Through two New York Times bestselling novels Odd Thomas has established himself as one of the most beloved and unique fictional heroes of our time. Now, wielding all the power and magic of a master storyteller at the pinnacle of his craft, Dean Koontz follows Odd into a singular new world where he hopes to make a fresh beginning?but where he will meet an adversary as old and inexorable as time itself.

St. Bartholomew?s Abbey sits in majestic solitude amid the wild peaks of California?s high Sierra, a haven for children otherwise abandoned, and a sanctuary for those seeking insight. Odd Thomas has come here to learn to live fully again, and among the eccentric monks, their other guests, and the nuns and young students of the attached convent school, he has begun to find his way. The silent spirits of the dead who visited him in his earlier life are mercifully absent, save for the bell-ringing Brother Constantine and Odd?s steady companion, the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

But trouble has a way of finding Odd Thomas, and it slinks back onto his path in the form of the sinister bodachs he has met previously, the black shades who herald death and disaster, and who come late one December night to hover above the abbey?s most precious charges. For Odd is about to face an enemy who eclipses any he has yet encountered, as he embarks on a journey of mystery, wonder, and sheer suspense that surpasses all that has come before.

From the Hardcover edition.

Order Brother Odd from Amazon for $6.39

Don't have Amazon Kindle? You can always purchase it from here
Or if you prefer to read the Print editions instead, you can get it from here

Other Kindle Books of Interest
Forever Odd
Odd Thomas
The Good Guy
The Husband

Just wanted to share this opening sequence with you.

Jules Dassin and Marguerite Duras' 10.30PM SUMMER is available to rent or buy in the U.S. It contains passages of incredible Pure Cinema and the whole thing is pitched at a level too shrill and hysterical even to be called Camp. It's just Something Else.

Apart from the heightened looniness of Melina Mercouri's diva performance, there's a sense that the film looks both back to the intensity of silent cinema melodrama and forward to the more delirious aspects of '60s art-house. There's a night drive through narrow streets, lit only by car headlights, that directly prefigures Terence Stamp's Ferrari jaunt in Fellini's episode of SPIRITS OF THE DEAD. Almost identical! And there's the rather surprising nudity and sexual frankness. And this wild opening, which has Giallo tendencies, plus that mysterious symphony of sounds. Watch it, then watch it again with your eyes closed. I mean, LISTEN to it.

The editing is superb, even when it goes into paroxysms of anti-continuity to control the amount of Nudity Level. I love the three quick shots of thunderous sky which make the heavens alive and menacing.

And Gabor Pogany's lighting is something I can only describe using beatnik parlance (dons beret): he "blows my mind," "flips my lid," is "real gone," etc.