Dea Oddie, I am going to start out sounding a bit cliche, but here goes....... I still love you. I always will. It's not you (and here the cliche ends), but it's not me either. It's the stupid stories your author keeps putting you in!I realize that you are a unique and wonderful guy. It must be difficult to create situations and settings that are worthy of you. Unfortunately, the last few have fallen short. I will keep reading because I really do love you. You always make me smile. But, it's getting harder to get through your adventures. Please, Mr. Koontz, give me a tale that I love as much as I love Oddie. If you enjoy Odd Thomas books, you'll enjoy Odd Interlude.When starting Koontz's Odd Interlude #1, I expected it would be the first of three short stories, but it's actually the first third of a novella featuring the character Odd Thomas. As usual with Koontz, things are fast-paced, well-described and exciting. I always enjoy Koontz's books because it's so easy to root for his heroes, and they don't come more likeable than Odd Thomas. He's sympathetic, humble, funny and brave.The plot is interesting, horror with a Sci-Fi twist, dealing with a scientist infected by his own experiment and gaining the ability of psychic domination. I finished Odd Interlude #1 and #2 very quickly. I got a bit bogged down in #3, but not because of Odd or the villain, who were both very good. I had some trouble with two supporting characters, Jolie, a twelve-yr-old, and an AI computer. Writing in the voice of kids is hard, and Koontz seems to think yapping on in a first person stream-of-consciousness manner portrays a teen (or Jolie anyway). Although others may find her cute, I found her annoying. I also had trouble with the AI's voice. He reminded me of Number 5 from "Short Circuit,"not a super-intelligent military computer.Regardless of these niggling disappointments, I still gave this collection 5 stars because Koontz is far better than so much of the Horror drek getting published now.
What do You think about Odd Interlude #3 (2012)?
I continue to be baffled by the ever increasing list of Odd Thomas's powers. As much as I like the character and his quirky nonchalance it bothers me that Koontz continues to add "powers" to justify Odd's immersion into every event. These are not my favorite series of books, but considering the time I have already invested I can't help but wait for the next one to see where Odd ends up and the trouble he managed to escape from. Grimly, we are reminded at the end of this interlude that none of these stories will see the light of day until Odd's time on earth is over... and that makes me inquisitive over what I'd yet to come.
—Melly
Odd Interlude was an enjoyable 3-part novella with military secret ops; a benevolent, empathetic AI; aliens; psychic phenomena (both for good & evil); theistic-philosophic messages, such as finding meaning in mystery; interesting characters; the importance of trust in relationships; and literally explosive action sequences. Not sure if it was a necessary precursor to Odd Apocalypse, which I'm reading next. Perhaps Koontz just intended it to be a filler to reacquaint readers with Odd Thomas and his quirky humour, paranormal abilities, and heroism.
—Anantasia
Loved it as I have all of the other Odd stories..
—Bel
