Lots of things happening for Odd Thomas, aside from this latest novel, featuring a showdown between our hero and the bad guys in a moody, tumble-down mansion. An e-novella called Odd Interlude will be released in weekly installments leading up to publication of this book, the fifth in the series. The first four books will be reissued in a shiny new trade paperback format in May. And the sixth book, Deeply Odd, is promised sometime after the projected fall release of a film based on the series. Time to get Odd again; these books are always No. 1 New York Times best sellers.

Odd Thomas, a fry cook who can see dead people, was first introduced to readers as a teenager in 2003's Odd Thomas. An engaging young man who peppers his narratives (Brother Odd; Odd Hours) with wisecracks, he also seems to have a sagelike understanding of humanity. As we encounter him again in this new adventure, he is a guest at Roseland, a sinister Pacific Coast estate set farther from reality's borders than Odd has ventured in the past. Here he is compelled by one of the restless dead to rescue a young boy from the grips of Roseland before he, like its other inhabitants, is no longer able to leave. VERDICT With this offering Odd's fanbase with fantasy-horror devotees is certain to grow, while previous admirers of his quirky charms will not be disappointed. Odd's screen debut, starring Anton Yelchin and Willem Dafoe, later this fall is certain to attract new readers. [See Prepub Alert, 1/30/12.]—Nancy McNicol, Hamden P.L., CT

At the start of bestseller Koontz's wry, offbeat fifth Odd Thomas novel (after 2008's Odd Hours), short-order cook Thomas, who has prophetic dreams and can "see the spirits of the lingering dead," has a vision while he's a guest at a California retreat known as Roseland—of a blonde woman in a white nightgown on a black horse. Though unable to speak, this ghostly woman is able to communicate that her son, who's also at Roseland, is in danger. Thomas embarks on a quest to avenge the woman's death that will involve brutish piglike creatures that walk erect and travel in packs as well as secret discoveries by the legendary Nikolas Tesla. This supernatural thriller surely ranks as one of the series' funniest. Even as Thomas fights the forces of darkness, he observes, "Of course, one must always remember that although The Sound of Music is the most feel-good movie musical of all time, it is crammed full of Nazis." (Aug.)