The world of novels is a seemingly bottomless pit of story choices, one look inside any chain book store is enough to tell you that there are more books available than can possibly be read in one lifetime. I read anywhere between twenty-five and fifty books a year depending on length and how much time I spend writing, playing video games, watching TV, and generally being lazy. I had a stark realization a year or so ago that I have a limited number of years left in my life, and a limited number of years multiplied by twenty-five to fifty books equals a limited number of books. As a result I both increased the amount of time I devote to reading and became more discerning about what books I’ll read.
To that end, if I can find fifteen of your books on the grocery store bookshelf I probably avoid your stories, I don’t know why but at a young age I became convinced that those authors weren’t worth reading. As a result I’ve never read a book by Danielle Steele, James Patterson, or Dean Koontz and I’ve never felt cheated by this decision.
Until now.
“Odd Thomas” (7 out of 10) – Based on the novel by Dean Koontz; Adapted and directed by Stephen Sommers; Starring Anton Yelchin, Willem Dafoe, and Addison Timlin; Run time: 97 minutes; Released February 28, 2014.
“Odd Thomas” is a story about a twenty year old kid in a sleepy California town. The movie, and the novel derives its name from the main character who says that his name was perhaps a mistake when the T was dropped from Todd on his birth certificate, or maybe not.
Odd has the ability to see the dead, an ability inherited from his mother who spent her latter years in an asylum, for this reason Odd has kept his abilities a secret except from his girlfriend and the local police chief. His abilities often give him inside information into solving violent crimes.
In addition to seeing the dead, Odd can also see grim creatures, portents of death, which he calls Bodachs. Odd takes great pains to ensure that the Bodachs don’t know that he knows about them, if they find out, they’ll kill him. He’s seen it before.
The movie sets up a complex violent caper involving bowling alleys, explosions, demonic creatures, ghosts, and tragedy which will keep you on your toes and guessing through to the end. The relationship between Odd and his girlfriend Stormy has Jim and Pam levels of chemistry and gives a model of a relationship we should all hope to have. Which raises the tension when at climax of the story Stormy’s life is threatened. Odd is in a race to save hundreds of lives, including those most close to him, following a trail of ghostly crumbs and Bodachs in an attempt to prevent mass destruction.
It feels like “Dead Like Me” meets “John Dies at the End” meets “Pushing Daisies” with a homegrown terrorism plot mixed in.
Imagine my surprise when after finishing “Odd Thomas” on Netflix I was met with the information that it was based on a novel by Dean Koontz. But… but I really liked that, I can’t have liked that, it’s a Dean Koontz story, I told myself.
Suddenly I’m reconsidering my thoughts on existence and the quality of grocery store novels, which is a pretty impressive feat for a movie I’ve never heard of before.
The “Odd Thomas” story was continued into several more books, the last of which came out earlier this year, as well as three comic books that explore the universe Koontz created. “Odd Thomas” can be viewed streaming on Netflix right now, until it’s gone. Don’t miss it.