Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

I finished Odd Hours by Dean Koontz Friday evening. I am not one to pace myself and enjoy a book over a long period of time. Living in Puget Sound allows me to luxuriate with a good book for hours on end because I don’t have to feel guilty about staying inside on a gorgeous day. Don’t get me wrong if it’s even a marginally gorgeous day I’m out there.

I suppose, without fail, that I run out and buy Dean Koontz’s books as soon as they hit the bookstore because he usually has a very smart and unique dog in it and of course I can see many of that supernatural pups traits in my own four-legged companion. I also look forward to Trixie, his beloved Golden Retrievers picture on the book jacket. I actually cried when I bought his last book, The Darkest Evening Of The Year, I new the second I looked at the shining, smiling Trixie that she had passed on. The book was dedicated to her and the plot involved a Golden Retriever Rescue group. Of course the book compelled me to donate to a local such group.

Odd Hours protagonist Odd Thomas sees dead people. He has a wonderful ghost dog companion. Not surprisingly a living Golden Retriever, who can sense Boo, the ghost dog helps Odd at one point and then Boo helps Raphael, the Golden, find Odds other friends so he can ride off into the sunset with Boo, Odd and Annamaria, an ethereal pregnant twenty year old with psycic ties to the dead love of Odds life, Stormy Llewellyn.

The mix of mystery, fantasy and way to many adjectives is a good versus evil story with good having to do some evil to overcome evil. I think as in most of his books Koontz is making a social statement. The people "society" should be able to trust, ie law enforcement, clergy, elected officials are often times greedy, power hungry and will do anything including bombing 4 cities to complete their agenda.

Yesterday was a sunny work in the yard day, not a good curl up with a book day. I consoled myself by perusing the new, The New Yorker maganzine.