In Odd We Trust by Dean Koontz: Book Review

In the small town of Pico Mundo, an unassuming fry cook by the outlandish name of Odd Thomas has a special ability; he can see the dead. They can’t speak to him but they have their own ways of communicating. After the murder of a small boy, Odd sees his spirit wandering around. It’s obvious the boy wants justice. His nanny, an old friend of Odd’s girlfriend Stormy, is worried that the killer might be targeting her other charge, a young girl. Odd and Stormy vow to do what they can to help protect the children of the town.

Odd Thomas has come to the world of graphic novels. I like the idea but it didn’t work out all that well for me.

I love Odd. He’s so good and earnest but he still has that unexpected sense of humor and hope despite all the things he’s seen. That Odd was in these pages, I just wanted more of him. I think the format limited him. In the novels, I think my favorite parts are his internal musings and it’s got to be hard to bring that through in a graphic novel. There were bits here and there, just not enough.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the style of the artwork either. In my ignorance, I’ll say it looks like anime. Feel free to correct me nicely if there’s a better word to describe it. Whatever it’s called, I just don’t generally care for it.

The story felt kind of–well, circular. They don’t really get much of anywhere. It was the same basic events a couple of times and then a big “surprise” ending that wasn’t really a surprise.

I will say that it was nice to see a beloved character from the first book who hasn’t shown back up in the rest of them. I also like the title a lot.

And that’s really all I have to say. More devoted fans of graphic novels may enjoy this more than I did. I’ll be sticking to the regular books from now on.

See my Character Connection post featuring Odd Thomas.

Find author Dean Koontz on his website and Facebook.

Read other reviews at Reading Comes From Writing, Ms Bookish, and The Good, The Bad, and The Unread.

If you liked In Odd We Trust, you might also like–oh, how about The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds and The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Stephen King, Peter David, et al. because they’re also graphic novel adaptations.

Buy In Odd We Trust at

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