As the Doors said, “This is the end”……      ***

It is not often one knows the end of a book before reading it.  If anyone who has read any of the previous books in the Odd series had any doubt, the title of this one, Saint Odd, clinches it.  No spoiler here, unless you have never read any of the previous books. If you haven’t, don’t read this one, or this review, because you will have no clue as to what is happening.

That said, this is a typical Koontz novel.  The story itself is thin, as most of his are, but it is the style of writing that keeps me coming back.  Dean Koontz is a word master.  By that I mean he can take something very simple and dress it up in lavish language, some of which we have to look up, which makes his novels enjoyable reads.  This one is no exception.  Koontz even gets his characters involved with the fascination of words as when Mrs. Fischer uses the word thwart, then proceeds to talk about how unusual a word that is.

This is the last of the books about Odd Thomas, we think.  It is sad to see him go, as he was a very colorful character and resulted in some of Koontz’s best writing.  I say “we think” because he does hint at the possibility of a sequel dealing with Odd in the afterlife.

The basic plot is about Odd going back home to Pico Mundo, where he is to have a final confrontation with the satanists who had, in a previous book, killed his girlfriend, Stormy.  The actual ending is anti-climatic, compared to the events that lead up to this confrontation. Koontz reminds us several times about the previous books, memoirs in this case, and even gets in a few lines about the difficulty of being a novelist.

This novel does wrap up the story of Odd Thomas and is a pleasant enough read. It gets three stars.