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BROTHER ODD is the third book in Koontz's Odd Thomas series. I have to admit I thought it better than the last two non-series of the author's works that I read. Odd Thomas is an engaging character, simple, likable; a man of virtue who, despite his ability to see the souls of the 'lingering dead' does not think he is more special than any other man. Odd Thomas has been devastated by the death of 19 people who have been killed by gunmen. Odd had known of the danger the men posed and while he had prevented the death of perhaps hundreds, the 19 deaths had forced him to retreat to the sanctuary of St Bartholomew's Abbey, isolated and remote in the wastes of the Sierra Nevada. The monastery has a dog, a white Alsatian mix named Boo. As Odd awaits the onset of his very first snowfall, he looks out over the grounds and notices Boo showing every evidence of spotting something he does not like. Odd follows his gaze and sees something he equally dislikes: an evil, supernatural being he has dubbed 'bodach'. These creatures accumulate in places where there are to be mass deaths. One means a tragedy is to come in the relatively near future, a hoard of them means imminent disaster. While seeking to determine the danger, Odd Thomas hears the voice of his dead love, Stormy, issuing from the mouth of a damaged child, one of many such cared for by the nuns of the monastery. Odd also stumbles across the corpse of a missing man, Brother Tim, a delightful monk with a charming blush and a craving for Kit Kats. While Tim's death may somehow be connected to the disaster foretold by the bodach's presence, it alone would not summon the ghastly apparitions. Elvis Presley is a sometime companion for Odd Thomas. He is unwilling to proceed through the portal into the next life, because he fears what his long dead but adored mother would think of the mess he made of his life. He provides light relief for Odd, appearing at different times in different outfits from his movies. For all the overtones of horror, this is a charming tale. While it is, of course, necessary to suspend disbelief for a slightly greater stretch than with ordinary crime fiction, the reader is well rewarded by the broader range of characters available to the author. Of the more earthbound people, Sister Angela is a delight, able to tell at a glance when Odd is lying, brave and ready to defend her charges against all comers not to mention her ability to forbid flying nuns access to her precinct. Other characters include Jacob, another of Sister Angela's charges but one now about Odd's age, a talented artist with a sole subject, the beautiful woman who was his mother. Then there is the dour Russian, Rodion Romanovich, a man with a secret, a man of whom Odd Thomas is justly suspicious. Brother Knuckles is a delightful invention, formerly muscle for the Mafia but now a conscience-stricken but doughty religious man. Brother John is a recluse, a former billionaire scientist who renounced his wealth but is still able to perform his experiments in a purpose-built laboratory. To me, Odd Thomas is reminiscent of Manley Wade Wellman's protagonist Silver John. Both characters are sensitive to the supernatural, both fight on the side of good and both are solitary figures, although Odd is more recently solitary, following the death of Stormy. The prose of both authors fairly sings with beautiful imagery. Both are capable of intricate plotting. In this outing, the ultimate catalyst for the mass deaths seems a trifle disappointing and the motive more than a little melodramatic. The shortcomings surrounding that resolution are more than made up for by the strengths of the tale and the delights of the characterisation and descriptions. I look forward to further outings of Odd Thomas, especially if he is accompanied by the shadow of Elvis and perhaps by the dog Boo, who seems about to abandon the monastery in preference for becoming a companion of the observer of the lingering dead.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, December 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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