Deeply Odd (Odd Thomas #7)

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Title: Deeply Odd
Series: Odd Thomas
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 352
Format: Kindle







Synopsis:
Odd has a vision of a mysterious cowboy burning 3 children alive. To prevent that is the adventure that this book portrays.
Odd meets a variety of people, some really good, some really bad. He also realizes that the supernatural world that he has a limited access to is much wider and has a greater impact on our world than he previously realized.

My Thoughts:
Odd Thomas takes on a Satanic Cult.

I haven't added the horror tag onto this series until now. But this one certainly deserves it. Koontz takes a very broad based Judeo-Christian world view and throws the demons full on onto Odd. Thankfully, unlike Stephen King, Koontz also emphasizes the side of Good, no matter how peculiar they might be. It is made abundantly clear that Odd couldn't have taken on this adventure, and succeeded, without the help of many other Good people.
I like that.

Several things made me uncomfortable with this read though. I suspect it was Koontz's intent, but I still want to note them.

The children. Anytime a story revolves around the pain, suffering and possible death of children, it puts me on edge. I do not subscribe to the belief that children are "innocents". I was a child, once. I remember. I have also seen children through my adult eyes. Anyone who thinks children are innocent has never seen two 5 year olds fight over a toy and then lie like a politician about it when one of them gets hurt and the adults have to intervene. But I am a strong believer that children must be protected until such a time as they can take care of themselves, mentally, physically and emotionally. So it just makes it a hard read when children are the object of a satanic ritual.

Which brings me to the second thing that made me uncomfortable. The satanism and demons. I am a Christian and hence believe that the supernatural world is real. I believe in God. I believe that Satan is a fallen angel and that demons are other fallen angels. I believe that the devil hates God and His creation so much that he'd rather see it destroyed than exist and not be under his, Satan's, control. I believe that the devil is immensely powerful and can give some of that power to humans to further his own aims. So to just casually write about this subject sets off alarm bells in my head.

Like I said above though, I think Koontz included both those subjects as uncomfortable subjects and not just because it was convenient for the plot. Or maybe it was. Either way, while they made me uncomfortable, I liked the way Koontz handled them.

There is one more book in this series, Saint Odd. While I'm sad that this series will end, as I'm enjoying the whole of it so far, I am glad that Koontz will finish this.  A good story needs an ending and a good author will not allow said story to be the story that never ends and to have it wither on the vine, so to speak.