Well, here we are at the last Odd Thomas novel. I think the old Beatles lyric goes "...the long and winding road leads me straight to your door." That is true of Odd's 8-book journey, which in SAINT ODD will take him to the door of Stormy Llewellyn's apartment in Pico Mundo, where for a while he lived after her death. With this book, I feel as if I'm saying good-bye to the brother I never had. Thank all of you for staying with Odd (and me) on this long and winding road. You have written me tens of thousands of snail-mail letters about him, and it so often heartened me to read that you had the same deep yet hard to describe connection with him that I had. When I delivered the first manuscript, there were some in my professional life who said that the lead character in such a series had to be a seven-foot-tall mesomorph packing the biggest guns available, always sure of himself, dealing death without a second thought. It was said that after Stormy's death, he would have to get a new squeeze right away. As it turns out, dear readers, you have proved that a character with honor can be as interesting as one with mountains of muscle, that a character who is anguished by the need to kill can be as appealing as one who pulls the trigger with no second thought, that sometimes hot sex isn't as compelling as a commitment to vows and enduring love, that it's all right for a hero to be quirky. If quirky wasn't acceptable, you would never have heard of Odd Thomas--or of me.

May all of you become fully smooth and blue. (Yes, the meaning of those words, first heard in DEEPLY ODD, will be explained by the end of Odd's journey.)

- Dean

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Saint Odd