Odd Thomas is a fry cook. That’s what he wants to be. He works the grill at the Pico Mundo Grille in a small desert town in California, making omelets and pancakes. He has no ambitions beyond this. The problem is that he sees dead people. They come to him because he can help them, whether that means finding their killer or simply acknowledging their presence so they can move on.
Odd also sees bodachs, dark entities that swarm around people who are about to die or places where violence is imminent. When bodachs start appearing in large numbers around Pico Mundo, Odd knows something terrible is coming. He can’t ignore it. The dead won’t let him.
Dean Koontz gave Odd a first-person voice that’s warm, self-aware, and occasionally funny despite the darkness of what he encounters. Odd doesn’t consider himself brave. He’s scared much of the time. But he believes he has an obligation to use his gift, even when it costs him. His girlfriend Stormy Llewellyn is the person who keeps him grounded, and their relationship is central to the emotional core of the series.
Over eight books, Odd moves from Pico Mundo to a monastery, a coastal town, and a billionaire’s estate, always drawn toward places where the dead need him. The series concludes with Saint Odd, which brings him back to where it started.
Reading Order
See the complete Odd Thomas reading order for all books in the series.