I love Odd Thomas. I think he is a great character: endearing, quirky, funny. All the qualities I would want in a good friend. And of course, his ability to see ghosts, and his fundamental compassion towards those spirits, makes him special and even more admirable.
So I was fully expecting to love this book, as I did the first two in this series (Odd Thomas and Forever Odd).
Unfortunately,

***SPOILER ALERT****





the climax of this book was very disappointing. It lasted approximately 1 and 1/2 pages out of the 430 pages of the book. It was over so quickly as to be anti-climatic. There was a huge buildup fortifying the monastery against the evil forces, bringing together the Brothers and all their make-shift weapons, protecting the children at all costs, and then, bang. One shot and its all over. It was way to simple and quick of an ending for me.

And the actual ending of the book, with Odd getting out of the car and walking away with his ghost dog (too cliche for me) and Elvis, I thought Dean Koontz was making a mockery of Odd, reducing him from a full, three dimensional character whom I felt deeply for to a puppet, stringing him and me along for more books, more money, more more for Mr. Koontz.

This book was great, or more to the point, exactly what I was expecting and enjoyed and wanted to read, until chapter 48, or page 370. Then the last 60 pages of the book disappointed me and made me feel slighted and manipulated by Mr. Koontz.