Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz

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Odd Thomas #5

          This is my first Odd Thomas book. I liked it, but cannot decide if I liked it well enough to put the first book in the series on my TBR list. I am definitely looking forward to the next one, though.

          This is a horror story, but includes my favorite literary device, time travel. And Odd is funny. He may have a deep familiarity with ghosts and ghouls, but he has a wonderful sense of humor. Or at least a sense of humor that tickles my fancy.

          In this story, Odd and his pregnant friend Annamaria have been invited to stay at a rich man's estate. It quickly becomes clear that this place is unusual. Odd is approached by the shade of a woman riding a huge black horse, though that is not what makes things unusual. She needs him to help her nine year old son. And yet she died decades earlier. But Annamaria concurs that the woman's nine year old son is the one Odd must help.

          But there does not appear to be a child on the estate. Odd starts doing some exploring and discovers some downright terrifying creatures are roaming the place. He also discovers that the staff are not quite what they appear to be. And, the place is filled weird machinery. He is more and more confused, but trusting Annamaria and his Gift, continues to snoop. His efforts finally pay off when he discovers a nine year old boy tucked into a room off the corner of the library mezzanine.

          Odd must rescue the boy from violent pig-apes from a future time as well as from the homicidal estate owner and staff who have figured out how to avoid aging. And once they leave the estate grounds they have no idea how being separated from the environs of the estate will affect young Timothy.

          But, escape they do, and find a new place to settle down to await Odd's next ghostly calling.