Book Review: Brother Odd

Brother Odd, by Dean Koontz

Source: Amazon.com

From the book’s cover:

Loop me in, odd one. The words, spoken in the deep of night by a sleeping child, chill the young man watching over her. For this was a favorite phrase of Stormy Llewellyn, his lost love. In the haunted halls of the isolated monastery where he had sought peace, Odd Thomas is stalking spirits of an infinitely darker nature.

As he steadfastly journeys toward his mysterious destiny, Odd Thomas has established himself as one of the most beloved and unique fictional heroes of our time. Now, wielding all the power and magic of a master storyteller at the pinnacle of his craft, Dean Koontz follows Odd into a singular new world where he hopes to make a fresh beginning—but where he will meet an adversary as old and inexorable as time itself.

The review:

First off, Koontz has too many things going on in Brother Odd.  We have these "Bodachs," a monk physicist, a mysterious glowering Russian who is also a guest of the abbey, a monk who goes by the nickname of "Brother Knuckles" (he was previously a mafia enforcer or something like that, before finding God), the skeleton thing in the storm, the stuff from the protagonist's past that keeps popping up....  It's like Koontz wanted to write a whole bunch of short stories and then tried to tie them all together.  It's too busy for my taste.

Also, I agree with Koontz's sentiments on people who hurt kids, but the short diatribe he gives on hunting people down in hell (as he remarks that he might go there for being judgmental) was a bit distracting from the overall flow of the plot.  Soap boxes in novels should at least have some sort of drape over them, to avoid the glaring fact that they are indeed soap boxes.  That would be my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, Koontz can write suspense, but he short-circuits it with too much ancillary stuff.  The incidental comments from the narrating lead character can get annoying.  It's like Koontz is too busy phrase-ologizing to keep up a tense pace.  He'd stop an exciting scene to spin a clever phrase, I swear.  This is not a good thing for me.  Stop telling us how smart you are and stick to the story.  Same with your lead character.  To my mind, Odd is not so hot stuff that you have to keep people in the story by commenting on his quirkiness.  It feels "put-on" to me.

The author, Dean Koontz. / Source: Wired.com

The book picks up steam half-way through, but this is not a good thing in my estimation.  A slow start is one thing, but over half the book's nine or so hours (audiobook time, that is) had expired before things got more interesting.  Like the belfry scene with "Death."  The vanity of the reaper's movements and such was interesting.  And the way it dissolved as it fled, splitting up into bits.  I imagined a cool Hollywood effect there.  I also liked his definition of cats being haughty, but not vain.

What else?  The "villain" was somewhat predictable.  He brings up this character and then forgets about him for most of the book, so it is easy to spot him coming by the time the finale rolls around.  The bone monsters are more interesting.  Like I said, the scene where the bone monster chases our hero Odd down the access corridor is cool, but ends on an odd note (no pun intended of course, but conveniently placed just the same).

I can go on here in my observations.  Like for instance, the banter back and forth between the glowering Russian and Odd becomes somewhat endearing by the time we discover said Russian's identity, but then the big reveal in the Russian's case is a bit... off.  You know, the whole book really has this problem, if I hadn't made that clear.  Things are just off base here.  Perhaps it was just written in too big a hurry.  I don't know.  Based on Koontz's prodigious output, I could see this being a problem.

Hollywood's interpretation of what a "bodach" looks like.  Not quite the mental image I was going off of, but it'll do.  This image is from the recent straight-to-DVD film Odd Thomas (I think so anyway, as I haven't actually watched the film myself). / Source: TravelinLibrarian.info

And then the end of the book was disappointing to me.  The climactic scene was too intellectual and not enough meat.  We get the long explanation from the bad guy, but the reasons for everything evil that have happened is just a flaw in his character.  And that hang-up on the kids and their safety?  And the whole "my kid was born retarded and I can't handle that on a subconscious level and that plays into the end of the story"-thing?  Nope.  Didn't buy it.  The premise in play does work, yes, but only just barely in my view. 

Plus, Koontz has the characters practically talk the reader to death.  Yes, there is some excitement going on elsewhere while the pivotal two characters (hero and villain, it turns out) chat blithely away to each other, but said excitement is cut off while it's just getting interesting.  And also, Koontz has tried so hard to have us care for his characters, but he sacrifices those we don't care for as much as others.  And therefore, it doesn't hurt.  Yes, you don't kill off your characters willy-nilly, but still.  It felt anti-climactic, and hollow.  Red Shirt syndrome, I think.

And then the very end?  Koontz tacks on a final chapter that must be well received by his long-time readers, but for me it felt forced.  Elvis Presley, who has been hanging about Odd Thomas in ghost form, stops hanging around and is replaced by Frank Sinatra?   Sure, whatever.  The only surprise (pleasant one, that is) was that his dog friend is actually a ghost.  I missed that through the whole book.  That the dog interacted with him and other supernatural types, but not people, that is.  One of the book's nicest touches, I thought.  Too bad that was about it.

OK, this has nothing directly to do with Brother Odd, but a touch of monastic humor seemed apropos given the book's setting. / Source: monasticmumblings.typepad.com

I guess Brother Odd might have been a tad bit better if I'd read the other two preceding it first, before delving in here, but that was my own over-sight.  Koontz is surely talented, but his work seems scattered and piecemeal.  Sorry, but that's my take on it.

Learn more about Brother Odd, by Dean Koontz, on Amazon.com

The parting comment:

It doesn't have much to do with the book reviewed, but hey - a classic deserves a view or two.