Forever Odd

I love Dean Koontz. Some of his early stuff featured a few too many eyeballs in jars to suit my psyche, but lately I've been lapping up his books like water. My neighborhood book club--a group of mostly middle-aged ladies--read his LIFE EXPECTANCY, and many of them were reading Koontz for the first time. They loved him.

I read ODD THOMAS right after it came out and fell in love with Odd. And tonight I've begun reading FOREVER ODD, and it didn't take two pages for me to fall back into the story. It's not like I remember much about the previous book, but I so liked Odd that I've signed on for this new adventure with my whole heart.

That's what Koontz does right. This character (the first, I think, that Koontz has ever written in first person) is unabashedly led by his heart, but while he deals with sorrow and grief and suffering, he does it with a delightful sense of humor and endearing vulnerability. Koontz is a master at creating a character with only a few verbal "strokes," and I can't wait to set aside an hour or two so I can delve into this story.

BJ Hoff and I have often engaged in a bit of Cinderella talk--we're always saying that one day we're going to California to ask Mr. Koontz (and his wife and dog, if they want to come) to lunch. We just want to sit and grin at the man . . . and chat with him, if he'll let us. (VBG).

I mean, how can you not love a man who dedicates his book to his DOG? Here's the dedication: "This book is for Trixie, though she will never read it. On the most difficult days at the keyboard, when I despaired, she could always make me laugh. The words good dog are inadequate in her case. She is a good heart and a kind soul, and an angel on four feet."

Not only do I find the above dedication heartwarming because of my love for my own Charlie Gansky, but I find it incredibly reassuring to know that Dean Koontz has difficult and despairing days at the keyboard. Ahhhh. Thank heaven for our dogs.

Angie