Odd Thomas (Odd Thomas, #1)

by Dean Koontz

We are not, however, a species that can choose the baggage with which it must travel. In spite of our best intentions, we always find that we have brought along a suitcase or two of darkness, and misery.

Unlike the beasts of the wild, the many cruel varieties of human monsters, when at last cornered, seldom fight with greater ferocity. Instead, they reveal the cowardice at the core of their brutality.

Minutes after he spoke the word bodach in my presence, he was crushed to death between a runaway truck and a concrete-block wall.

Um. Wow. It's so eerie that this is the exact same tragic way that Anton Yelchin (the actor who portrayed Odd in the movie) died in real life. :(

“Two cows, make ’em cry, give ’em blankets, and mate ’em with pigs.” Two hamburgers with onions, cheese, and bacon.

Hehe I like this.

“Double spuds twice in Hell.” Two orders of French fries made extra crispy.

Lol fantastic.

She said: “Burn two British, send ’em to Philly for fish.” Two English muffins with cream cheese and lox. She wasn’t finished: “Clean up the kitchen, plus midnight whistleberries with zeppelins.” An order of hash, and an order of black beans with sausages.

lol this is honestly so very creative

I’ve since discovered that many human beings need no supernatural mentoring to commit acts of savagery; some people are devils in their own right, their telltale horns having grown inward to facilitate their disguise.

According to her, she’s not ambitious, just easily bored and in need of stimulation. I have frequently offered to stimulate her. She says she’s talking about mental stimulation. I tell her that, in case she hasn’t noticed, I do have a brain. She says there’s definitely no brain in my one-eyed snake and that what might be in my big head is still open to debate.

Hehehe

None of us ever knows when he’s approaching the end of his road.

“Best thing that can happen to a man is a good woman.”

Hear, hear!

Keep busy, Granny Sugars used to say, even if with poker, fighting, and fast cars, because idleness will get you in worse trouble.

I love it.

Most people desperately desire to believe that they are part of a great mystery, that Creation is a work of grace and glory, not merely the result of random forces colliding. Yet each time that they are given but one reason to doubt, a worm in the apple of the heart makes them turn away from a thousand proofs of the miraculous, whereupon they have a drunkard’s thirst for cynicism, and they feed upon despair as a starving man upon a loaf of bread.

Food for thought.

When I glanced at Stormy, she made a gesture that meant either “get on with it” or “up yours.”

Hehe

When Chief Porter came back, he said, “Why is he vandalizing St. Bart’s?” “Don’t have a clue, sir. He tried to trap me and Stormy in the church belfry—” “What were you doing in the belfry?” “Having a picnic, sir.” “I suppose that makes sense to you.” “Yes, sir. It’s nice. We have dinner up there a couple times a month.”

Hehe it's so cute how folks adore Odd.

“Does he keep severed heads in his refrigerator?” “I didn’t open his refrigerator.” “Where else would you expect to find severed heads?” “I wasn’t looking for any.”

lol morbid but comical.

Brushing swordfish crumbs off my shirt, she said, “You have to learn to listen with more than your ears.” “What orifice do you suggest I listen with?” “Don’t be crude. It doesn’t become you. I mean, sometimes you have to listen with your heart.” “I’ve listened with my heart for so long I’ve periodically had to swab earwax out of my aortal valve.”

Lol so awkward

A cynic once said that the most identifying trait of humanity is our ability to be inhumane to one another.

That cynic sounds like a smart dude.

Granny Sugars always railed against negative thinking because she superstitiously believed that when we worry about being afflicted by one evil or another, we are in fact inviting in the very devil that we fear and are assuring the occurrence of the event we dread.

I love Granny Sugars.

Screens and bars could foil moths and maniacs, but neither could keep out bodachs. Five of them were in the room.

Oh no...

Very likely, in St. Bart’s cemetery, when Robertson had given me the finger as I’d looked down on him from the bell tower, he had not been a living man but an apparition.

Well dang. Who killed him then? And who destroyed the church?

Recognizing the structure of your psychology doesn’t mean that you can easily rebuild it. The Chamber of Unreasonable Guilt is part of my mental architecture, and I doubt that I will ever be able to renovate that particular room in this strange castle that is me.

I like the way you put that.

Even in chaos, there is order, purpose, and strange meaning that invites—but often thwarts—our investigation and our understanding.

Life, Stormy says, is not about how fast you run or even with what degree of grace. It’s about perseverance, about staying on your feet and slogging forward no matter what.

She be wise.

I find that sometimes I must pause if ultimately I am to persevere.

“In the belly of Leviathan, Mr. Thomas, one can either despair and perish, or be cheerful and persevere.”

Being polite is not only the right way to respond to people but also the easiest. Life is so filled with unavoidable conflict that I see no reason to promote more confrontations.

Perseverance is impossible if we don’t permit ourselves to hope.

We may lack riches, but the greatest fortune is what lies in our hearts.