Last night, I finished reading Declan Finn’s 2018 novel Hell Spawn: Saint Tommy, Saint – Book 1. I want to say a few things before I dive into the actual review.

First, this will be full of spoilers. I can’t see any other way of reviewing it without tipping the author’s hand so to speak.

Second, although I’m not really associated with Finn, we have crossed paths on social media and we do have a few acquaintances in common.

Third, while this book may not be everyone’s proverbial “cup of tea,” I can understand all or most of why he wrote it the way he did.

Fourth, this book isn’t about a horror/murder mystery where the homicide detective just happens to be Catholic. The novel assumes that the entire universe, natural and supernatural, works exactly according to Catholic doctrine which is both the protagonist’s and author’s point of view.

Fifth: Just a reminder that it’s also fiction.

Also: Spoilers.

The book has an intriguing premise. What if NYPD homicide detective Tommy Nolan has acquired supernatural abilities often associated with what the Catholic Church considers saints? Suddenly, he discovers he can bi-locate (be in two places at once), that he can literally smell evil (and the more evil the person/thing, the worse it smells), and that his prayers have immediate and practical effects on evil beings and can even bring about miracles.

Nolan is a practicing and devout Catholic who tries to see the good in people, even when they do bad things. He’s married with a ten-year-old son, performs lay services for the church such as administering communion to shut-ins, and is basically a decent guy.

However, once actual demons from Hell (yes, that Hell) become aware of him, they try to destroy his life and everything he loves.

The action starts fast and the reader is pretty much running alongside Tommy throughout this short, intense book.

Even if you’re not Catholic or a Christian at all, you might find the novel enjoyable. After all, how many fantasy novels contain religious themes and impossible “magical” events that real-life people don’t actually believe?

The novel’s content is also incredibly violent. The first murder involves a young teenage girl who is hideously violated and abused over the course of hours until finally murdered by being torn apart, having her heart removed, and having her brains sucked out through a tube.

Yes, it’s nightmare fuel at its finest.

If the novel focused only on demonic action in the “fantasy” sense, it would have been one thing.

However, one of the major criticisms of the book is its political and social commentary.

Devout Catholics (in spite of the novel’s content, not all Catholics are the same) believe that all abortions are essentially murder, and that’s a given in the context of the book. However, the author goes out of his way to paint the head of the (nameless but we all know who he’s talking about) abortion industry in New York City as wholly evil (right down to her purple-dyed hair) throws in a leering gay receptionist at the abortion clinic’s office just for giggles, and goes on from there.

Further “preachiness” involves more gay commentary, the liberal news media, leftist politics in New York supporting abortion and possibly infanticide, sanctuary cities deliberately harboring MS-13 and other criminal gangs illegally in our country, and even Black Lives Matter, although no black people overtly appear in the book (even though this is New York).

I know that most if not all authors project their personal belief systems into their books to one degree or another, but the best ones usually do so in a way where the reader doesn’t notice, or if we do, it doesn’t jar us out of the narrative. Finn gave himself full license to point big, flashing neon signs at “THIS IS HOW I FEEL.”

Having said all that, how many “mainstream” science fiction and fantasy novels go out of their way to present the biases of their authors as well as the current progressive gatekeepers for SF/F? Those biased books, short stories, TV shows, movies, and even comic books are designed to grind down the “traditional” family, white straight males, anyone religious (specifically Christians), children, conservatism in any form at all, critical thinking (as opposed to “groupthink”), a work ethic…the list goes on.

In that sense, I don’t really blame Finn for trying to “stick it to the man,” so to speak, in his novel (this is the first in a series of twelve, so I can only imagine how much further it goes).

I said this book isn’t everyone’s “cup of tea” but as of this writing, it has 341 reviews (not counting mine which I haven’t posted yet) with 85 percent of them being four and five stars.

That’s pretty impressive. I can only imagine that the overt religious themes (to the point of being highly inflexible at times) and the criticism of anything you’d call progressive or “woke” is really popular with Finn’s readership. In other words, he must be doing something right, even if it’s being able to get the word out to that group of people who resonate with his writing and his themes (I should be so lucky).

I said the book was action packed and it is, but there were times when unnecessary details dragged things down a bit. In this case, action packed resulted in limited character development at best and blatant stereotyping at worst.

If any parts of my review seem harsh, keep in mind that although I’m not a Catholic, I am a Christian. In graduate school, the other four members of my study group included a Priest (he was a great guy) and I’ve known enough Catholics over the years to know that their theology and praxis can be pretty variable. No, I don’t have a doctrinal axe to grind.

From everything I’ve mentioned, you’ll have to decide if you fit the target audience for this novel or otherwise would find it an interesting read. It’s not something I could make a steady diet of personally.