I thought the book was good! I am guilty of comparing each novel to the first one because Odd Thomas is my favourite out of the series so far, even though each book has a different setting and new characters. I find it interesting that Odd’s companion changes from the spirit of Elvis Presley to Frank Sinatra. Odd encouraged Elvis to move on to the other side instead of continuing to linger in the in between. Once he crosses over to the other side, Frank Sinatra randomly appears on his journey to Magic Beach. I am still unaware of the significance of these musical icons other than the fact that they are “stuck” and need Odd’s word of encouragement in order to move on. Maybe their whole purpose is to accompany Odd on his adventures. Who knows?!

The part that bothered me was Annamaria. She says a number of men want to kill her and has Odd promise to die for her, but that’s it. Her character is mysterious, which is crucial to the story, but she provides very little information when Odd probes her. We don’t know her last name, who the baby’s father is, where she comes from, and why bad men are after her. She seems to know a lot of things about Odd, even things only Stormy knows (his girlfriend in the first novel who died). Clearly, Annamaria has some kind of gift or ability similar to Odd, but Dean Koontz leaves it to our imagination to put the pieces of the puzzle together. There’s something about her that I just don’t like!