Brother Odd

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Brother Odd
Brother Odd.jpg
Cover of the first edition of Brother Odd
Author Dean Koontz
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Odd Thomas series
Genre Suspense novel, Psychological novel
Publisher Bantam Publishing
Publication date
28 November 2006
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages352 pp
ISBN 0-553-80480-4
OCLC 71810110
813/.54 22
LC Class PS3561.O55 F66 2006c
Preceded by Forever Odd  
Followed by Odd Hours  

Brother Odd is a novel by Dean Koontz, published in 2006. The novel is the third book in Koontz's series focusing on a young man named Odd Thomas.

Contents

Plot summary

The novel begins seven months after Forever Odd . During that time, Odd Thomas has been a guest at St. Bartholomew's Abbey, where he hopes to seek peace and understanding. During his time there, he befriends a white-furred dog who assists him in his further adventures.

Odd sees a shade-like bodach. This portends great disaster for the abbey. One of the monks disappears and Odd is attacked by a mysterious killer. As he searches for the missing monk, Odd hears an odd noise in a great snowstorm, and later sees an intricate, shifting pattern of bones against a window.

Rodion Romanovich, the abbey's other guest, meets Odd in the garage to pick up the monks. Odd, suspicious of Romanovich, intends to leave him in the abbey but he takes one sport utility vehicle (SUV) full of monks before Odd can stop him. On the way there, Romanovich's SUV is turned over by a bone-creature. Brother Knuckles, Odd's confidant, damages the creature with the other plow, saving everyone. Back at the school, Odd and Romanovich are able to determine that Jacob's father, the Neverwas, is John Heineman, a monk at the abbey known as Brother John and a former physicist who experimented with reality.

Later, Odd decides to leave the abbey, but as he rides down the highway back to his hometown, psychic magnetism pulls him out of the car, where the book ends as he walks down the highway toward the unknown. After three adventures, Elvis Presley, who sometimes assists Odd, finally crosses over. Odd and the dog (who is now revealed to be a ghost) continue along together, only to be united moments later with the ghost of Frank Sinatra.

Reception

A reviewer of Kirkus Reviews commented "Terrific characterization and patient plotting mark Koontz's work, and this novel about the triumph of modesty over hubris proves exemplary on both counts. A work both exciting and engaging—and with its heart in the right place." [1]

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Odd Thomas is a thriller novel by American writer Dean Koontz, published in 2003. The novel derives its title from the protagonist, a twenty-year-old short-order cook named Odd Thomas. The book, which was well received and lauded by critics, went on to become a New York Times Bestseller. Following the success of the novel, six sequels, Forever Odd (2005), Brother Odd (2006), Odd Hours (2008), Odd Apocalypse (2012), and Deeply Odd (2013), were also written by Koontz. The final novel in the series Saint Odd (2015) was released on Jan 13, 2015. Three graphic-novel prequels, In Odd We Trust, Odd Is On Our Side and House of Odd have also been released. In the postscript to the graphic novel, Koontz states that "God willing, there will be six Odd Thomas novels." A Special Odd Thomas Adventure, Odd Interlude, was released on December 26, 2012, and another Odd Thomas: You Are Destined to Be Together Forever on December 9, 2014.

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References