Review: Death Cult by Declan Finn
It’s not just one murderous servant of darkness he has to worry about this time.
Story
The second installment of the Saint Tommy, NYPD series, Death Cult continues the story of NYPD detective Thomas Nolan and his fight against the forces of evil.
The events of the first book have pulled back the curtain on the scope of his enemy’s plot, and it’s not just one murderous servant of darkness he has to worry about this time.
If you haven’t read the first book in the series, Hell Spawn, I highly suggest you do so, or at least catch up on my review from last month. At the end of that book, Nolan and his allies (chiefly his partner Alex Packard and Dominican priest psychologist Father Freeman) had managed to break up a prison riot at Riker’s that was being stirred up by the demon inhabiting the body of Richard Curran. The serial murder and willing servant of the Dark Lord met his end courtesy of a rebar acupuncture; his employment by the Women’s Health Corps meant everyone from the District Attorney’s office to the press had them in their sights.
The WHC, feeling that Nolan has been a thorn in their proverbial side long enough, decides to take matters into their own hands, and goes about attempting to end Nolan’s life at every possible chance they get. It begins with a middle of the night home invasion acted out by gunmen who don’t scream when shot, continues with an entire morgues’ worth of corpses rising up and attacking him, an attempted poisoning, and even the kidnapping of his son hoping to lure him into the lion’s den: the suburb-dwelling cult of Moloch at the center of it all.
The characters
Many of the core characters that were in the first book return, such as the aforementioned trio of Tommy, his partner Alex and Father Freeman, along with his wife Mariel and son Jeremy. I wrote more about them in my Hell Spawn review, so I won’t repeat it here.
A few minor characters from the first book and a new character get more page time in this book, which include:
Daniel Davis DeLeo (Don’t call him ‘3D’), is a local gang leader who conducts his business like a professional. His crew dresses sharp and likes to keep a low profile, eschewing the collateral damage of more thuggish outfits. He’s also a father who has a grudging respect for Tommy, and isn’t crazy about the presence of abortion mills that operate as little more than money laundering operations in his turf. He’s ready with the heavy artillery when Tommy needs backup and likes to surprise his opponents with a friendly grenade or two to liven things up.
Joanna LaObliger, the president of the Women’s Health Corps returns, and plays the part of puppet master. No longer content to allow her powerful political connections to aid her, she enlists the help of a powerful voodoo practitioner in her mission to destroy Nolan. In the previous book, she was shown to be ruthless in her lust for wealth and status within her organization. This book further reveals that she’s thrown herself fully and willfully in to worshipping the demon Moloch, who she believes is the god of money. She lives in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in New York, one where people very much value their privacy. Especially when it comes to those strange trucks that come and go at her house every week.
The shadowy and menacing Bokor Baracus, LaObliger’s previously mentioned lieutenant, is without question the guilty pleasure of the book when it comes to characters. This fashionably dressed Haitian witch wields black magic to try to remove Nolan from the cult’s plans. He’s got an easy, pleasant smile and butter-smooth, musical voice, with an easy laugh and personality that would be charismatic if he weren’t so scary. Able to control zombies, harness the strength of passed souls, and seemingly melt between shadows, he makes for a frustratingly taunting opponent for our hero detective, almost seeming to hold back just to prolong the sport.
The world
The action takes place in New York City again, but more in the suburban nooks than in urban settings. There aren’t any horror show abattoirs like the Riker’s riot of the first book, preferring to focus more on the horrors that lurk behind eight-foot privacy fences.
The politics
Right, so remember all that stuff I said last time?
“. . . a major turning point in the plot centers around abortion both as act and industry. Finn himself is a practicing Catholic, and makes no bones about this. One should not be surprised to discover then, that the procedure the Church refers to as “an act of intrinsic evil that cannot be allowed under any circumstances,” isn’t portrayed in a positive light. You’ve been warned.”
Now take that and turn it up to twenty. If anyone out there harboring pro-choice sensibilities was able to make it through Hell Spawn and still enjoy it, I suggest you really gird your loins here. The mask is completely ripped off of LaObliger, as she is rendered completely irredeemable, even going so far as to hurl a racial slur at one point. During the course of their investigation, Packard and Nolan visit abortion clinics so filthy and flagrantly in violation of code Nolan is forced to stop at a church between each visit to reorient himself. Women get coerced into having abortions by gang members, abortionists get caught ready to outright murder already-birthed and fully viable newborns, and corrupt staff stonewall and cover for it all. In Hell Spawn, Finn metaphorically took the notion of abortion as a good or necessary medical practice and beat it to death with a shovel, then rolled it into a shallow grave. This book burns the corpse and relieves itself on the ashes.
All of it of course, is being done with the express support and full-throated admiration of City Hall. To my shock, this time Gracie Manor is occupied by some ungodly breed of political animal that is a blend of small-L libertarian and capital-bold-underlined-P progressive. Mayor Hoynes is an opportunistic empty suit who blathers platitudes while resisting any appeals to common sense or duty to the citizenry, which is actually a pretty good representation of any example of mayoral governance from the past twenty years.
Content warning
While the book is not nearly as bloody as its predecessor, as mentioned above, there is plenty of moral ugliness to be found. The tragic thing is, one can hardly accuse Finn of being sensational, as investigations such as the infamous Kermit Gosnell trial and others sadly reveal that his depictions, especially in New York City, are all too often “ripped from the headlines”.
Also, watch out for an eyebrow-raising n-bomb, courtesy of our lily white limousine liberal antagonist. You’re never quite ready for it, but . . . it’s there.
Who is it for?
Hell Spawn made me a bona fide Tommy Nolan fan, and this book didn’t disappoint as a sequel. The stakes were higher, and the introduction of Bokor Baracus made for a great (at times, even sympathetic) nemesis for Nolan to be stacked up against. It’s got a much more of an action movie feel to it, and less of the outright horror tone of the first one, and I breezed through it in two nights.
Why read it?
This thing is an easy-to-get-through, wild ride. It feels like a street fight against good and evil, and the gloves are off. Plenty of gunfire, zombie hordes and outstanding character development ensure that I’m going to be following this up with book three: Infernal Affairs.