Declan Finn's Politics Kills

Oops. I almost started this review with a quote from The Godfather. It would have fit, but I don't wanna get sued. It should be noted however, that The Godfather 1-3 (and yes, I included number three in there. I love it and all who disagree with me are wrong.) is one of my favorite movie series and I probably thought of it because White Ops is becoming one of my favorite book series. 

Of course, this is Book Two. Politics Kills is perhaps the most appropriately titled book I've ever read in my life. Being the guy with a degree in history and an interest in both Military and Political history, I can assure you that there are no two human endeavors as closely linked as politics and war. Wars are, of course, fought by killing people. Sean P Ryan, leader of a group of Rangers, which is also a business venture owned by his family, is no stranger to wiping out enemy forces when he needs to. And his need is frequent. Dude basically goes through a battle a day, or at least it feels like it. 

Something you don't really get a great feel for with a lot of Finn's writing is the passage of time. There's usually so much going on that you don't have time to get bored and start wondering how long it's been since the last thing happened. The next thing is already happening, so why worry about it? I actually enjoy that aspect of it. Unless you're writing historical fiction and I'm picking it apart (and I'm not even one of the bad ones. I once had to read a thirty plus page paper about the historical inaccuracies in The Last Samurai for a Japanese history class) I don't really need to know what the date is. Just tell me what's going on and I'll take it from there.

I also like the fact that we get to see Ryan's shell crack just a bit. He's always (through the one whole book that came before this in the series) had this kind of unreachable quality to him. He was fiercely loyal, but there were times when it felt like his reaction to pretty much anything were either anger or loyalty. We get to see a lot of both in Politics Kills, but we get to see a softer side of the man himself and it's something that he has to come to grips with. The fact that he manages to do it adds a lot to his character.

It's kind of mentioning this, but it kind of stuck out at me. Most of Finn's characters are intensely Catholic. His long, and so far best, series is of course the Saint Tommy, NYPD series and if a man is going to be a Catholic saint, the intense Catholicism is necessarily part of the character's personality. The first book in his Love at First Bite series is entitled Honor at Stake: A Catholic Action Horror Novel. Sean Ryan is definitely a Catholic character, but White Ops is not as heavily Catholic as his other work. It didn't really matter to the quality of the story. I'm not Catholic myself so it's not like it had to be there for me to enjoy the book, but it's definitely something different. 

I also kind of figured I'd mention that for those of you who may have avoided Finn's earlier work because of its heavy emphasis on religion. I know some people don't care for that overly religious reading and so I thought I'd let everyone know that if that's how you feel (and you have every right to) that this is a good chance to try an awesome author without the overtones that you don't care for. 

One wonders if parts of Politics Kills are based on Finn's opinion of the United Nations. There is a governmental body with a similar function and it is indeed called the United Planets. I find myself underwhelmed by both the intelligence and competence levels of the members of the UP council. They waste time like champions, but forget about getting stuff done. Of course, that may be because of an undet...

Nevermind, that would've been a spoiler. We have a very strong policy against spoilers at Jimbo's and sometimes we even follow it. Like now. And maybe tomorrow. Probably.

Of course, as in any Declan Finn novel, we have both heroes and villains. This is not some boring halfway crap where everything is in shades of gray. The good guys are good. The bad guys are bad. We have someone to root for. We have someone to root against. The reasons for our rooting interests are sound. In short, this is entertainment with stakes. I love it when I can get behind the hero because he wants to defeat the villain.

Of course, that's why I never cared for Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels (I much prefer her Brainship series). Thread is just dumb and there's really no rooting interest. It's mindless. It falls from the sky. It has no motivation. It just exists. Give me a power seeking, money-grabbing antagonist every time and I'm happy. Finn is good at that. 

It'll be interesting to see where Finn takes this series next (there are three more currently out and I'm not sure if that's the whole series or if there are more coming. I'm a horrible fan, I guess) because most, if not all, of the horrible, terrible, not good, very bad people we've been rooting against are no longer threats. Of  course, there could be someone ever worst waiting in the wings. I guess I'll have to see.

I'm like that though. I made my daughter hate Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince because she fell asleep watching it (which was my plan all along) and I wouldn't tell her who the Half Blood Prince was. I told her to watch the movie.I guess I'm telling myself to read the book now. That's fine though. I plan to. 

But heed my warning: Beware the earworm. A force like that is hard to stop.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Nuclear Space Mines

Politics Kills
Declan Finn
Tuscany Bay Books, 2022

Politics Kills is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Declan Finn's Blue Saint

So, yeah...

The emotional bond between someone who absolutely loves to read and one of their favorite characters is a weird one, especially when the reader starts the series when it first comes out and has to wait for each successive book. Cracking open the new book is like having an old friend swing by for a coffee. Like, you don't necessarily get as much time as you want with them but it's still nice to find out how they've been and what they've been up to.

"Go ahead and put your feet up on the table, Favorite Character and tell me about your adventures. How have you been feeling? How has your love life been? Kids doing okay? What losses have you suffered? What victories have you scored? What are you up to now?"

I'm not saying it's normal or a sign of sanity, I'm just saying that it happens. We smile with them. We cry with them. We laugh with them. We're happy when they're with us and we're sad when they're gone. Seriously, re-reading an old book can be like flipping through a family photo album.

Which is why it can hit us so hard when they die.

And, well, I don't do spoilers, but Declan Finn's Blue Saint is the last book in a series about a saint and there is no such thing as a living saint. Therefore saying that St. Tommy survived is pretty much like spoiling a movie about the American Revolution by screaming "The Americans win!" And seriously, I'm not going to conduct this review as a requiem of the life of Thomas Nolan (who, admittedly, was a better man than I'll ever be) but I feel the need to take this time to express my sense of loss and compliment both Tommy Nolan and Declan Finn on their accomplishment: Three deaths in all of the fiction I have read have brought me to tears; Sturm Brightblade, Fred Weasley and Tommy Nolan. Yes, I'm a Potterhead. Sue me.

Also like Sturm Brightblade, Tommy at least got the send off he deserved. Fred got hosed. That makes up for a lot. No one likes to see their favorite character die and ignominious death (Grayson Carlyle anyone?) and here he didn't have to. I've not seen a finer death for a character anywhere and that's saying something.

But hold on, now. There is a WHOLE LOT more to Blue Saint than the death of one character. There is love. There is loss. There's a lot going on here. There is a scene that reminded me of my only failings(?) not because of something awesome Tommy did but because of a human moment where he questioned himself. Maybe the best thing about Detective Nolan is that he has never been the arrogant, holier than thou type. He lives, he breathes and he questions himself, just like the rest of us.

A lot of relationships in the series are highlighted here in new ways and that works for me as well. Seriously,  think about it. If you had to go into a dangerous situation, who would you want at your back? Who would you want watching your family while you were gone? Are they the same person? What if they couldn't be? Blue Saint provides some perspective on those types of questions. It also, in a way, sheds a little light on the relationships of the people around us in ways that we wouldn't necessarily consider. I find this odd for what is primarily a first-person perspective book, but it's true. Actually, looking back on it, that's true of the whole Saint Tommy, NYPD series and your goofy reviewer is just now picking up on it. 

*SIGH*

No system is perfect I guess. I'll work on it.

The one negative (ish) thing I will say is that Blue Saint is in no way a standalone novel. This is Finn's masterwork, the result of a full dozen books worth of interweaving plotlines and relationships. Blue Saint is a serious achievement in finally bringing everything back together and tying it up with a bow on the package. I'm not saying he can't top it (as a matter of fact, I'm daring him to) but it's going to take some serious work. And a new reader coming in out of the cold is not going to understand the backstory. You need to understand the backstory to get the Blue Saint story. Read the first eleven books. I did. I'm glad I did. I plan to do it again someday. And that makes me happy because, unlike the real people I've lost, St. Tommy is still there to hang out with the same way I always have.

Of course, one of the areas that Finn has always excelled in is writing action. Seriously, Finn's asskickery kicks ass and he's outdone himself once again. I love the way these fights are choreographed. Things go boom spectacularly. The use of mini-guns was awesome. The way the team in the books has adapted things like holy water and incense to fight the minions of Satan has been amazing. And, of course, Nolan's personal arsenal comes into full play in the biggest fight in the series yet. The settings for the last couple are pretty epic, too.

Due to the weird nature of the app I used to read the story (FB Reader) I almost missed the fact that there was more story after Tommy passed. It really would have sucked to have missed what came after, too, because there is a lot of good stuff there. To misquote Kid Rock: "There ain't no story like a Blue Saint story because the Blue Saint story don't stop." (Yes, English. Don't tell me, tell Kid Rock.)

I'm not going to give up the end of the story, but I will say this: The mark of a terrific author, or any type of artist for that matter, is their ability to get an emotional reaction from their audience, whoever that may happen to be. Finn took me from crying to laughing in the last few pages of his book. There aren't many authors who could do that. Go buy the book. Then read the book. Then tell me how right I was because I AM right this time. And someone make the damn movie already.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Sappy Reviewers and my next years Dragon Award Nomination

Blue Saint (St. Tommy NYPD Book 12)
Declan Finn
Tuscany Bay Press, 2022

Blue Saint (St. Tommy NYPD Book 12) is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and get literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you

Destiny, Lightbringer and Dark Web by Declan Finn

 I just read three books in five days. I haven't done that in... 

Uhh...

Well, probably since before I got my driver's license, back in the early Nineties. I may have done it once since then, but I can't recall when it would have been. At any rate, this certainly isn't something that happens often. I don't really have that kind of time and I just can't, but this time I did. Don't ask me how it's possible. Also, don't ask me what's for dinner. I haven't got a clue. I haven't had time to cook. 

Of course, you'll want to know the names of the books. They are Destiny, Lightbringer and Dark Web, Books 9, 10 and 11 of the Saint Tommy, NYPD Series by Declan Finn. I'm pretty sure I've reviewed every one of the novels since Hell Spawn which, if you missed it, was Book 1. I've enjoyed them all, but these things just keep getting better. Tommy's network of allies and enemies keeps broadening. His characterization gets deeper. It almost feels like I could walk into the Nolan house and sit down for dinner with the family. Ya know, maybe Alex would be over and we'd have some spaghetti...

Yeah, these characters are that well drawn... err... written. Whatever. They're believable. 

So, I thought that since I was reviewing three books together, I'd give each a bit of space on it's own. They deserve it and so do my readers. So does the author for that matter. Even if he is a buttface. More on that in a bit.

Destiny

While I am one hundred percent certain that Tommy Nolan does not, under any circumstances, cave in to wrath, it seems that Declan Finn most certainly does. In this case, Finn got frustrated after the Italian government force him and his wife to pay an exorbitant fine while simulataneously having their travel plans cancelled because of an honest mistake. The Nolan family goes through basically the same thing and then...

It gets ugly.

Listen, I'm a history nerd with the degree to prove it. I've even got a couple of graduate credits in American History. I've always loved the history of both Ancient Rome and the Christian Church as well, but I never pursued those as a degree because I don't have the language skills. Seriously.

And what Finn does to some of the coolest historical architecture in Rome was kinda...

Well...

Were you a wrestling fan in the Nineties? Did you see the Undertaker/Mick Foley Hell in a Cell match? The one where Taker choke slammed Foley through the top of the cell into the thumbtacks? Do you remember running your fingers through your own hair, your eyes huge and your feet kicking? Do you remember the simultaneous feeling of "OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO COOL!!!!" mixed with "OH MY GOD THIS SUCKS!!!" with just a wee bit of "DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN?!" Do you remember that feeling?

Yeah, I experienced that a few times with Destiny. Seriously, Hollywood needs to stop rebooting crap and make this into a movie. 

Err...

Just as long as I don't have to be the one to pay for the special effects.

So it's only fair to say that the action scenes were amazing. Saint Tommy with all of his charisms and quite a few allies up against the best that Hell has to send after him. It's amazing and believable. Tommy takes a beating a few times. When he's up against what he gets thrown at him, that makes sense. He even has to be reminded to take care of himself at times.

And that's one of the things I like about Tommy Nolan. He's strong physically, strong at heart, and strong spiritually but we're reminded that his very strength is also a great weakness. He tries to take too much on himself and not accept help. I wish this didn't make as much sense to me as it does, but at the end of the day it's horrifyingly realistic. 

Also, the physical effects of aging are pretty accurately portrayed as well. It seems that our St. Tommy isn't as young as he used to be. I get that. I'm forty-five and sometimes my recovery takes a while longer. Since St. Tommy is forty-five in Destiny as well, it makes sense that he would suffer some of the same probl...

Hey wait!

Finn just said I was getting too old for something! You're busted, buddy. That's a one-ten millionth of a point deduction for...

uhh...

Sumfin' 

Pretty sure it was sumfin'.

The rest of the family is on vacation with Tommy. This doesn't start out as a business trip. It's weird because I never thought I'd say this about a St. Tommy NYPD book, but there is a certain Scooby Doo element here. Not the stupid humor thing, because that would never work in a St. Tommy novel. But it does have kind of an air of "Look guys, we're on vacation! This is gonna be SOO fun!" that then turns into "Uh, oh."Seriously, this thing needs two "Zoiks" and a "Jinkies"before the action really gets going. Well either that, or maybe I'm just a nerd.

Okay, not really. What it really needed was for my dispatcher to shut up and stop sending me off to make money while I was trying to read. Seriously, don't become a cab driver. But if you ever do, don't start a good book on the first. Just don't do it. That's the busiest time of month and it can be hard to do your job when your body is in Michigan but your mind is in another country fighting demons. I would definitely recommend reading Destiny, but I would also try to find an open spot in my schedule if I were you. It's going to take up quite a bit of your time after all, because you're not going to want to put it down.

Bottom Line: 4.9999999 out of 5 Missed Fares

Destiny

Declan Finn

Tuscany Bay Books, 2022

Lightbringer

Okay, so this time we're back on our side of the Atlantic and there are no more priceless historical artifacts around to mercilessly slaughter. That's a good thing. I like my violence with a side of not destroying the ruins of an ancient society.  I mean, it's not like Ancient Rome wasn't a cesspit, but modern New York is not only a cesspit, it's one whose loony ideas I have to deal with on a regular basis. 

And once again, as much as Finn says he hates his hometown you can tell how much he loves his hometown by how well he writes it and Lightbringer is no different. Anne Rice may have had a bigger love affair with New Orleans than Finn has with New York, but it's a close run race. The city itself oozes off the pages. All of New York's features and all of its foibles can be found here. It really feels like Finn hates the local politics but loves the city for what it is when he's not dealing with politicians. I have an urban fantasy work in progress and a lot of the reason I put it in the Detroit area is so that I could do Detroit as well as Finn does New York. 

I really like Lightbringer because Tommy Nolan finally faces something he can't take head on. I mean that sincerely. I love the fact that Saint Tommy is, well, a saint, but really if you pulled the prayer and the emphasis on piety and good works as a spiritual concept out of the books, what you'd have left is a superhero. Don't misunderstand me. I love superheroes. I just think that Thomas Nolan has a little more to him than Captain America or Superman. I mean, spiritually powered lightsabers are awesome, but...

I mean...

You can't solve every problem by stabbing it, or blowing it up, sprinkling it with holy salt or..

You get the picture.

And, as a man of faith who has been through some things, I can tell you truly that while God does answer prayer, it's not always with the answer you want.

This time around the man who can bilocate, levitate, call on angels for backup and outshoot pretty much anything he faces goes up against something that none of that will work on. In a sense, a very real one, you could say that he's facing his worst fear. And it makes him seem much more human than he had before. 

Sometimes with heroes, and it doesn't matter whether we're talking Bruce Wayne or Chris Kyle, Hal Jordan or Saint Peter, it's easy to forget that these are human beings. You get so used to thinking about what they've done that you forget who they are. There are times during Lightbringer when we're reminded that one Thomas Nolan is a man, just like the rest of us. I've always found Finn's characterizations to be realistic but after reading this one, I feel closer to St. Tommy.

And it makes sense, because two of Nolan's kids are adults now, and they are hardcore. It does the heart good to see the babies all grown up following in their fathers footsteps, still seeing the old man on a regular basis, hanging out and doing some of the heavy lifting. The way they show their support for their daddy the best way they know how. And the youngest, not yet grown, is showing signs (I think) of being something special herself someday.

But don't let me get too sentimental on you. I guess I'm just getting soft in my old age. There is plenty of over the top action to keep you entertained. Things go boom. Things go pow. Things go bop, bang, zing.  There's a collision or two. Some special friends show up when needed. A hole appears that wasn't there before. And, well...

Listen, this isn't a spoiler. It's in the title. But the book lives up to its title. Either you get that or you don't. If you do you already knew what was going to happen. If you don't you have no clue what I'm talking about. I just know that I was prepared to get really upset if I didn't see something occur and it did. If you don't know what, go read the book. If you still don't get it, leave a comment and I'll try to explain it to you. Then again, if you don't get it, maybe Lightbringer isn't the only book you need to read.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Soul Rings

Lightbringer

Declan Finn

Tuscany Bay Books, 2022

Dark Web

Holy Dichotomy, Batman! (Pun totally intended.) Dark Web is an awesome book but it shows one Lieutenant Nolan being torn in two directions. One is doing what he was born to do. Tommy fights evil like the champion that he is. But here again, he finds himself confronted with something he can't fight, and it's getting worse. I feel for the guy.

And it's weird because they always tell you not to meet your idols. The inference is that they won't live up to what you want them to be. Mr. Nolan finally comes up against a threat he has no defense against and it makes me like him more. There's nothing more humbling than watching someone go through something you can't help them with while wishing that you could. Tommy takes a metaphorical (and I think an actual) punch to the gut and it hurts.

I want to talk about this for a bit because it hit me pretty hard. Some authors do things better than others, right? Lots of people can write a book about friends and friendship but very few can do it like J.K. Rowling. Lots of authors write about battles in space but if anyone can do it better than David Weber I don't know who it is. Tom Kratman is the only human being on the planet who can write a training manual and make it entertaining. Declan Finn has always been the best writer I've read when it comes to combining spiritual matters with fun and action. I mean, who else can write a gun battle with a main character that prays the whole time and make it make sense? Finn is the only one I've seen.

What I never expected from a guy like Finn was for him to make me cry my own tears. I'm not that guy. Maybe as a kid I was, but I've been through some things since then. I got through a divorce without crying about losing my ex-wife. But Finn had me crying. I'm not going to tell you what happens, but once you figure it out for yourself, hold on. The part that really had me crying isn't quite here yet.

This is a big thing for me, because writing is art and art is all about evoking an emotional response. Sure, that might be excitement and aggression and with the Saint Tommy, NYPD Series it usually is. Tommy fights some really tough opponents and it's fun to watch him take them down a peg. That's why I like these books.

But I don't usually like things that make me cry. Crying comes from sadness and sadness sucks. I haven't shed tears of joy since...

Uhh...

I got a little choked up at my wedding I guess, but even then I didn't actually cry. There were no tears at either of my daughters' births...

It's just not me.

It is, therefore, a rare author that can make me cry and have me still enjoy their book. Finn managed to pull it off. Not to be that guy about it, but I didn't think he had it in him. His books are usually rollicking good fun, not the type of thing that would make me get all mushy. So kudos to one of my favorite authors for pulling off something I didn't believe possible.

And the thing is, this is NOT a tear-jerker. There is enough action in Dark Web to make a Rambo movie blush. It's almost non-stop. Finn brings out every monster he can think of. He leaves his hero weakened to face them in places. He pretty much (but not quite) drops a nuke from orbit. He brings back both old friends and old foes. Dark Web is the book where all of the things happen and nothing ever stops. Even when Tommy thinks things are boring, the rest of the crew would disagree.

Dark Web is the best St. Tommy, NYPD book yet and it's almost the last one as well. There's so much in here that I don't think I did it justice. Suffice it to say that I plan on re-reading this one soon. I went through Dark Web in one fell swoop on my day off because I couldn't stop reading it. I was so hooked into this one that I didn't want to do anything but rip through it as fast as I could. As a matter of fact, this one was so good, I think I give Finn a bonus one ten-millionth of a point to make up for the one I took away earlier.

Bottom Line: 5.0000001 out of 5 Shed Tears

Dark Web

Declan Finn

Tuscany Bay Books, 2022

And that's all three if you're keeping score at home. I'm a bit apprehensive about the next one. Blue Saint is the final book in the series and, if you know anything about the Catholic religion, you know there's no such thing as a living saint. We'll see how true that is on October Eleventh. I doubt Finn will make me cry two books straight though.

All three books are available at the links below. If you click a link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Declan Finn's White Ops

What do you get when you mix Star Wars, James Bond, The Hardy Boys, Chuck Norris and The Manchurian Candidate? Honestly, I get excited, but if you’re Declan Finn and you mix all of those things you get White Ops.  What a thrill ride. Seriously, this was a really good time but it’s really hard to classify outside of being a Science Fiction novel. There is a lot here though.

Sean P Ryan (descendant of Sean AP Ryan from Finn’s Pius Trilogy) is the baddass’s badass and the main character of White Ops. Not only does he come from a long line of “Rangers” in the space sense but he is pretty much unbeatable in hand to hand and small unit combat. He has a reputation and people (not all of them human by any stretch of the imagination) like to test him, but it goes further than that. Ryan has a tendency to find himself at the heart of trouble. And when he finds himself looking for something that he just knows has to be there…

Yup. The fecal matter hits the rotary air impeller at a high rate of speed. The mess gets all over everything. Ryan doesn’t seem to care though. He finds himself just as worried about what it takes to get the job done as Captain Benjamin Cisco does in ST:DS9 Episode “In the Pale Moonlight.” Which is to say, not at all. You could say he just doesn’t give a…

Nevermind. This is a family blog. I won’t go there. Let’s just say that fornication is not high on Ryan’s list of priorities while considering the costs paid by those who have crossed him. As such, he shall distribute zero coituses.

Or sumfin’

Wait…

Did that make any sense? Probably not. Too bad. I’m leaving it in.

So anyway…

Listen

You need to check White Ops out. I was kind of surprised actually. See, even if I have read a lot of an author (and both of my long time fans will be aware that I’ve read and reviewed a ton of Finn’s stuff for this blog) it can be kind of hard for me to get into a new series with all new characters. Seriously, I often struggle through the first probably one to two hundred pages of the average new series while I try to figure out what’s going on, who all of these people are, why any of this matters and where any of this is going, but for whatever reason, I was into this thing from the second it started. Seriously, it took me the better part of a night to read the first, like, fifty pages of David Weber’s On Basilisk Station and about half an hour to read the first hundred pages of White Ops. I’m not sure how Finn did that, but he did.

Speaking of White Ops (which are actually Black Ops, but done for the purpose of good) I have to wonder about something. See, I’ve got a degree in history and the universe that White Ops is set in obviously has a lot of history to it. So, like, who wants to team up, raid Finn’s house and steal all of his notes? I’ll let you read them after I get done. I mean, this is a well crafted story and there’s enough backstory listed to make things make sense but I need more. I know this is going to be a trilogy and we’ll probably get more later but it’s not later yet and I’m like that spoiled little girl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I don’t care how. I want it now.

This is definitely a departure from some of Finn’s earlier work. Ryan is most definitely not a saint. He was raised by a Catholic order and educated accordingly, but there is no prayer in the books that I remember. I will give Ryan this much though; As Father Mulcahey once said, his “Heart was in the right place, even if his hands weren’t.” I’m all for supporting the church but I’m not at all certain that’s how God told us to do it. I must’ve missed that day of Sunday School. I think. Or maybe…

Yeah, nobody’s perfect and that’s a pretty good system if you subtract the laws of God and man, I guess. It certainly works. `At any rate, if you’re here looking for Tommy Nolan, you’re not going to find him. You won’t even find Marco Catalano. Sean P Ryan is his own man and he stands out well. 

Of course, I haven’t said a word about all of the different types of aliens in White Ops. There are oodles and bunches of them, each with their own culture, history, temperament and physical appearance. They’re well thought out. Finn has obviously studied some real world cultures. He includes bits and pieces here and there and that helps the stuff he created kind of stick together.

The technology in White Ops is pretty awesome as well. Some of it is familiar. A lot of it is not. At least one tech is new to me as a science fiction reader. I’m pretty excited about that. I’ve been reading SF since the Eighties and I know all the tropes. I like seeing something that’s fun, but doesn't quite fit with anything I’ve seen before. I also like a bit of fantasy with my SF, so it works that Finn throws in a bit of psychic activity as well.

Finn himself has stated that this was the first novel he wrote. That does make sense because I can see a lot of the enthusiasm of the newbie in his writing here. That much having been said, I’m glad he waited to publish it because I don’t think he could have told the story this well as a newbie. This one took some panache to pull off. I’m guessing he’s edited this thing approximately 0876876897689768768769876986897689698768769869868967 times. As quickly as he writes, it’s not like it took him that long to get it on paper. It all works and it makes too much sense to be something that was written by someone their first time out. He definitely rocked it out here.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Mystery Aliens

White Ops

Declan Finn

Tuscan Bay Books, 2022

White Ops is available at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Declan Finn's Hussar

So how's that promotion to Lieutenant feel Mr. Nolan. Are you enjoying yourself some time with your feet up and some paperwork in your hand? How does it feel to be in an office and have no one trying to kill you for a change? Well...

Uhh...

He wouldn't know.

See, Lieutenant Tommy Nolan is the main character in Declan Finn's Hussar, the eighth book in the Saint Tommy, NYPD series and he's having a rough...

Uhh...

Day?

Week?

Month?

Year?

Li…

Yeah, that works.

Our boy Tommy is having a rough life. That’s actually rather common among saints. They sometimes have to fight the Lord’s battles for him and, well, battles sometimes get messy. His wife, children, friends, church and home have all been assaulted. Then, just when he gets promoted to the land of head-aches and a sedentary lifestyle everything goes to Hell, again.

I mean that literally. Tommy fights demons, cultists and other assorted weird Satan spawned monsters. His weapons are his wits, his charisms (gifts given by God to saints), his gear and his God. Tommy is the kind that won’t give up no matter what because he knows he’s right. 

Speaking as a Christian man myself (albeit Protestant versus Tommy and Declan’s Catholic) I find that to be the best part of these stories. You don’t have to be a Christian to love Tommy Nolan, but you do have to respect a person who has faith and acts accordingly. Tommy puts himself on the line and does what is necessary because he believes in something higher than himself. He knows that he is a tool in the hand of God and he’s okay with that. It’s a lesson I’m still learning but one that I’m trying to embrace. 

Seriously, Tommy vs. Most of Society is like Sonny Corleone versus Michael Corleone in Godfather II. Michael enlists to serve in World War II because he believes in the United States as something larger than his own life. Santino disagrees. He tells Michael he’s stupid.

From a crooks point of view, he’s probably right. From the point of view of a person who believes in a higher calling, he’s dead wrong. The fact that he can’t see why is a character flaw. Tommy has his flaws, but lack of belief in something bigger than himself is not one of them.

Tommy’s family joins him on parts of this little adventure to save the world in unexpected ways. They do a good job of it. He has a hard time dealing with parts of it, but it works given what has come before. I’d almost consider the essence of what happens to have been inevitable even if I couldn’t have predicted the exact details. When you raise a child a certain way a given outcome should be expected.

And yet…

There is one scene in Hussar that kind of got my goat. I don’t believe Declan has any children and it kind of shows. At one point in the story, and I don’t want to say too much here, Tommy and his son Jeremy get into an argument about things and stuff. Tommy gets a bit angry. What Finn missed was the pride and above all, the fear that Tommy would have felt here. Many times as a parent, the anger you’re expressing comes from fear for your child. It kind of threw me for a second.

I  mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d be mad too. I’d be fuming. It’s just that it’s more complicated than that.

Other than that one scene though, Hussar is a rollicking good time. The action sequences in the book are fast paced and entertaining. Tommy’s knack of finding a way through however he needs to shows up again. He needs it. Finn keeps finding different beasts from mythology to throw at his protagonist and they’re all legitimate threats. I don’t think Tommy has ever had a walkover fight in his life.

One battle in Hussar comes to mind. Tommy’s method of winning the fight was something that I never could have attempted. It had consequences after the fight that he didn’t anticipate, but hey, nobody’s perfect. It actually did my historian’s heart well to read that part of the book. And anyway, it helps keep the atmosphere of this series going in the same direction it has. I’ve always considered Saint Tommy, NYPD to be an urban fantasy series, but it certainly does have elements of horror to it. That one brawl certainly brings that feeling back around again.

The return of an old enemy recast in a new light is a lot of fun as well. I love it when an author can turn a villain into a sympathetic character and make me believe it. What Finn managed here was similar to what Suzanne Collins achieved in the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes with Coriolanus Snow. I was really impressed.

Hussar, just like the rest of the series, is a weird mix of today’s headlines mixed with fiction and that makes it even more interesting. When an author of fiction can throw in things like the current crisis along the southern border of the US with church burnings in Europe then mix in a Texas Ranger (law enforcement, not baseball) and cross it with golem armor, the Spear of Destiny and a necromancer and (this is key) make it all MAKE SENSE, you know you’ve got something good in your hands.

Although I did love this book, I’d recommend starting at the beginning if you’re new to the series. Hussar is eight books in and there’s a lot of back story that it would be helpful to know. Yes, I am saying that the story might be a bit hard to follow if you’re just starting out. That’s okay though, you’ll love the first seven too.

All in all, I’d call Hussar a worth descendant of the first seven books in this series and that’s saying a lot. I work between fifty-five and seventy hours a week and I always (eventually) make time for a new Saint Tommy novel when it hits. That’s not counting the time I spend on my other geeky habits. I also get free books on a regular basis from people who want reviews. If I make a point of buying an author’s new book and reading it, you know it’s worth your time. I’ve read and reviewed every Saint Tommy book so far and I plan on doing the same with the next one. Once it actually comes out. Not that I’d like, you know, urge you all to start a letter writing campaign to get the next one published soon or anything. That would be mean. And if you do, don’t tell him it was my idea. But I really want to see if…

Ahhh..

Nevermind

Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Holy Water loaded Super Soakers

Hussar

Declan Finn

Silver Empire, 2021

Hussar and Hellspawn (first book in the series) are available for purchase at the following links. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no cost to you.

Declan Finn's Coven

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Did you ever get the feeling that the thing should have thinged the other thing with the thing or the the thing was going to thing wrong?

Yeah, that's what I'm thingin' too.

But here's the thing: That's okay. Declan Finn has brought us another good one and I'm here to tell you all about it because that's what I do. Sometimes I even make sense.

Protip: Don't let your happiness depend on my making sense. You're likely to end up depressed. But, I mean I tr....

Yeah, not really.

I'm a nutcase and I prefer it that way. It makes me harder to predict.

Except when a new Saint Tommy Novel comes out. Coven is the latest and it's epic. This one has Saint Tommy back home in his native New York. Life is good except when things are trying to kill him and let's face it, that's often. St. Tommy Novels are always action-packed and Coven is no exception.

Seriously, Coven has more boom-boom-pow in it than and Old School Hip Hop track. Seriously, if they ever turn these books into movies (and they're short enough for a two hour movie format to almost work right) they need to get Steven Spielberg direct with special assistant Michael Bay. Bay for the special effects and Spielberg for plot and acting, and general this-is-a-movie-that-is-good-for-more-than--its-special-effects thing. Yeah, I think that would work.

I mean, how else would you do a mystical clay Iron Man suit? Or flying bolts of lighting? Or just plain old gunshots and explosions? Maybe we could borrow a Phantom of the Opera director for the mist effects because I've seen it three times live and they've never failed to impress. I mean, they're just... yeah.

What mist effects you ask? READ THE BOOK!!!

Seriously, Coven is worth your time. I loved it.

But wait! There's more!

 Tommy's friends are back and they are some bad mamma-jammas. Combat-exorcists, kids who have trained with the Swiss Guard, a shotgun wielding wife, they're all there and they do what they do best: create mayhem.

No, not that stupid commercial. Please try to keep up.

Listen, if you're going to keep making corny jokes, you're going to start sounding like me. You don't want that, do you?

Where was I again?

Oh yes. Coven.

Loved that story!

And this time, St. Tommy needs all the help he can get because he's missing his god-given superpowers, properly known as charisms. So, no bi-location, no levitation, no anything. It's kind of scary. When you're used to seeing the hero rescued by God and he's not, it builds tension. When he can't just magic his way out of a fight, it gets intense. No fancy tricks in a fight equals a much harder fight. Oh, and who is he fighting?

This time it's a military base and Child Protective Services that house the demons and it fits. Anyone who follows this blog knows I love all of those who risk their lives to protect ours, but the way Finn lays it out just works. "Team Building Exercises" indeed. I think he has a point here though.

See, in the real world, Planet Earth, circa 2020, not all is as it seems. Finn's book places demons and their lackeys in the roles of those who are supposed to be protecting us and he's not wrong. Just about everyone has their own agenda, especially in a country like the United States. This is a good thing most of the time.

Then again, sometimes you get a demon infested CPS worker and well...

Yeah, someone needs to put her in check.

I enjoyed that part as I haven't always had the happiest of times with family court in the past. Divorced dads rarely do. I mean, I wouldn't wish this on Tommy and his family or anybody really, but it has a very realistic feel to me. Then again, I'm the guy who got a visit from a CPS worker on the day my oldest daughter was born for the horrible crime of cutting her nails so she wouldn't scratch her face to pieces, so I may be a bit biased.

Of course, the actions scenes in Coven are amazeballs and Tommy's power armor is unbelievably awesome. Seriously, Tony Stark needs to get himself a set of this stuff. Maybe then he'd stop being such a girlie-man and whining every time he gets all shot up. If this stuff can heal a person, then it's better than his junk. Except that it can't fly. Flying would make it better. Then again, no power armor suit is perfect and if its good enough for a Clan Elemental then it's good enough for Tommy.

(Gratuitous Battletech Joke there. I hear both of the people who got it laughing.)

The Big Bad is kind of more Bad than big. I mean, he's basically just a normal sized human being but he's definitely Bad, just like Michael Jackson in the music video of the same name, except not as well dressed. I think. I don't specifically remember what he was wearing.

An, OH BOY, is he well armed. I'm not going to say with what, but trust me, it's scary dangerous. It's also been used other places, but not quite this well and definitely never in this manner. I liked it. Honestly, it made more sense for said doohickey to be used in the way it was than the ways I've seen it used before too. I like this idea. I mean, I'm not going to tell you what the doohickey was or how it was used, but trust me, you'll like it. Unless you disagree with me. But don't worry the fact that you're wrong doesn't make you that guy. Probably. Well, maybe. Look, I'm right here, can't we just deal with that? Just this once?

Of course, there is room for a sequel here, but that makes me happy because I love this series and I can't wait to see Tommy send more demons back where they came from. Only maybe I'll buy a bigger bag of popcorn next time because I ran out of it before I realized I'd properly begun eating it while reading this thing. It's one of those "Wait, you mean the real world actually exists right now?" kind of books. I'll be waiting with baited brea...bated breath?

Or sumfin.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Exorcised Demons

Coven: St. Tommy NYPD Book Seven
Declan Finn
Silver Empire, 2020

Coven: St. Tommy NYPD Book Seven is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Declan Finn's Deus Vult: Saint Tommy, NYPD Book 6

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Remind me never to take a trip with Saint Tommy. Not ever. This guy has all the bad luck. I mean, it's not that I don't want to serve God. It's more like I don't want to be eaten by something along the way. Seriously.  Being shot or blown up is one thing, but some of the stuff this guy faces...

Oi

Anyway...

I'm not going to identify the big bad in Declan Finn's Deus Vult: Saint Tommy NYPD Book 6. It's not obvious from the title, so that makes it a spoiler. I will say that I enjoyed it. I was legitimately worried this time. Wow. That's a rough one to face down. I think I'd just poop my pants and run as fast as I could in another direction. I'm not worried about which direction, just one of them. This is one of those times when you want to cross universes and have Scotty beam you up so you can warp out of the system. Well, unless the Doctor is in town. That would work too, and one can't be picky while being attacked by something that they can't handle.

Some of you are thinking I'm exaggerating right now. I'm not. Some forces are just not to be trifled with. I think that just might be one of them. If you haven't read the book you're wondering what I'm talking about. That's good. Turn your ads on for my blog only. There will be a link at the end of the review so you can go buy it.

Of course, something that Finn has done consistently over his entire Saint Tommy series is to mix in elements of horror. None of the later books can match the first novel, Hellspawn for being true horror. That one had me shaking in my shoes and, while I absolutely loved it, was a lot closer to Stephen King or Dean Koontz than my normal fare. Deus Vult, however, has some real elements of horror to it. Finn mixes it in really well.

I may never go into a haunted house again.

Then again, I might. IF I can get my daughter to read this, just so I can see the look of terror on her face when she walks into it having read it. Deus Vult definitely has some nightmare type sequences and that's awesome. You never know what's going to happen or how things are going to go when Saint Tommy gets himself in trouble. Finn always finds new and inventive ways to torture his characters.

I love it. Then again, I'm a Dungeon Master who as been known to steal ideas from time to time. I think maybe I shouldn't let my players read this one. There are a few things here that I could use that they wouldn't have seen before and there's nothing like dropping something new on a veteran gamer to remind them that they don't always know what's up my sleeve.

We get to see a bit more of Tommy's family this time around than we did in past books and I really like that. Deus  Vult starts with the family away from home and so Mariel, Tommy's wife, and the kids are not just around, but involved in ways that they haven't been before, at least for the kids.

The supporting cast is, of course, bigger than just Tommy's family. His NYPD parter Alex and Father Pearson are both back as well. Alex is a good guy and is someone good to have at your back. He's kind of a modern day Samwise Gamgee, but taller. Father Pearson is both a good guy and a bit of an enigma. It's like he's a basic decent dude but he has a back story we don't know everything about yet. "Combat Exorcist" is a good title but even that might not cover everything the guy can do. He also appears to have some high level contacts that we may not be aware of. I'm watching that guy. Something more is coming from him. I'm just not sure what yet.

It's weird, but it was kind of good to welcome back an old enemy as well. Sometimes as fans of Speculative Fiction in general we can forget about the old bad guys who aren't quite dead yet. Or more to the point, the authors can. I can think of one particular series that was a collaboration between John Ringo and David Weber...

Nevermind

This time around though, we get to welcome him back with open arms and a deep desire to see things end the way they should have before, but it's not just that. Finn gives us a look at another side of the dude and shows that sometimes even the slimy types have a code. It might not be a good code. It might not be one we'd agree with. A code is a code nonetheless and it adds a lot to a character when it hadn't been revealed previously.

I had heard that Finn originally intended for this to be the last book in the Saint Tommy series and the last few pages show that. It really felt like he was tying this thing up to put it to bed. That was a bittersweet thing. Of course, it's always good to come to the end of a saga and find out how it ends. Who can forget the scene at Platform  Nine and Three-Quarters or the party on the Forest Moon of Endor as ends of their respective tales? Then again, who was happy that we wouldn't be getting any more Harry Potter or Star Wars? (And yes, we've had more Star Wars, but who knew that would happen at the time?) In this case though, I'm happy to report that there are more books planned. I should even know how many but I don't remember right now. I'll just be glad to see more. Maybe we'll get to find out more about Father Pearson. I'll be waiting with bated breath.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Wicked Teeth

Deus Vult: Saint Tommy, NYPD Book 6
Declan Finn
Silver Empire, 2019

Deus Vult, Saint Tommy NYPD Book 6 is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no cost to you.

Stop With the Discrimination

Apparently Amazon does not approve of Christian authors writing Christian books.

Declan Finn and Jon Del Arroz, both authors which I have reviewed and am a fan of, have had their latest pre-release ebooks have been cancelled. No explanation has been given. That's fine. I'll provide one:

It's religious discrimination. Both men are Catholic authors selling Catholic themed works. They were banned because Amazon doesn't like Catholics. You know who else doesn't like Catholics? The Ku Klux Klan. Seriously. Yes, they are best known for their hatred and acts of violence toward black people. Yes, those happened. I'm not going to catalogue every bad thing the Klan has done to black people because the list is too damn long. If someone has a list they can put in the comments because fuck the Ku Klux Klan.  Here's the thing though: They can, and do, hate more than one group.

But really, how badly does the KKK  hate Catholics? (They term them "papists") Badly enough to have burned a cross on the ground of the Shrine of the Little Flower church in Royal Oak, Michigan just a few miles from my house. It has long since been rebuilt and looks magnificent on the outside. I have not been into the Basilica proper so I can't comment directly, but I'm told that it looks great on the inside too.

I have a hard time believing that two Catholic authors having their pre-orders cancelled on the same day, less than a week before they release to be a bit more than just merely coincidental. Apparently Declan Finn agrees. When I asked him for an opinion he stated, "I'm usually not paranoid, but in this case, the timing is too suspicious." I agree.

Jon Del Arroz gave me the following statement:

"I will never equivocate not water down my message proclaiming the Glory of Jesus Christ -no matter what it costs me!"

Apparently that would be a decent amount of money since all of your pre-orders were cancelled. 

Of course, the Klan weren't the only group of White Supremacists to hate others. Hitler's Third Reich was also known for deplatforming authors of a religious group they didn't like. Yep, book burnings were common in Nazi Germany.  Of course, you can't burn digital books, so Amazon would have to just ban them instead. Anything that doesn't get downloaded can't be passed on. You can stop the signal before it starts.

These series both sell extremely well as compared to their respective authors. Declan Finn recently extended his Saint Tommy, NYPD series because it was his best selling series to date. Del Arroz stated on his live stream that his Nano Templar series was his best selling series to date. This is nothing other than an attempt to ruin two men because of their religion.

I am, quite frankly, incensed. Seriously, I am not - myself- Catholic. My ex-wife is though. Both of my daughters are growing up in the Catholic church. Both have been baptized as Catholics. Both have made their First Confession and First Communion as Catholics. My oldest is set to make her Confirmation as Catholic next spring sometime. (My ex hasn't given me the date yet. I'm assuming that's because she doesn't have it yet either.) This blatant attack on the religion of my children has me fuming. This is not okay.

I'm hoping that this is some rogue employee doing the wrong thing. I'm hoping that this is one person's attack on the worlds largest religion and not the beginnings of a the systematic pattern of deplatforming of a major religion by Amazon. I truly do. If that's what it is, Amazon is free to remove the problem. I won't call for a boycott until I hear how this is resolved.

What you can do to show your support for these two victims of hate is simple: Buy their books.It's not hard to do. I'll drop the links at the bottom. I have not read either, although I am in possession of an Advanced Review Copy of Deus Vult. I have enough confidence in both writers to recommend their works sight unseen though, because I've read enough of their stuff to know how good they are. I will, at some point in the future be reviewing both. I can say that with confidence, because I have put my money where my mouth is:

So go forth and support these two brave authors. Buy their books from a non-Amazon source, since you can't get it where you want to get it from. You can still read them on your Kindle.

Deus Vult is available for purchase here:

https://silverempire.org/product/deus-vult/

Glorified by Jon Del Arroz is available for purchase here:

https://silverempire.org/product/glorified/

For the record, I don't get paid for things bought from links to the Silver Empire website like I would if I use Amazon affiliate links like I usually do. That sucks. Buy them from Silver Empire anyway.