Deeply Odd

As you know, this is the 6th book in the Odd Thomas series and deals with Odd coming across a dangerous cowboy who has plans to kill a bunch of children. Odd starts a cross-state hunt to stop him and along the way he meets 86-year old Edie Fischer, who helps him on his way; she's as mysterious as AnnaMaria but far more action oriented.
I LOVED the first Odd Thomas, as most of us did, and didn't really feel I needed a sequel. But we got them, with varying success. I have found the odd-numbered books better than the even-numbered, and that is especially true for this book. I am not a slow reader and bought the UK edition of the book the day it came out – and one month later I'd barely gotten halfway through. Up until then I'd only liked chapter 14 and some few – VERY few – scenes that came before and after. That first half of the book is the most boring stuff I'd ever had to paddle through. I know, I could just stop, but I have promised myself to read all of the Odd series, even though I feel Koontz has lost his grip on what makes books, well, gripping. Back in the day I was the biggest Koontz-fan in Europe (maybe an exaggeration, but I was a BIG fan), but in recent years he's just been lacking in quality. I'm not only talking about him going overboard with his catholicism and right-wingery either, he seems to have lost the edge, to dare going to dark places, and in this book his descriptions of skies and seas and lakes and houses and rooms and the such REALLY went into overdrive, so much so, that I occasionally zoned out and just read the damn paragraphs without really absorbing them, but just to get them over with. We don't NEED half page descriptions of some room, ESPECIALLY not in the middle of a chase. Also, hammers on anvils isn't the best way to describe even the hardest rain, methinks.
Often his descriptions of the most mundane things are laughingly stupid. Like: “Blood has an odor faint but distinct, of conceit and modesty, of courage and cowardice, of charity and greed, of faith and doubt, in short the fragrance of what we might have been and the smell of what we are...” No, Koontz, the smell of blood is coppery and sweet, no more, no less. This isn't even clever or profound, it's just a ramble of the worst kind.
At one point he even had Odd mention that he'd read a book called Twilight Eyes.
Later, as he's driving with Edie, they start talking about laws and she says something about “idiot laws” and Odd asks “what law?” and she says, “Oh, all kinds of laws, sweetie. Idiot safety laws, bone-headed environmental laws that actually contribute to pollution...” I know that you're a Republican, Koontz, but you're still allowed to think for yourself and not believe every lie Fox News tells you about pollution and/or global warming; it's not a hoax, maybe if you actually READ the gazillion, independent studies on it and its effects, instead of equating science = evil, God = good, then you might actually avoid sounding “bone-headed” yourself. And idiot safety laws?? What, shouldn't there be limits on how fast you can drive? You DO know, that even a few miles extra an hour can cause severe damage that could be avoided by just driving a bit slower, right?
Then, as he and Edie are talking in a diner, he comes up with this gold nugget (he's talking about mottoes to live by when it all goes to hell and states some examples): “The secretary of defense announces from Sweden that he is having a sex-change operation, is in love with the prime minister of Russia, and has given his lover our nuclear launch codes.” REALLY, Koontz? In that short sentence you display an ugly opinion of trans-, homo- and xenophobia. Transgendered and/or gay people are a threat to the US? This IS what you're saying with this, and it's a blatant lie, it is typical right wing-Michele Bachmann-paranoia crap; but it is no wonder, as it's well known that Koontz has supported Michele Bachmann, John McCain and Mitt Romney who all LIVE for installing fear for foreigners and gays in the American population. Shame on you for this, Koontz, you had a lot of gay readers back in the day and since none of them are hurting YOU, why do you have to be such a bigot?
Just a few pages later he, ironically, muses on this: “Usually I spare myself from the news, because if it's not propaganda, then it's one threat or another exaggerated to the point of absurdity [...], of bigotry and oppression misnamed justice, of hatred passed off as righteousness...” This IS all very true, but, again, Michele Bachmann and her ilk are the worst offenders in doing this, AND YOU SUPPORTED HER! That is bigotry!
Then he becomes delusional: “Among the nations of the Earth in all its hstory, ours is one of the few that has not brought forth its Hitler, its Stalin, its Pol Pot, its Mao Tse-tung, its Vlad the Impaler.” A lof of nations haven't brought forth one of those, the US not being one of them: the massacring of Native Americans, Bush starting a war on grounds there were lies, bombings, shootings. Yup, it all adds up. You have just as much blood on your hands as a lot of other warring nations.
Near the end of the book, when all is ending with kids and dogs and happy sunrises, he writes: “I will not say that they were all beautiful by the standards of our culture, which is obsessed with models and airbrushed celebrities...” Well, dear Mr. Koontz, when was the last time you had a less attractive female lead in one of your books? They all have long black/blonde hair (never redheads) and deep almon-shaped brown eyes/deep truthful blue eyes, they all move with grace and have slender legs and full breasts and what have you. In a LOT of your books you have equaled beautiful = good, ugly = evil, so you're as much to blame in that culture you slam. That's bigotry too. I even remember in one of his earlier books, I think it was The Eyes of Darkness, where he had an elderly maid think about how this culture idolizes young people. Again, Koontz IS part of that culture, as it seems that the older he gets, the younger his protagonists are.
Which brings me to his slamming of Hollywood and everything it stands for; that is deeply ironic, since his books use every Hollywood cliché available.
His love for dogs is also too exaggerated; in one scen, Odd is attacked by three Dobermans, pacifies them, and freaking starts APOLOGIZING for having to do it!
And would it have killed you to kill off just ONE of the 26 children in this book? I don't wish death on anyone, but it's suspense fiction and the stakes are supposed to be high. ALL the bad guys die, ALL the good guys survive - where is the excitement in that? Booooring!
Of the five or so people Odd kills, one of them is a young woman, the only woman in the entire book who shows any sexuality and the only one of the killed ones whose death throes is disgustingly described. I'm not saying Koontz is a misogynist, but catholicism is and it's also afraid of sex and he's a self-proclaimed catholic, but I find it realy disturbing that he's in a way “slut-shaming”, intentionally or not.
My last gripe with this book is his decriptions of Satanism. Maybe Koontz should take the time to read The Satanic Bible; Satanism is NOT about sacrificing children, or grown-ups, or goats or anyting else like that; it is NOT about summoning the devil. It IS, however, about not wanting to be shamed for all the stupid things the bible says and live your life as YOU see fit, without hurting anyone. That is ALL satanism is about. Of course, there's always some bad seed in every group, even catholic priests abuse kids, but get your facts straight, Koontz. Also, some of the symbols the satanists use are ankhs and Celtic crosses. These are NOT associated with satanism in any way, it isn't just catholicism that is good and loving, far from it, in fact!
Normally I hate spoilers, but for this book I actively sought them out to see if ANYHTING would happen that would make it worthwhile, but found nothing and thus had to FORCE myself to finish it.
Overall this is a very, very, very bad book; I WILL read the last Odd book, but then I think my 28 year long affair with Koontz is over. It seems like a loooong time since Whispers, Watchers, Midnight and Dragon Tears. MAYBE I will read Chris Snow #3 if he ever gets around to write it; I'm not sure, because even though they were alright books, they are not among my favourites.
Too bad, because you have given me many a good read.