Book Reviews and More: Lightbringer - Declan Finn

Lightbringer

Saint Tommy, NYPD Book 10

Declan Finn

Tuscany Bay Books

ISBN 9798821253064

eISBN 9798201777944

ASIN B09ZRVPPP6

Again, I can state that this series just gets better and better! I have read 15 books by Declan Finn in the last few months, and 1 prior to that. I have loved what I have read to date. And I have plans to read all that I can lay my hands on. Both the Saint Tommy and the White Ops series are greatly entertaining, and I cannot wait for the Pius trilogy of 5 books to be back in print. This is another great story in an always entertaining series. These books took me completely by surprise, and I find that I am surprised again with each new novel. They are very well written. The description of this story is:

“When a director's daughter overdoses, that's one thing.

When she comes back as a zombie, that's a mission for NYPD Lt. Tommy Nolan and his new Joint Supernatural Taskforce.

But when he comes up against a conspiracy that goes back centuries, Tommy will need an army of light to fight off the darkness.”

Just as I was finishing up this book I saw an announcement for 3 published short stories in the series. I reached out to the author to find out where they would fit in the series:

They Burn Witches, Don't They

(between Lupus Dei and City of Shadows)

Principle Necromancy

(between Deus Vult and Coven)

Vessel

(after book 12, Blue Saint)

At that point I believe the series is completed at least for now. I have been packing myself with these books. I have been reading about 1 a week, interspersed with other fiction and nonfiction. It was only a massive amount of self-control. And having three new stories set in this world is like a surprise gift.

Tommy is still officially on staff with the NYPD, but he is working mostly independent of them, with a new task force. They are sort of part of the FBI, the team is the Joint Supernatural Taskforce, the official designation with the FBI was JSTF, but we called it JST or “Just.” The day to day team is Tommy, his son Jeremy, Jeremy’s wife Lena, and his retired partner Alex Packard. They also have some floater desks for FBI agents when they are working with the team. And dedicated desks for Father Richard Freeman, Medical Examiner, Doctor Sinead Holland and ADA William Carlton of Manhattan.

Tommy states:

“In the years that JST had been active, the FBI had allowed us all sorts of access—to their databases, AFIS (for fingerprints), PERT (physical evidence recovery team), the FBI labs—but they had yet to send us a single FBI agent to work with us on a long-term basis. We had access to resources, and were were occasionally sent either a rookie or someone who was on-the-job retired.”

Lena and Jeremy are both officially agents for the CIA but work mostly without supervision. I highlighted 2 passages because they made me laugh so much, they are:

“Alex looked up from his paperback omnibus edition of The Pius Trilogy (which was, for some reason, five books. I didn’t ask).”

“Rivera shrugged. “I’m in a business where the expectation is that every film based on a comic book has to make a billion dollars or it’s a flop. Heck, for a while, slap the Marvel label on something and it automatically made a billion dollars.””

This story does have a lot of action, in fact it opens in the sewers with a battle against spiders including one that could give Shelob a run for sizing. But this story has a lot more police work, uncovering the trail in the old gum shoe fashion. JUST reaches out to their contacts at H.E.R.O. and Human Exploitation Rescue Operative Child-Rescue Corps, and others. They slowly put together a history going back decades to the beginning of Hollywood. And an adversary that goes back much further. Their investigations into Golden Chalice Studios and Luminary Productions the facts just do not add up. The companies seem to be making decisions that are bad business, they only thing they see to focus on is corruption for corruptions sake. Until a piece falls into place for Tommy. And soon they are pulling in all the resources they can in what might became the biggest case to ever hit the New York Court system. But to get there Tommy must face his strongest foe yet!

This story is has a lot of action, some crime procedural and detective work. All happening while Tommy’s wife is diagnosed with a brain tumor. It is like Die Hard film with the whole family, and a close knit group of friends and allies in on the action. Finn does an excellent job of weaving current events into this Catholic Action Horror novel. The characters are wonderfully written. Wondering what will happen to them next leaves you hanging big time! And with book 12 planned as the last novel, how it will end overall.

I have now read books from three different series by Finn and can say I enjoyed them all. The books in this series should be read in order as they are a continuous story. I can easily recommend this book and these stories to mature readers. Finn does a masterful job of blending faith and fiction and thereby crafting excellent stories! It is an intense story. An excellent installment in a great series!

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by Declan Finn:

Love At First Bite Series:

Short Stories:

Blood Stained Cliffs of Dover

Bad Date

Mad Dog Moon

…

Novels:

Honor at Stake

Demons Are Forever

(Murphy's Law of Vampires)