Odd Thomas is a fictional character created by Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas is a twenty-year-old male fry cook in Pico Mundo (a fictional town in California) with an unusual name – a result of an error on his birth certificate. He can communicate with and see the spirits of the dead. They can only signal to him and assist him in preventing things from happening, but they can’t talk to him.
Sometimes the spirits want vengeance for things that happened in the past. Throughout the novels, he converses with various deceased famous people, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra.
He has a girlfriend named Stormy Llewellyn and is one of three people who are aware of his ability. The other two are Odd’s local police chief, whom he assists in solving crimes, and a novelist friend.
The first installment of the thriller series was released in 2003. The series consists of seven novels, as well as short stories and graphic novels that serve as prequels to the first novel.
Besides the 7 novels, three graphic novel prequels are available: In Odd We Trust, Odd Is On Our Side, and House of Odd.
Odd Thomas Books in order
Odd Thomas
- Odd Thomas (2003)
- Forever Odd (2005)
- Brother Odd (2006)
- Odd Hours (2008)
- Odd Interlude (2012)
- Odd Apocalypse (2012)
- Deeply Odd (2013)
- You Are Destined To Be Together Forever (2014)
- Saint Odd (2015)
Odd Thomas Graphic Novels
Similar authors
- Richard Paige’s The Door to December follows detective Laura McCaffrey. She is called to assist in a case where two psychologists get killed.
- Stephen King’s Bag of Bones focuses on an author with writer’s block. His delusions drive him to an isolated lake house four years after his wife’s death.
See also: Dean Koontz’s Jane Hawk Books in Order.
Most recommended books
- Odd Thomas: You Are Destined To Be Together Forever (Odd Thomas #0.5) (4.20 Goodreads score)
- Odd Interlude #2 (Odd Thomas #4.2) (4.20 Goodreads score)
- Odd Interlude #3 (Odd Thomas #4.3) (4.20 Goodreads score)
- Saint Odd (Odd Thomas #7) (4.18 Goodreads score)
- Odd Interlude #1 (Odd Thomas #4.1) (4.12 Goodreads score)
Latest releases
In 2015, “Saint Odd” won the Goodreads Choice Award for Horror. The first book in the series was a New York Times Best Seller.
Movies based on the series
The first novel in the series, “Odd Thomas,” was adapted into a movie in 2013, starring Anton Yelchin and William Dafoe.
Book summaries
Odd Thomas (2003)
“The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different.A stranger comes to Pico Mundo, accompanied by a horde of hyena-like shades who herald an imminent catastrophe. Aided by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Odd will race against time to thwart the gathering evil. His account of these shattering hours, in which past and present, fate and destiny, converge, is a testament by which to live—an unforgettable fable for our time destined to rank among Dean Koontz’s most enduring works.
Forever Odd (2005)
I see dead people. But then, by God, I do something about it. Odd Thomas never asked for his special ability. He’s just an ordinary guy trying to live a quiet life in the small desert town of Pico Mundo. Yet he feels an obligation to do right by his otherworldly confidants, and that’s why he’s won hearts on both sides of the divide between life and death. But when a childhood friend disappears, Odd discovers something worse than a dead body and embarks on a heart-stopping battle of will and wits with an enemy of exceptional cunning. In the hours to come there can be no innocent bystanders, and every sacrifice can tip the balance between despair and hope. You’re invited on an unforgettable journey through a world of terror and transcendence to wonders beyond imagining. And you can have no better guide than Odd Thomas.
Brother Odd (2006)
Loop me in, odd one. The words, spoken in the deep of night by a sleeping child, chill the young man watching over her. For this was a favorite phrase of Stormy Llewellyn, his lost love. In the haunted halls of the isolated monastery where he had sought peace, Odd Thomas is stalking spirits of an infinitely darker nature. As he steadfastly journeys toward his mysterious destiny, Odd Thomas has established himself as one of the most beloved and unique fictional heroes of our time. Now, wielding all the power and magic of a master storyteller at the pinnacle of his craft, Dean Koontz follows Odd into a singular new world where he hopes to make a fresh beginning—but where he will meet an adversary as old and inexorable as time itself.
Odd Hours (2008)
Only a handful of fictional characters are recognized by first name alone. Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas is one such literary hero, who has come alive in readers’ imaginations as he explores the greatest mysteries of this world and the next with his inimitable wit, heart, and quiet gallantry. Now Koontz follows Odd as he is drawn onward, to a destiny he cannot imagine. Haunted by dreams of an all-encompassing red tide, Odd is pulled inexorably to the sea, to a small California coastal town where nothing is as it seems.
Odd Interlude (2012)
There’s room at the inn. But you might not get out.Nestled on a lonely stretch along the Pacific coast, quaint roadside outpost Harmony Corner offers everything a weary traveler needs—a cozy diner, a handy service station, a cluster of cottages . . . and the Harmony family homestead presiding over it all. But when Odd Thomas and company stop to spend the night, they discover that there’s more to this secluded haven than meets the eye—and that between life and death, there is something more frightening than either.
Odd Apocalypse (2012)
Once presided over by a Roaring ’20s Hollywood mogul, the magnificent West Coast estate known as Roseland now harbors a reclusive billionaire financier and his faithful servants—and their guests: Odd Thomas, the young fry cook who sees the dead and tries to help them, and Annamaria, his inscrutably charming traveling companion. Fresh from a harrowing clash with lethal adversaries, they welcome their host’s hospitality. But Odd’s extraordinary eye for the uncanny detects disturbing secrets that could make Roseland more hell than haven. Soon enough the house serves up a taste of its terrors, as Odd begins to unravel the darkest mystery of his curious career. What consequences await those who confront evil at its most profound? Odd only knows.
Deeply Odd (2013)
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.
You Are Destined To Be Together Forever (2014)
Amid the dizzying rides, tantalizing games of chance, and fanciful attractions of a state fair, two teenage sweethearts on the cusp of life and love’s pleasures find their way to a shadowy carnival tent brimming with curiosities. There, from the bizarre and enthralling Gypsy Mummy, a mechanized merchant of dreams and prognosticator of tomorrows, the young couple learns what fate promises for them. But fate, for Odd Thomas and Stormy Llewellyn, is something altogether different: full of dark corners, sharp edges, and things no seer or soothsayer could ever anticipate. And for Odd Thomas, a gallant fry cook from a sleepy California desert town, the future beckons—to listen to unquiet spirits, pursue unsettling mysteries, and learn shocking truths . . . for a purpose far greater than himself.
Saint Odd (2015)
Odd Thomas is back where it all started . . . because the time has come to finish it. Since he left his simple life in the small town of Pico Mundo, California, his journey has taken him to places strange and wonderful, mysterious and terrifying. Across the land, in the company of mortals and spirits alike, he has known kindness and cruelty, felt love and loss, saved lives and taken them—as he’s borne witness to humanity’s greatest good and darkest evil. Again and again, he has gone where he must and done what he had to do—for better or worse—with his courage and devotion sorely tested, and his soul forever changed. Every triumph has been hard won. Each sacrifice has taken its toll. Now, whatever destiny drives him has finally steered his steps home, where those he cares for most surround him, the memory of his tragically lost true love haunts him, and one last challenge—vast and dreadful—awaits him. For Odd Thomas, born to serve a purpose far greater than himself, the wandering is done. Only the reckoning remains.
In Odd We Trust (2008)
Odd Thomas is a regular nineteen-year-old with an unusual gift: the ability to see the lingering spirits of the dead. To Odd, it’s not such a big deal. And most folks in sleepy Pico Mundo, California, are much more interested in the irresistible pancakes Odd whips up at the local diner. Still, communing with the dead can be useful. Because while some spirits only want a little company . . . others want justice.When the sad specter of a very frightened boy finds its way to him, Odd vows to root out the evil suddenly infecting the sunny streets of Pico Mundo. But even with his exceptional ability–plus the local police and his pistol-packing girlfriend, Stormy, backing him–is Odd any match for a faceless stalker who’s always a step ahead . . . and determined to kill again?
Odd Is On Our Side (2010)
It’s Halloween in Pico Mundo, California, and there’s a whiff of something wicked in the autumn air. While the town prepares for its annual festivities, young fry cook Odd Thomas can’t shake the feeling that make-believe goblins and ghouls aren’t the only things on the prowl. And he should know, since he can see what others cannot: the spirits of the restless dead. But even his frequent visitor, the specter of Elvis Presley, can’t seem to point Odd in the right direction.With the help of his gun-toting girlfriend, Stormy, Odd is out to uncover the terrible truth. Is something sinister afoot in the remote barn guarded by devilish masked men? Has All Hallows Eve mischief taken a malevolent turn? Or is the pleading ghost of a trick-or-treater a frightening omen of doom?
House Odd (2012)
Transforming a ramshackle mansion into a dream house has become a nightmare for onetime Hollywood producer Nedra Nolan, whose newly purchased fixer-upper in Pico Mundo has sent a string of spooked contractors scurrying off the job, claiming the place is haunted. Who’s she gonna call? Her friend recommends Odd Thomas, the mild-mannered young man with a gift for communing with ghosts who won’t rest in peace. With his soul mate and sidekick, Stormy Llewellyn, in tow, Odd agrees to investigate the eerie incidents. But his spirit-seeking style is cramped by the obnoxious TV ghost hunters Nedra hires to flush out the troublesome phantoms with elaborate gadgets . . . and a psychic cat. As night falls and a raging storm traps them all in the mazelike manse, Odd tries in vain to scare up some lost souls. But instead, something more terrifying than any apparition—something with flesh, blood, and teeth—makes its sinister presence known. And with nowhere to hide, Odd and his fellow hunters suddenly become the prey.
