This book is for Trixie, though she will never read it. On the most difficult days at the keyboard, when I despaired, she could always make me laugh. The words good dog are inadequate in her case. She is a good heart and a kind soul, and an angel on four feet.

Odd Thomas, that unlikely hero, once more stands between us and our worst fears.

Odd never asked to communicate with the dead - they sought him out, in the small desert town of Pico Mundo,which he can never leave. He has already lost the love of his life; and now a childhood friend has disappeared and the worst is feared.

But as Odd applies his unique talents to the task of finding his friend, he discovers something far worse than a dead body. Evil personified has come to visit this desert community of souls both living and dead...