Try the first Odd Thomas book, it's excellent. The others are a bit of a letdown after the brilliance of the first. know what you mean about Mr. Koontz quality being mixed. ut, hey, you can't expect everything one author writes to be brilliant can you? I like his Frankenstein book, but I've only rea the first one. Watcher's is my favorite. Mr. Murder is pretty good.
Odd Thomas is a cook in the small California town of Pico Mundo. He has a special talent where he sees dead people. He can't speak with the dead, but they have ways of communicating him nonetheless, usually wanting him to help them. Odd can also see ominious shadows that precede death, and sometimes he can affect outcome. The story, while not free from cliche, does have surprising bits, but the best part is the prose. It's charming; it's light despite the subject matter, and the character's are extrememly likeable, especially Odd himself. This isn't a horror book, or an intense thriller, but it is just as engaging as anything else I've read. The other books int he series pale in comparison, but I keep reading them hoping for the 'wow' feeling I got from the first. It really is a case of the first book is so good, I'll be forever inclined to read the rest.
