are always, in my experience, up to no good—and pleased about it. Whether that style of headwear turns previously benign men into sociopaths or whether men who are already sociopaths are drawn to that style is one of those mysteries that will never be solved, though the Department of Justice has probably funded a score of scientific studies of the issue.
Another Odd Thomas novel from Dean Koontz, another home run. I won’t say Odd Apocalypse is my favorite in the series—I won’t even say I’m sure I liked it better than the previous novella, Odd Interlude, which I reviewed recently. But all these books are so far superior to anything else being done in the genre (assuming I know what the genre is) that you know going in that you’re in for a delight. And you are not disappointed.
Odd Thomas is the simplest of men, with the simplest of desires. All he wants is a quiet life, and to love a girl who is gone. But he’s been entrusted with gifts—the ability to see the “undeparted dead,” and a sort of psychic GPS that helps him find people he’s looking for. Because he’s faithful to God, he employs these gifts for the good of others, which leads him into great danger time and time again.
This time out, he’s not led by his psychic gifts, but by the mysterious woman whose protector he has become, a young pregnant girl name Annamaria (and if you think that name is meant to suggest something, I suspect you’re right). Because of Annamaria’s mysterious charm, the two of them have been invited to stay at Roseland, a San Simeon-like coastal estate in California, owned by a reclusive multimillionaire. Soon after arriving, Odd has an encounter with a ghost, a woman in a bloody nightgown riding a great black horse. She communicates to him (the dead can’t speak) that her son is somewhere on the property, and is in mortal danger. Not long after that encounter, Odd sees the sky turn from blue to yellow, and he is pursued by giant bats and ferocious, human-like beasts. When it passes, no one else seems to have noticed it.
It all leads back to an evil conspiracy that began in the early 20th Century, and the experiments of a famous physicist.
What is most poignant about this story is the way Odd’s character is forced to change, in spite of himself. The most peaceful and gentle of men, he finds himself tasked with being (in his own words) a “scourge” of great evil. Life exacts its prices, even for those who do right. Fortunately, he has faith and a silly sense of humor to uphold him.
Highly recommended for teens and up. Cautions for violence, non-explicit sexual deviation, and other creepy stuff. I recommend you read this series in order of publication.