Odd Thomas

This section represents a critical turning point where the story takes a dramatic shift. Koontz employs several major plot twists, a hallmark of the thriller genre, to challenge both the plot’s trajectory and the reader’s expectations. The unexpected quality of this story, which is told by Odd and that has already played out, continues to speak to The Interconnectedness of Destiny and Free Will. Although Odd is telling the narrative and it has already been predetermined, because it has already happened, the details of it alter at times and generally feel unpredictable. Odd himself states that he is an unreliable narrator. These chapters continue to see him trying to control the narrative and referencing his inability to always do so. He even sees spirits that he does not know are spirits; he sees predetermined elements without knowing they are predetermined elements.

The first plot twist revolves around the revelation that Bob Robertson, until now the sole sinister figure that loomed over the story, is dead. He was murdered by way of a gunshot wound to the chest. This revelation leaves Odd reeling. His death leads to questions about the assumptions and clues established throughout the earlier chapters. Odd’s realization that the version of Robertson he saw earlier was, in fact, a ghost further compounds this mystery. The way spirits appear in Odd Thomas makes it challenging for Odd to differentiate between the living and the deceased when he’s alone or can’t rely on others to confirm a person’s presence. Ghosts are neither invisible nor transparent to him. Instead, they appear solid and can interact with Odd. The only way to differentiate them is if they choose for their wounds to appear in their ghostly forms. Robertson’s spirit does not accept his death, so the wound does not appear on him.

The twist here comes from the fact that the actual threat is not Robertson himself but rather what his death implies. On Odd’s way home, he sees many bodachs gathering around the houses of those he assumes are meant to be the victims of whatever is coming. If the mastermind of the plan is no longer alive, they should have dissipated, but this is not the case. Odd concludes that Robertson had an accomplice who decided he was a liability. However, all his prior conclusions relied on Robertson as the sole perpetrator. He has no information regarding the identity of this mystery partner. This sets him back almost to where he started, with only hours to go until the attack. His panic, in combination with prior trauma regarding his mother, renders him unable to look at either Robertson’s wound or his chest tattoo. This keeps the clue that reveals the accomplice’s identity a secret from Odd and the audience for now.

Another issue comes from where Odd finds the body. Varner and Eckles left Robertson in the bathtub in Odd’s apartment in a move to frame him and divert attention away from them. This maneuver raises the stakes as Odd could become a potential suspect in the murder. He broke into Robertson’s casita earlier in the day. While most weren’t privy to this information, some knew the two had a conflict. Chief Porter would have believed him, but the others would be suspicious. As a result, Odd chooses first to move the body from his apartment and hide it at the abandoned former site of a new-age church. An earlier move he made saved him from the trap. When Odd dropped Stormy off at her apartment for the night, he noticed an unmarked police van outside. He believed they were placed there for her protection, but in reality, it was Varner and Eckles’s attempt to keep an eye on him. When Odd leaves, he exits through the back. This decision means they assumed Odd stayed with Stormy, allowing him to return home without witnesses. These events continue to speak to Good and Evil as Connected to Humanity as well. Readers see a larger battle of good and evil played out on a very human scale; all questions of good and evil are related to Odd’s individual actions and those of Varner and Eckles. These conflicts of good and evil materialize in a thriller, in a crime-centered novel with material concerns. The supernatural elements of these scenes are fantastical extensions of mundane human decisions and morality.

Once he deals with Robertson’s body, Odd goes to Chief Porter’s house to tell him that there is an accomplice. However, once there, he discovers that Porter has been shot. While he survives the attack, it leaves him hospitalized and removes one of the major sources of support and guidance that Odd relied upon earlier in the story. The development forces Odd to navigate an increasingly dangerous situation with fewer allies and raises the stakes regarding the danger the people around him are in. It also results in intense distress due to Porter being Odd’s father figure. The establishment of the familial relationship between them provides a contrast for the later chapters where Odd interacts with his biological parents. This also speaks to the theme of Earthly Sacrifice in the Name of Love. Although this theme mainly presents itself in terms of Stormy and Odd’s relationship, and the two do continue to risk their own safety and personal comfort for each other and their love, readers also see Odd taking risks for Porter here as well as Porter taking risks for Odd. These characters endure difficult situations and even suffer bodily harm for the ideal of love between them. Odd also continues to prove himself, in his dealings with earthly matters, as deserving an eternal life with Stormy in the afterlife.

The circumstances of the attack on Chief Porter add another layer of mystery. Karla tells Odd the chief was lured outside by a late-night call on his private line. Calling him on that line was what Odd had planned to do until he arrived and saw the house was a crime scene. Since Odd didn’t have an alibi at the time of the shooting due to him hiding Robertson’s body, he could also be considered a suspect in this shooting. The shooter is someone Porter knew and trusted. Both Varner and Eckles are members of the Pico Mundo police department. While they are the newest members of the police force, this fact would still result in Chief Porter putting his guard down around them long enough to be shot.

The section closes with Odd at the hospital. He examines Robertson’s wallet, which he took from the body, and finds a black card with braille text. The book shows the braille on the page, which reads “Father of Lies.” Any readers who can read the braille or find another way to translate it could make the connection to the devil and Satanism before Odd does. Because Robertson didn’t have blindness, Odd considers the card a potential clue.