A follow-up to Odd Apocalypse finds Odd struggling with visions of a multiple homicide surrounding a menacing, rhinestone-studded cowboy who compels him to race across California and Nevada, where he rallies a series of eccentric allies in a battle against a shadowy network of anonymous killers. - (Baker & Taylor)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The pistol appeared in his hand the way a dove appears in the hand of a good magician, as if it materialized out of thin air. “You think I won’t do it right here in the open. But you’d be surprised. . . . You’ll drop before you get the breath to scream.”

The truck driver is decked out like a rhinestone cowboy, only instead of a guitar he’s slinging a gun—and Odd Thomas is on the wrong end of the barrel. Though he narrowly dodges a bullet, Odd can’t outrun the shocking vision burned into his mind . . . or the destiny that will drive him into a harrowing showdown with absolute evil.

DEEPLY ODD

How do you make sure a crime that hasn’t happened yet, never does? That’s the critical question facing Odd Thomas, the young man with a unique ability to commune with restless spirits and help them find justice and peace. But this time, it’s theliving who desperately need Odd on their side. Three helpless innocents will be brutally executed unless Odd can intervene in time. Who the potential victims are and where they can be found remain a mystery. The only thing Odd knows for sure is who the killer will be: the homicidal stranger who tried to shoot him dead in a small-town parking lot.

With the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock riding shotgun and a network of unlikely allies providing help along the way, Odd embarks on an interstate game of cat and mouse with his sinister quarry. He will soon learn that his adversary possesses abilities that may surpass his own and operates in service to infinitely more formidable foes, with murder a mere prelude to much deeper designs. Traveling across a landscape haunted by portents of impending catastrophe, Odd will do what he must and go where his path leads him, drawing ever closer to the dark heart of his long journey—and, perhaps, to the bright light beyond.

Praise for Deeply Odd and Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series

“Not since Watchers has Dean Koontz created such an endearing and enduring character as Odd Thomas. . . . One of our contemporary masters.”—San Antonio Express-News

“[A] popular series . . . Koontz asks real questions about the nature of good and evil.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Odd evokes the homespun wisdom of Forrest Gump amid the mind-spinning adventures of a Jack Bauer. . . . The ultimate Everyman . . . an avatar of hope and honor and courage for all of us—the linchpin of a rollicking good tale.”—BookPage

“There’s never anything predictable about an Odd Thomas adventure. Another satisfying entry in this wildly popular series. It’s Koontz, and it’s Odd. Class dismissed.”—Booklist - (Random House, Inc.)

Dean Koontz, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Anna, and the enduring spirit of their golden, Trixie. - (Random House, Inc.)

Booklist Reviews

The seventh Odd Thomas novel takes place a mere 19 months after the events of the first book, which shows just how tightly knit this story is—more of a serial, really, than a series. An unplanned encounter with a hateful trucker leads Thomas to put his own life on the line to save the lives of the three children who will otherwise die at the hands of the man. Thomas, you see, has a special gift that allows him to see not just the spirits of the dead (the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock is a supporting character in the book) but also events that have not yet happened but certainly will, unless he intervenes. Odd Thomas is an engaging narrator, a young man who's still coming to terms with the rather staggering recent changes in his life, and, although the setup of the story would normally suggest a fairly predictable conclusion—This very bad guy isn't really going to get away with it, is he?—there's never anything predictable about an Odd Thomas adventure. Another satisfying entry in this wildly popular series. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: It's Koontz, and it's Odd. Class dismissed. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.