Dean Koontz - Odd Hours

I finished reading this last night while watching the Federer-Hewitt Wimbledon tennis match, making this the last book for me in June. I really enjoyed the previous Odd Thomas books, but this fourth outing by Dean Koontz falls completely flat for me. Odd enters into the situation abruptly, even with his 'psychic magnetism'. All he does is go for a walk, and BAM, he's in the thick of a terrorist plot. Right. The character of Annamaria appears just as suddenly and it is never really clear what purpose she serves, although Koontz hints at a linkage to Stormy, Odd's original gal from Book 1.

At the beginning, it seems like the baddies are after Annamaria (why did they even approach Odd and her on the pier?) but really, they want Odd after he transfers his vision to one of the bad guys and so they chase him and people connected to him. From there, it's just waffle followed by more waffle; some sections really drag on and get so tedious.

The book is not without its moments; for example, I really enjoyed the dialogue between Odd and his eccentric employer, Hutch, and the banter between Odd and the villains was quite funny as well. Overall though, it's a pretty weak effort by Koontz in the Odd Thomas series and I'm quite disappointed by it. If this was the first time that I had encountered Odd Thomas, I would have dropped the book after the first 50 pages. I don't know how the additions of Annamaria and Blossom are going to pan out in the next book, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Here's hoping that the next one will be much better!