Urban fantasy is a more recent genre that I have not read much. Declan Finn’s Hell Spawn: Saint Tommy is the first in the series first published in 2018.

Detective Thomas Nolan of the New York Police Department starts his day bringing in a purse snatcher on the way to work. He smells something really bad. A 100 lb, 5’8” junkie in custody at the station goes berserk throwing police all over the place. Nolan subdues the junkie. Later Internal Affairs pays Nolan a visit as the junkie died in jail.

Events proceed quickly with the murder of a girl who goes to school with Nolan’s son. Then there are strange noises in Nolan’s house.

Nolan and partner pick up a member of the MS-13 gang. MS-13 decides to spring their gang member out of the station. Finn has lots of action and gun-play.

Checking with forensics experts, they discover the murder victim was killed in the manner of a late term abortion. Then a friend of Nolan’s wife is murdered in the same way.

Nolan and his partner narrow it down the murderer has a background in abortion. It gets worse than that. The serial killer is inhabited by a demon. As events unfold, dealing with a demon possessed serial killer is not easy. Shoot the serial killer in the head, the demon will just simply move on to inhabit someone else.

The climax is action packed on a big scale with a riot at Riker’s Island. Finn has an interesting way of dealing with the demon. It turns out Detective Tommy Nolan has some powers of his own.

Hell Spawn is Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International meets The Exorcist. Nolan is a devout Catholic who holds strong views on things like abortion. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The tension builds and action punctuates the narrative. I generally read about swordsmen dealing with evil, I am fine with pistols vs. evil also.