Sep 12, 2026
Mashup supreme.
This is the 51st volume I have read from the masterful pen of Declan Finn, I read most in under a year after first discovering his works. I read them at the pace of about a book a week. This is the fourth story in the Honeymoon from Hell series, and the eighth novel (there are some shorter works out there) featuring Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt and it is another amazing story. There are 5 planned in this series, or this part of Amanda and Marco’s story. At the ends of the previous story we knew where they are headed next and just the mention of joining Tommy Nolan of the St Tommy NYPD fame and man what a team they make. But I am getting ahead of myself, back to the volume at hand. The chapters in this volume are: An Offer We’re Going to Refuse Tommy Over the Hills and Far Away Shoot First Dead Inside Arrival Saint, Meet Monster Controlled Environment Tightly Wrapped Unleash Hell Out of the Dark After Action Gunfight at Saint Peter’s Corral Time to Kill Shoe Leather Blind Alleys Hot Gates All Hell Breaking Loose Death Match Delusions of Adequacy Now You Coliseum After Party We have a convoluted cast of characters in this story and it ties to many of Finn’s other series in one way or another. And crossovers with more than one of Finn’s other series. For not only is Tommy Nolan and his family dropped in this story but one of their trainers is Sean AP Ryan. This story is the fourth in this series but according to Finn for fans of Saint Tommy, NYPD this story comes between book 6 Deus Vult and book 7, Coven in that series. It also contains some of the material from Principle Necromancy which was released as a short story in the world. I an still surprised we have not seen either Father Richard Freeman or Father Michael Pearson appear, there are still the final volume to go. In an older edition of Madeline L’Engle’s Space Quartet there was a family tree that included her Kairos, Chromos Series as well as other volumes including her non-fiction. I am beginning to feel like someone needs to make such a character tree for Finn’s ever expanding canon of work. But back to the book at hand. The events in this story take place over I believe just a few days. The main story is Marco’s and Amanda’s continued honeymoon. They are in Rome to train with the Vatican Ninjas, and train with Tommy a cop from New York. If the story had gone on much longer the city might not have survived. For they had battles with Etrucsan mummies, a necromancer, vampire, evil spirits, and much, much more. This story if even full of Finn’s action, adventure and battles a mix of improvised weapons, the normal weapons of Marco at Tommy’s batman like utility belt of sacred items. We have Marco, Amanda, and Tommy chasing down a new threat and racking up body counts even higher than John Wick. They are in a new place, and with new friends and backup, and yet trouble seems to find them again. It was almost impossible to put this book down. As the penultimate volume in the series it was amazing and leaves you desperate for the final piece in the series. It is another great read from Finn’s masterful. A book and series I can easily recommend.
