Line #101 Literature/OddThomas


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2	%% In addition, please format example lists correctly:
3	%% Each example should only be one trope. No "slash" entries, and do not pothole the name of the trope. See Administrivia/HowToWriteAnExample
4	%% Spoiler formatting can't cover up the name of the trope. See Administrivia/SpoilerPolicy
5
6	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oddthomas_1731.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:330:''"Loop me in, odd one."'']]
8
9	->''"I see dead people. But then, by God, I do something about it."''
10	-->-- '''Odd Thomas'''
11
12	Odd Thomas (it's his name, not an adjective) lives in Pico Mundo. Odd Thomas is a fry cook at a short order grill. Odd Thomas is polite, friendly, and well-liked by his neighbors.
13
14	Odd Thomas [[ISeeDeadPeople can see the spirits of the restless dead]].
15
16	In the series written by Creator/DeanKoontz, seven ''Odd Thomas'' novels exist (with Saint Odd being the final), as well as a four-episode web series, [[ComicBook/OddThomas three graphic novels]], and an {{interquel}} novella.
17
18	'''Titles, in Order of Release:'''
19	* ''Odd Thomas'' (2003)
20	* ''Forever Odd'' (2005)
21	* ''Brother Odd'' (2006)
22	* ''Odd Passenger'' (Web Series, 2008)
23	* ''Odd Hours'' (2008)
24	* ''Odd Interlude'' (eBook Novella, 2012)
25	* ''Odd Apocalypse'' (2012)
26	* ''Deeply Odd'' (2013)
27	* ''Saint Odd'' (2015)
28
29	In 2013, Creator/StephenSommers (of ''Film/VanHelsing'' and ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' fame) wrote and directed a [[Film/OddThomas film adaptation of the first novel]]. Originally available through satellite tv provider [=DirecTV=] it is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD.
30
31	The ''Odd Thomas'' movie was released in the US on February 28, 2014 and is now available on iTunes and Netflix (US).
32
33	----
34	!!This series contains examples of:
35
36	[[foldercontrol]]
37
38	[[folder:General]]
39	* AbusiveParents: Odd's dad is a narcissistic attention whore. Odd's mom is TheOphelia [[spoiler: who threatened her son and herself with a gun when she felt overwhelmed by the responsibility of having a child]]. Stormy's adoptive father apparently just adopted her as some kind of sex toy and did so until she finally worked up the courage to call social services.
40	%% * ActionSurvivor
41	* AlternateContinuity: While not confirmed yet, it's implied that the graphic novels take place in a different timeline than the main novels - mainly because [[spoiler:Stormy is still alive and the events therein wouldn't make sense if they were ''all'' before the second novel]].
42	* AngelUnaware: Annamaria is heavily implied to be something more than human [[spoiler: which is confirmed in ''Saint Odd,'' though she isn't an angel]].
43	* ArcWords: "Loop me in, odd one."
44	** "You are destined to be together forever."
45	* AuthorTract: Odd occasionally laps into little sermons about what's wrong with modern civilization, i.e. liberalism, irreligion, scientism, mass media, utilitarian bioethics, etc.
46	* AuthorVocabularyCalendar: Despite a very working-class background, Odd has the vocabulary and cadences of a college professor and constantly drops fifty-dollar words. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by Little Ozzie's influence and, possibly, editing.
47	* BadassUnintentional: Odd never wanted his powers and he'd rather have a boring, uneventful life cooking, selling tires or maybe even sticking promotional flyers on people's cars, but because of his gift he frequently becomes the only person with enough knowledge to stop something bad from happening and does so.
48	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Some famous people, like Elvis and Frank Sinatra, help Odd in his quest to fight demon-worshippers and other villains. It all happens post-mortem for them - they're ghosts who for different reasons haven't crossed into the proper afterlife yet.
49	* BerserkButton: Don't murder someone, especially in a gruesome way. Don't ever, ever threaten a child. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Never tell Odd that his pancakes suck.]]
50	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Odd could be the poster boy for this trope. Gentle, kind, polite, tries to avoid violence, courteous... that is until he finds out you murdered, hurt, or tortured someone or threaten one of his friends or acquaintances, then, well, you've got one heck of a badass {{Determinator}} on your tail and he ''will'' stop you from ever hurting anyone again.
51	* BigGood: [[spoiler: Mrs. Edie Fischer]] assumes this role in the final couple books.
52	%% * BlessedWithSuck: Odd, by his own estimation.
53	* CatsAreMean: Little Ozzie's cat, Terrible Chester, who endeavors to pee on the shoes of everyone he doesn't like. This category includes pretty much everyone in Pico Mundo except Ozzie.
54	* CelibateHero: Because Stormy wanted to wait until they were married [[spoiler: and since her death he refuses because he's still staying true to her.]]
55	%% * ChronicHeroSyndrome: Not by choice, but see "TheDeterminator" below.
56	* CluelessChickMagnet: Odd is so much in love with Stormy that he doesn't even notice when other girls try to hit on him, which they do with more frequency than his self-deprecating descriptions of himself would seem to warrant.
57	* CombatPragmatist: Odd. Cats, brooms, mops, and, well, anything that is handy, and yes, he will use every dirty trick in the book if it means bringing a fight to a close.
58	%% * ComicBookAdaptation: as an OELManga.
59	%% * [[CoolOldGuy Cool Old Lady]]: Granny Sugars in Odd's backstory.
60	* CrazyInTheHeadCrazyInTheBed: Odd's father firmly believes that the more unstable a woman is, the better she'll be in bed. Odd's mother must have been a fantastic lay by that logic, since her method of dealing with stress in Odd's childhood was to threaten to shoot herself every time he needed something (and once even pressed a gun to his eye because he was coughing).
61	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Happy childhood? The only part of his childhood that Odd recalls with fondness is when his grandmother would take time off from gambling and traveling the country to visit him.
62	%% * DeadpanSnarker: Odd himself falls into this category, but the real Snarker Award goes to the love of his life, Stormy.
63	%% * DemonicPossession: ''House of Odd'' and maybe ''Odd Hours''. These are ''not'' the ghosts Odd usually sees.
64	* TheDeterminator: Odd Thomas. Once he is contacted by the unquiet dead, no amount of reasoning or threatening can get him off the case. Odd himself comments on how much trouble this gets him in.
65	* DoesntLikeGuns: Odd, of the traumatic childhood tragedy variety. However, he will pick up a gun if the situation is dire enough; he doesn't want someone to die because he couldn't overcome his fear/aversion.
66	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Pretty much Odd's reason for existing [[spoiler: after Stormy dies. He wants to join her in "service" in the afterlife and feels he won't be able to if he gives up. Also the reason he becomes {{The Determinator}}.]]
67	%% * EvilIsPetty: A recurring theme in the series. In almost every book there's a scene of one or more ''extremely'' evil characters acting either like petulant children or the dullest bores you ever met.
68	%% * FightsLikeANormal: Odd's powers are useless in a fight.
69	* FirstPersonSmartass: Subverted in that Odd is so hilariously ''humble'' about his smartassery. Many readers hear him speaking with Toby [=McGuire's=] voice.
70	%% * FriendOnTheForce: Chief Wyatt Porter
71	%% * FullNameBasis: Rosalia Sanches calls Odd by his full name all the time.
72	%% * GoodIsNotDumb
73	* HerosMuse: Stormy. [[spoiler: One of the things that keeps Odd going when things get really is that he doesn't want to disappoint her by backing off when he can do something to stop something terrible from happening.]]
74	%% * HumbleHero: Odd, full stop.
75	* ImprovisedWeapon: Odd usually uses some normal, everyday item as a weapon at least once per book.
76	* IndyPloy: This is the way Odd works in dangerous situations, he's helped by his psychic instincts.
77	%% * IntangibleTimeTravel: Odd's theory about the bodachs.
78	* IronicNickname: Little Ozzie, who weighs 450 pounds.
79	* ISeeDeadPeople: Odd can see the spirits of the dead. They can't speak to him, but he does his best to help them find rest anyway.
80	%% * JacobMarleyApparel: Played straight, with major exceptions made for Elvis and Sinatra
81	* LimitedWardrobe: Odd has a small wardrobe of simple clothes like jeans, chinos, sneakers and T-shirts. This is partly because he has no interest in fashion and partly because he often finds himself travelling at a moment's notice, a situation where bringing a large amount of luggage wouldn't be practical.
82	* LivingShadow: The bodachs, which appear as intangible shadows near sites of impending violence.
83	%% * MementoMacguffin: The fortuneteller prediction ticket that says "You are destined to be together forever."
84	%% * MysteriousWaif: Annamaria.
85	* NarrativeProfanityFilter: After the first couple books, Odd describes profanity more often than transcribes it, usually by replacing it with a more literal and formalized version of the word:
86	-->'''Odd:''' "He called me a rectum."
87	%% * NiceGuy: Odd.
88	* NoodleIncident: Odd peppers his narrative with references to previous adventures that he never explains in detail.
89	** The first mentioned is him being dumped into the Malo Suerto Lake chained to a pair of dead bodies. He lives.
90	** There's also mention of an angry cross-eyed ferret that was able to get him out of another scrape.
91	** And the men in porkpie hats who tried to crush him to death with heavy machinery.
92	* OnceKilledAManWithANoodleImplement: (Probably) non-letal case. Once Odd recounts a list of improvized weapons, which he effectively used for self-defence:
93	--> Over the years, in pinches and crunches, I have survived--often just barely--by the effective use of such weapons as fists, feet, knees, elbows, a baseball bat, a shovel, a knife, a rubber snake, a real snake, three expensive antique porcelain vases, about a hundred gallons of molten tar, a bucket, a lug wrench, an angry cross-eyed ferret, a broom, a frying pan, a toaster, butter, a fire hose, and a large bratwurst.
94	* ParentalAbandonment: Odd's parents are so messed up that Odd was essentially raised by his grandmother, and started living independently at 16.
95	* {{Poltergeist}}: The vast majority of the ghosts Odd encounters are intangible, and none of them can directly harm the living. However, get certain powerful ghosts riled up enough, and you will find yourself being bombarded by anything that's not nailed down - and a few things that are...
96	* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Odd is occasionally troubled by these. So is one of his neighbors.
97	* PsychicPowers: In addition to being able to see the dead, Odd uses what he calls "psychic magnetism" to find people, and he seems to have an almost supernatural ability at card playing, which he attributes to "sensing" when his hand is better or worse than others'. Other people have (inaccurately) attributed to him things like precognition and dream interpretation (but see above).
98	%% * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Chief Wyatt Porter, one of the few people who knows about Odd's gift.
99	* RedHerring: As it's a staple of the mystery/suspense genre, even Odd's psychic powers and great intuition occasionally lead him to false conclusions, however briefly.
100	* ReligionOfEvil: Basically every book is Odd having to deal with one of these. The first book is Satanists, the second a psycho woman that has traveled all over the world studying occult stuff, the third is a guy that thinks he can create life, the fifth are [[spoiler: a group of people who think they're gods]], and the sixth are another (even worse) group of Satanists.
101	** The first graphic novel has [[spoiler:a man who believes he sold his soul to the Devil for immortality]], but the second averts this.
102	%% * RightManInTheWrongPlace: Pretty much the consequence of Odd's being BlessedWithSuck.
103	%% * SelfDeprecation: Odd is a master of this trope.
104	%% * ShellShockedVeteran: Again, Odd Thomas. He ''starts out'' this way, having been through numerous life-or-death situations before the series ever begins. [[spoiler:Then Stormy dies.]]
105	* SpiritAdvisor: Inverted. Odd is an adviser to ghosts.
106	** Played straight with the spirit of [[spoiler: Creator/AlfredHitchcock]].
107	%% * StealthInsult: Odd is very, very good at these.
108	%% * UnreliableNarrator: Odd again, at the behest of Little Ozzy, to keep the tone of the books light.
109	* TheVerse: Brother Salvatore, aka Brother Knuckles; the ex-mafia enforcer turned monk from ''Brother Odd'' has a brief cameo at the beginning of ''Lost Souls'', the fourth book of Koontz's ''Frankenstein'' series; where he is an associate of Deucalion (i.e., the Monster). They meet at St. Bartholomew's, setting of ''Brother Odd''; and there are other references to that setting.
110	** ''Odd Interlude'' takes place just outside of Moonlight Bay, the setting of Koontz' Christopher Snow series.
111	** Another book references a plane crash that killed all but a little girl on board, a reference to ''Sole Survivor''.
112	* WouldHitAGirl: Odd is very reluctant to, but will if she is going to kill or hurt someone else.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:''Odd Thomas'']]
116	%% * ActionGirlfriend: Stormy, who, unlike Odd, has no problem about using a gun.
117	* AllTakeAndNoGive: Odd's mom is a friendly, beautiful woman, who absolutely cannot psychologically handle literally any kind of situation that demands anything from her. She instantly responds with threats of self-harm and shocking verbal abuse.
118	* AxeCrazy: Odd's mother frequently threatens to shoot herself if faced with any situation that she doesn't want to handle. This has, in the past, included pregnancy with and raising Odd himself. She also threatened to shoot him with it when he was sick because he was coughing too much and crying for her.
119	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: In-Universe example. Odd describes a bizarre encounter with UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, in which the former President, dressed in the hospital pajamas he died in, got off a bus, looked around, spotted Odd, mooned him, and then got on another bus.
120	* CannibalLarder: Thomas finds a very tidy such larder in the killer's refrigerator. It's unclear if they are truly intended for eating, or are just trophies.
121	* CharacterTitle: The book is named after the main character, Odd Thomas.
122	* ChastityCouple: Odd and the love of his life, Stormy, are this because of Stormy's traumatic childhood sexual abuse, and his willingness to wait until she's ready. [[spoiler: Tragically, they never will, because she perishes partway through the story.]]
123	* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler: Fungus Man is killed by his partners before even encountering Odd.]]
124	* EmbarrassingFirstName: Stormy's real first name is Bronwen. Use it at your peril.
125	* {{Ephebophile}}: Odd's dad likes dating 19-year-old girls who look 16. Odd's mother was one such girl. It is implied that this started after Dad got in trouble for soliciting a minor.
126	* [[EvilDetectingDog Evil Detecting Cat]]: Terrible Chester arches his back and hisses when he sees [[spoiler:the ghost of]] Fungus Man standing on Little Ozzie's front lawn.
127	* {{Foreshadowing}}: One of the warning signs that [[spoiler:Stormy dies at the mall]] is that Odd goes through the store that she works in and there's a small group of people clustered together crying.
128	%% * HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Odd after the events at the mall.]]
129	* HollywoodSatanism: Invoked. [[spoiler:The ''real'' BigBad of the first novel]] was disappointed that real satanists didn't fit the stereotypes from horror movies, so he and a small group of friends started their own little offshoot that indulged in all that stuff.
130	* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: When Odd enters a portal that spawns bodachs, he finds a dark void with a red light in it before being dumped back out [[spoiler:several minutes in the past.]] When he tells Stormy, she says it's the portal to Hell (since the bodachs are dark spirits that usually serve as harbingers of suffering). Odd stews on this, and comes up with a more horrifying theory: [[spoiler:The portal actually leads to a distant BadFuture where humans are so downright [[HumansAreBastards evil]] that they go back in time just to view death and destruction. They can't actually manifest fully in our time, so they become the canine-esque bodachs when they travel here.]]
131	%% * InSeriesNickname: "Fungus Man".
132	* PeacefulInDeath: Granny Sugars died in her sleep at age 72. According to Odd, "They found her with a nearly empty snifter of brandy on the nightstand, a book by her favorite novelist opened to the last page, and a smile on her face."
133	* [[ShoutOutLiterature Shout-Out]]:
134	** "[[Film/TheSixthSense I see dead people.]] But then, by god, I do something about it."
135	** On encountering a demonic entity, Odd quotes from ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'': "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."
136	* SkeletonKeyCard: Odd uses his driver's license to break into "Fungus Man's" house.
137	* TechnicalPacifist: Odd is afraid of guns (thanks to his psycho mom), but he manages to shoot two would-be mass murderers.
138	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: This is pretty much used in the fact that [[spoiler: it's made to seem that Stormy lives through the mass murder at the mall, when instead it's just Odd's ability fooling the reader into thinking she's alive. Odd even says, "For a while I had gone mad."]]
139	* WhamEpisode: At the end, when it's revealed that [[spoiler: Stormy died in the shooting at the mall.]]
140	* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Occasionally Odd wonders if his gifts are related to the insanity that seems to run in his family.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:''Forever Odd'']]
144	%% * AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Under Pico Mundo, and suspected to be part of [[MythArc a conspiratorial government project]].
145	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Odd describes the fallout of a deadly casino fire, listing off fraud indictments, bankruptcy claims, federal charges, "... and one sex change operation."
146	%% * AxeCrazy: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Datura]]]]. And how!
147	* BigDamnFireExit: A way out of the Panamint only presents itself at the last minute.
148	* CaptainErsatz: The trading cards that young Odd and Danny exchanged are very reminiscent of the set Film/MarsAttacks was based on.
149	* TheDeterminator: Unlike the first cheval, Andre absolutely will not give up.
150	* DeusExMachina: The situation is largely resolved when [[spoiler: a foreshadowed, but unrelated, mountain lion suddenly kills the villain.]]
151	%% * DisabledSnarker: Danny Jessup, largely as a coping mechanism.
152	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played for laughs. When Datura relates a story of how she once had her henchmen break the legs of a guy who wouldn't turn off his cellphone in a movie theater, Odd thinks that even the worst people can have socially responsible impulses.
153	* FloweryInsults: Danny Jessup describes Datura as being "crazier than a syphilitic suicide bomber with mad-cow disease." After meeting her, Odd thinks that this description was a severe {{Understatement}}.
154	* HollywoodVoodoo: What little can be understood of Datura's constant torrent of nonsense is a half-understood twisting of Voudoun. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], in that Datura has just incorporated elements of Voudoun into her schizophrenia.
155	* IgnoreTheFanservice: Datura is very sure that she can seduce anyone. Odd notes her sexiness rather clinically and dismisses it as unimportant.
156	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: There're hints that Datura's servants might be zombies, but ultimately their nature remains a mystery.
157	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Datura is a genus of poisonous plants, which can have quite unpleasant physical and mental effects on humans.
158	%% * NightmareFetishist: Datura is a dark, dark, DARK example.
159	* NoOSHACompliance: The people who built the Panamint Resort and Spa cut corners in several ways. For example, they hung a chandelier from a wooden beam when they should have used a steel beam and they didn't put in all of the fire safety equipment that the blueprints called for. When an earthquake hit, the damage to the hotel was much worse than it should have been and several of the guests and staff died.
160	* NotUsingTheZWord: "Cheval" is a legitimate term, but Odd never supplies the much more common one.
161	* StealthPun: One of Datura's servants is a man named Andre who is repeatedly described as a [[Wrestling/AndreTheGiant giant]].
162	%% * TheVamp: Datura.
163	* VillainessesWantHeroes: Datura has a bit of a VillainousCrush on Odd, but only because he can do the one thing she can't, which is see the dead.
164	[[/folder]]
165
166	[[folder:''Brother Odd'']]
167	%% * AGodAmI: The BigBad of the book.
168	* AlienGeometries: The various unnatural creatures are simply ''wrong'' -- they move in an impossible, quasi-mechanical fashion.
169	* BusmansHoliday: Odd Thomas wants a thoughtful retreat to return to his faith and recover from the previous year and a half without any supernatural shenanigans. He gets a twisted version of his wish, as [[spoiler: the menace he walks right into is ''un''natural, not ''super''natural.]]
170	%% * ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: It requires [[spoiler: an enormous room-sized machine powered by a nuclear reactor]], but it still works.
171	%% * EldritchAbomination: [[DemBones The Uber-Skeleton]], and, for that matter, Death and even the Floppy.
172	%% * GoodShepherd
173	%% * GrimReaper: The creature Odd calls "Death."
174	* HereWeGoAgain: After three books, Elvis finally departs for the next world. A few minutes later, [[spoiler: Music/FrankSinatra]] shows up.
175	%% * [[spoiler: MadScientist]]/[[spoiler: RealityWarper]]: The motivating force behind the problem.
176	%% * RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: The antagonist learns this the hard way, though [[spoiler: the happy dream he creates is pretty chilling, too.]]
177	%% * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Abbot, the Mother Superior, heck, every authority figure in the book.
178	%% * ReligiousBruiser: Brother Knuckles, [[HeelFaithTurn who used to be an enforcer in The Mob]].
179	* ReligiousHorror: The sub-genre of this book in the series; the horror is [[spoiler: man attempting to duplicate the methods of God.]]
180	%% * SaintlyChurch: The abbey [[spoiler: really is all it's cracked up to be.]]
181	%% * TheSiege
182	%% * SnarkToSnarkCombat: Odd's conversations with Rodion Romanovich are almost entirely comprised of this.
183	%% * SnowedIn: The reason that the monks can't just evacuate the children.
184	* ThouShaltNotKill: Brother Knuckles admits to hurting a large number of people while he was in the Mob, but he never killed anyone. It's very important to him that Odd and his other acquaintances know this.
185	* WhatYouAreInTheDark: The creator of the Uber-Skeleton and Death [[spoiler: is completely unaware he's doing it, as he falsely believes he has truly repented.]]
186	* WholePlotReference: The core plot mechanic is the same as [[spoiler: Film/ForbiddenPlanet]]. Odd lampshades it.
187	[[/folder]]
188
189	[[folder:''Odd Hours'']]
190	* BerserkButton: For the spirit of Frank Sinatra, they include unfairness, threats to his beloved country, and saying Rod Stewart's a better singer than he is. [[spoiler: Odd conspires to push them all]].
191	* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler:''Do not'' piss off the ghost of Frank Sinatra. He will go poltergeist like you will not believe.]]
192	%% * BigBrotherInstinct: Odd notes that Anamaria seems to inspire this in good men, including himself.
193	%% * TheChampion: Odd pledges to be Anamaria's.
194	* CharacterNameAlias: Odd uses the name [[Film/TheThirdMan Harry Lime]] a couple of times in this book.
195	%% * [[spoiler: CorruptChurch]]
196	%% * DeclarationOfProtection: Odd makes this to Anamaria.
197	* DraggedOffToHell: One of the goons is killed and Odd sees his ghost being taken by some sort of EldritchAbomination.
198	%% * GoodIsNotDumb: Anamaria.
199	%% * HeroicBSOD: Odd at the end [[spoiler: after having to kill five terrorists and seeing them kill others]].
200	%% * MysteriousWaif / MysticalWaif: Anamaria.
201	* SilkHidingSteel: Anamaria, a quiet, petite, polite girl of about 18 who can order a pack of demon-possessed coyotes to back off without losing an ounce of her cool.
202	%% * SinisterMinister
203	%% * WesternTerrorists
204	%% * WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler: Actually, would kill a girl, but Odd only does this because she tries to kill him.]]
205	[[/folder]]
206
207	[[folder:''Odd Interlude'']]
208	* AIIsACrapshoot: Averted. The computer adamantly has no desire to take over the world, and is rather miffed that his creators even thought it necessary to fit him with a RestrainingBolt
209	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Odd claims that there are more neurons in the brain than there are stars in the universe.
210	* CharacterNameAlias: Odd goes by the pseudonym Franchise/HarryPotter for most of the book, so The Presence can't get any information on him. He also briefly goes by Lex Luthor.
211	* ChildrenForcedToKill: [[spoiler:Jolie was [[PeoplePuppets forced to participate in killing her cousin]], and may have been the one forced to strike the final blow.]]
212	%% * TheComputerIsYourFriend
213	* HomeschooledKids: Jolie is homeschooled. Was before The Presence came, and had to be after it did.
214	%% * LittleMissSnarker: Jolie, who actually narrates a part of the book.
215	* {{Metaphorgotten}}: Odd tries to explain to [[spoiler: the Presence]] that 'different' doesn't mean 'better' using a convoluted analogy involving a bear, a squirrel, a prairie dog, and a porpoise. He then lampshades it:
216	-->'''Odd:''' "I think I'll go back to my cabin and think about bears and prairie dogs and porpoises until I can express this analogy better."
217	* NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: An aversion is discussed. Odd theorizes that [[spoiler:the aliens]] might have had something to do with the humanity's fall from grace. [[spoiler:The serpent motif ties nicely into this.]]
218	* NoTranshumanismAllowed: The BigBad tried to... improve himself with [[spoiler:alien cells]]. [[GoneHorriblyRight It worked, after a fashion.]]
219	%% * PeoplePuppets: [[spoiler:The Harmony's are this to The Presence.]]
220	%% * PluckyGirl: Jolie.
221	%% * PrecociousCrush: Jolie has one on Odd.
222	%% * [[spoiler: StarfishAliens]]: The BigBad.
223	[[/folder]]
224
225	[[folder:''Odd Apocalypse'']]
226	* [[spoiler: AlternateSelf: Cloyce killed Tim, then went back in time to save him and bring him to the future but it makes a paradox that both things are true; Tim's dead body still exists, and he remembers both getting killed and not getting killed.]]
227	* AwesomeMcCoolName: Kenneth Randolph Fitzgerald Mountbatton: the huge, terrifying, heavily-armed security guard with screaming hyena tattoos and a shirt that says "Death Heals." He picked the names himself.
228	%% * BadassAndChildDuo: Odd and [[spoiler: Tim]].
229	* BadFuture: The [[spoiler: shifts into the future feature a dystopian future where there're swarms of ferocious giant-batlike creatures and packs of man-eating pig-man things that are the result of messing around with DNA. Odd's effect with disabling Roseland somewhat lessens the terribleness of this future.]]
230	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: [[spoiler: UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla invented a way to time travel, though considering the man this doesn't really seem that far out.]]
231	%% * BigBrotherInstinct: Odd feels this way towards [[spoiler: Tim.]]
232	%% * TheConstant: Roseland [[spoiler: and its inhabitants.]]
233	%% * CoolHouse: [[spoiler:Designed by UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla no less, as a time machine and immortality generator.]]
234	%% * GentleGiant: [[spoiler: Kenny]] turns out to be this. At least, gentler than anyone else we meet at Roseland.
235	%%* [[spoiler: ImmortalitySeeker: Cloyce and his household.]]
236	* LivingMemory: [[spoiler:The image of Nikola Tesla that keeps popping up around Roseland, in his own way trying to get someone to stop what's going on there and helping Odd in the small ways he can. Even Odd's not completely sure what exactly he/it is.]]
237	%% * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Is done to Odd by Cloyce. Thank goodness for a time machine that can return your body to how it was at a specific point in time.]]
238	* NotListeningToMeAreYou: Odd tries to ask Chef Shilshom some questions about Roseland, but the chef is busy preparing food and answers most of the questions with an absent-minded "Mmmmm." Odd starts saying weird things to get his attention, but it doesn't work.
239	--> '''Odd:''' "Is that a mouse by the refrigerator?"\
240	'''Shilshom''': "No. Sorry. It's a big old rat."\
241	'''Odd:''' "Well, I don't know why, but I think I'll go set my hair on fire."\
242	'''Shilshom:''' "Maybe it grows back thicker if you burn it off once in awhile."
243	%% * [[spoiler: OurTimeMachineIsDifferent]]
244	* Really700YearsOld: [[spoiler:Tim is really closer to his nineties than the ten-year-old he looks, and the rest of the inhabitants (who look in their thirties to middle-age) are even older.]]
245	%% * SerialKiller: [[spoiler: Cloyce.]]
246	%% * WaxMuseumMorgue
247	* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Odd [[spoiler: has a chance to use Roseland to go back in time to save Stormy, but decides that would be selfish of him since she is in a better place and he doesn't want what happened to Tim to happen to Stormy just to make himself happy.]]
248	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:Henry Lolam hates living forever as much as he wants it, and Tim is a ninety year old man stuck in a young child's body.]]
249	* WouldHitAGirl: Odd never before did that, but when necessary, he knocks a girl out so she wouldn't alert any of her compatriots. [[spoiler: He ends up killing her later when she escapes and threatens to kill Tim.]]
250	[[/folder]]
251
252	[[folder:''Deeply Odd'']]
253	* AngelUnaware: The mysterious and slightly unearthly people that help [[spoiler: the children who were captured by the satanists forget the trauma they suffered and whose presence helped Odd to heal emotionally somewhat from his recent experiences]] are implied to be something of the kind.
254	* BerserkButton: When one of the cultists gloats over the impending murders of the children, the usually gentle Odd shoots him dead without missing a beat.
255	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mrs. Edie Fischer is the sweetest, cutest old lady you'll ever meet. When she finds out that the Rhinestone Cowboy intends to murder three children, she threatens to cut off his testicles and feed them to a coyote while he watches.
256	* CoolOldLady: Mrs. Edie Fischer [[BadassDriver regularly drives over one-hundred miles an hour in a souped up limo]], has got more pluck and courage in her little old body than people a fourth her age, and is funny and mysterious as can be.
257	%% * DarkWorld: [[spoiler:The other side of Elsewhere.]]
258	%% * DeadpanSnarker: [[spoiler: Creator/AlfredHitchcock; not surprising, except when you remember that "[[SilentSnarker the dead don't talk]]."]]
259	%% * EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The thing that the Rhinestone Cowboy is carrying around in his truck.]]
260	%% * HollywoodSatanism: [[spoiler: The group who stole the children.]]
261	%% * HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler:The Senoculus, which takes on Odd's form with some quite gruesome and creepy differences.]]
262	* InvisibleToNormals: The Rhinestone Cowboy. People, normal people, can't notice him. [[spoiler: Also the estate at which his fellow Satanists are gathering.]]
263	* ISeeThemToo: Verena [[spoiler: one of the children Odd is trying to rescue can also see ghosts, which works out plotpoint-wise when he has her follow Boo to safety while he draws off the Senoculus.]]
264	* ItGetsEasier: Odd notes that killing bad guys is getting easier, and it scares him.
265	* MistakenForGay: Edie briefly thinks Odd is. Some amount of humorous arguing ensues before the misunderstanding is straightened out.
266	* NeverMessWithGranny: Edie Fischer. Odd says that he'd rather have her at his back than pretty much anyone he could think of.
267	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: It's well established that the dead don't talk, so Odd is stunned when [[spoiler: Alfred Hitchcock]] shows up and says hello.
268	* {{Sadist}}: The Rhinestone Cowboy [[spoiler: and the rest of the Satanists.]]
269	* SilkHidingSteel: Mazie is a kind, soft-spoken woman... who happens to be the moving and driving force of Casa Bolthole which is a a bunker fitted with an arsenal to rival most military bunkers and she and her family are always inventing more weapons and technology with which to outfit TheResistance.
270	%% * SpiritAdvisor: Creator/AlfredHitchcock.
271	* TheTriple: Odd's list of possessed car movies: "''Film/TheCar, Film/MaximumOverdrive, Film/TheLoveBug.''"
272	* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: [[spoiler:Odd calls it "Elsewhere," a place between our world and a dark dimension, where the only defense against those things that prowl in, and strain against, this boundary is quick thinking.]]
273	[[/folder]]
274

Context Literature / OddThomas