Once in a very great while, an author does everything right-as Koontz has 
in this marvelous novel. Odd Thomas, who narrates, is odd indeed: only 20, 
he works contentedly as a fry cook in a small fictional California town, 
despite a talent for writing. The reason for his lack of ambition? A much 
rarer talent: Odd sees and converses with ghosts, the lingering dead who 
have yet to pass on, a secret he has kept from nearly everyone but his 
girlfriend, an eccentric author friend and the local police chief, whom 
he occasionally helps solve terrible crimes. Odd also has the ability to 
see bodachs, malevolent spirits that feast on pain and whose presence 
signifies a likelihood of imminent violence. The proximity of bodachs to 
a weird-looking stranger in town, whom Odd dubs "Fungus Man," alerts Odd 
that trouble is brewing; breaking into Fungus Man's house, Odd discovers 
not only hundreds of bodachs but a shrine to serial killers that helps 
him deduce that somehow Fungus Man will wreak widespread havoc very soon-
so Odd is caught in a classic race against time to deter catastrophe. 

As with Koontz's best novels, this one features electrifying tension and 
suspense, plus a few walloping surprises. But Koontz fans know that the 
author has recently added humor to his arsenal of effects, and this thriller 
also stands out for its brilliant tightrope walk between the amusing and 
the macabre; one of the dead with whom Odd interacts frequently, for instance, 
is Elvis, still pining for his long-dead mother, Gladys. Above all, the story, 
like most great stories, runs on character-and here Koontz has created a 
hero whose honest, humble voice will resonate with many. In some recent 
books, Koontz has tended to overwrite, but not here: the narrative is as 
simple and clear as a newborn's gaze. This is Koontz working at his pinnacle, 
providing terrific entertainment that deals seriously with some of the deepest 
themes of human existence: the nature of evil, the grip of fate and the power 
of love.
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“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. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed 
of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in 
love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe 
he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries 
to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want 
justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police 
chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. 
But this time it's different.

A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet 
stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-
like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, 
not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a 
page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15. 

Today is August 14.

In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. 
As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting 
prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of 
his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of 
Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate 
and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares—and a testament by 
which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that 
even in the darkness must persevere.