Odd Thomas

Ack!!  I've been working on this review for a month now, and I'm finally putting it up, I can't believe it's been this long!!

I got 'Odd Thomas' for Christmas, and I was going to save it for a new reading list, but I was so excited by what Monica at Spilled Ink and my Grandmother (who's so hip and up-to-date that she reads novels like Odd Thomas) have been saying about the Odd Thomas books that I told myself I would just read the first couple of chapters and that's it.  Yeah.  Well, that did NOT go as planned.

I couldn't put the book down!!

Odd Thomas felt fast paced, but it really wasn't.  To put it into perspective, the book is 500 pages, and the book covers a time span of 48 hours.

Yeah. 

Even though Koontz takes 500 pages to cover a 2 day timespan, the book doesn't feel slow at all.  The book feels super fast-paced, and you'll find yourself saying 'Just one more chapter!' and then 10 chapters later, 'I should probably stop now.'

I really like most of the characters in this book.  Odd is just so sweet, and I love his attitude towards everyone and everything.  I like how he calls people he respects 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' even if he is really close to them, like Ozzie.  My view on Stormy Llewllyn, Odd's 'best girl' as he calls her, is kind of mixed.  At the beginning I just really didn't like her, she was sooo sarcastic, and I thought sometimes she was bit mean to Odd.  Towards the end she grew on me more, and I was able to really see something in her relationship with Odd.  She still isn't my favorite character in the book, but my appreciation of her character has grown.

One thing I really love about this book is the Catholic element.  It's really awesome to see that an author can write a book with Catholic elements, and the book (and the author) can still be a success!  Of course, the book isn't a Catholicism-in-your-face type of book, and the good points with the Catholicism are very much balanced out by all the ugliness that Odd Thomas encounters throughout his adventures.

A word of warning, this book contains some mature content, a LOT of scary, gross, guy-dead-in-the-bathtub moments, and some language.  Definitely don't let a 10-year-old read this.

All things considered, this is an awesome book, you need to acquire it now if you don't already have it.  It will keep you on edge the whole time, and it has quite a few twists and turns along the way.