In the beginning of the book, Odd Thomas is silently approached by the ghost of a young girl brutally raped and murdered, and through his unique ability to understand the dead, is psychically led to her killer, a former schoolmate named Harlo Landerson.

While working as a short order cook in a California desert town, Odd meets a suspicious-looking man in the diner followed by bodachs, shadowy spirit creatures who appear only during times of death and disaster.

Accompanied sometimes by the ghost of Elvis Presley and encountering other memorable spirits, including a murdered prostitute, Odd is soon deeply involved in an attempt to prevent the disastrous bloodshed he knows will happen the next day.

Odd leads a simple life because he has to, since he finds the job of speaking to the lingering dead complicated enough.

She reported him to a social worker and was moved to an orphanage where she lived until seventeen, at which point she was cared for by her uncle, Father Sean Llewellyn, rector of St. Bartholomew's church.

She insists on waiting for sex with Odd until marriage, hoping to make their first time together a meaningful experience and to not bring the memories of her abuse on their bed.

Robertson was approached by Eckles, Varner, and Gosset a few months before the incident at the Green Moon Mall, having met them at a satanic cult gathering.

Eckles, Varner, and Gosset killed Robertson's mother (with his permission) and gave him her ears as a trophy.

Nicknamed 'little' despite being larger than his father, Ozzie has a 6th finger on his left hand and has published many very successful detective novels.

Novelist Dean Koontz told San Diego Comic-Con attendees on July 26, 2008, that he had a movie script adapted from his book Odd Thomas and he's very pleased with the results.

Koontz also teased that an unnamed actor has signed on to play the title character, but refused to reveal any further details.

'[1] The unnamed writer was confirmed in November 2010 to be American filmmaker Stephen Sommers, who also handled the directing.

[2] After being delayed by a series of lawsuits, The Movie Insider reported that the film adaptation was scheduled for release in the United States on April 5, 2013.

[3] The movie did poorly at the box office and there will be no sequels with Anton Yelchin due to his tragic death on June 19, 2016.

The movie won the Saturn Award for Best DVD/Blu-Ray release in 2015 from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Films.