Review: Demons are Forever, by Declan Finn
After the events of Honor at Stake, (Love at First Bite #1, reviewed here, you’d think Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt would be going out and hunting evil vampires together as they planned their wedding. That might be the case if either of them were particularly well-adjusted.
The story
After the events of the first book and the victory of Marco and company over the vampire Mikhail the Bear, Marco flees to San Francisco in an effort to not hurt Amanda should she discover just how dark his dark side really is. He also has the plausible excuse of responding to Merle Kraft’s request to help train a group of vampire hunters in San Francisco. Not that the fanged critters are a huge problem there yet, Kraft would just like to keep it that way.
Marco takes his time integrating himself with the team Kraft has already assembled, and when he does, let’s just say Marco’s people skills have not improved much from the previous book. Surprisingly, he does forge something like a real connection with Yana, a casually pagan walking stereotype of San Francisco – in a fun way. There is even a hint of romantic tension that leaves the reader wondering if Amanda might turn Yana into lunch later on. All of that takes a backseat when the forces behind Mikhail retaliate against Marco, the Vatican Ninjas, and the rest, beginning with a feigned terror attack in New York. Realizing that the attack was aimed at Marco; Bram, Hendershot, and the rest of the Ninjas arrive in San Francisco just in time to save him from the person responsible for the attack, the mysterious Mr. Day. As one would expect, he is much more of a threat than Mikhail. Mr. Day, in fact, has a long history of causing trouble in the world and has crossed paths with Amanda before. His powers are beyond those of any vampire they have met, requiring all of their forces and all of Marco’s considerable strategic talents to overcome.
The characters
Declan Finn has a talent for coming up with devout characters that don’t conform to a stereotypical model of piety. Marco is certainly devout, never missing Mass, going to regular confession and doing his best to follow the ten commandments. Yet, he is also a self-described violent sociopath. It just so happens that he’s able to turn his dark side to the right targets, in this case, vampires. In fact, it’s probably a good thing that there are vampires because Marco might otherwise direct his violent tendencies elsewhere. Which would make him the Punisher at best or the Joker at worst.
Merle Kraft is also further developed. It turns out he has a wife as well as a collection of ill-defined powers leave the reader wondering exactly who he is. Finn also shows off his skill here in that one would expect the vague nature of Merle’s powers to come off as sloppy. Instead, the author crafts it such a way that the character comes off as enigmatic.
Mr. Day is the kind of bad guy who knows he’s the bad guy and clearly likes being the bad guy. There are no attempts at sympathy, he treated as he is, a powerful being of immense evil. And get used to him, he pops up in other books, including [easyazon_link identifier="B07VJ58T21" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]those with Tommy Nolan[/easyazon_link].
The world
Marco and Amanda’s world begins to expand in this book. In the first, Marco was exposed to the fact that vampires exist. Not only that, the Vatican has a fully equipped strike force to deal with them. We learn here that is only the tip of the iceberg as we meet exploding vampire thralls, werewolves, a demon, and a bona fide guardian angel. The more Finn builds out his universe the stranger and more interesting it becomes.
The politics
With Marco as the POV character, the politics of this series are best summed as, “smite evil before it smites you”. Marco isn’t passive. If he has an opportunity to strike, he takes it, smacking down the villains without bothering to second guess himself. In a way, it isn’t politics at all, it’s a reclaiming of martial virtue.
Content warning
Demons and horrible deaths abound. Like most of Finn’s books, the gruesome nature means this one isn’t for the littles.
Who is it for?
If you liked The Lost Boys, or Blade, then this is definitely for you. The vampires and other supernatural creatures all have the classic weaknesses but live squarely in the modern world. That is to say, no one is running around posing dramatically in a cape, nor is anyone sparkling in the sun.
Why read it?
If you like the idea of Blade with an intellect like Batman wreaking havoc on the supernatural underworld with the help of a Catholic vampire and literal Vatican Ninjas, why wouldn’t you read this book?