Declan Finn's Cross Over (Honeymoon from Hell Book 4)
A Book Review
Does it count as fan fiction if the actual author writes it? That’s the question that kept entering my mind as I was reading Declan Finn’s Cross Over (Honeymoon from Hell Book 4). Don’t get me wrong, this is quality writing. It’s probably the best written thing I’ve read by Finn and I’ve been following this dude for quite awhile now. But, like, I can’t help but thing that somewhere out there, Finn was sitting at home one night geeking out over his own work and just thought to himself, “Wouldn’t it be SOOO COOOOOL if there was a story that Marco and Amanda (Honeymoon from Hell/Love at First Bite Series), Tommy Nolan (St. Tommy NYPD) and Sean AP Ryan (Convention Killings) in it and they were in Rome getting trained by Vatican Ninjas?” and then sat down and started tapping away on his keyboard while giggle like a thirteen year old girl writing a My Little Pony story on Tumblr.
That’s not a criticism though. If anything, the joy that Finn felt writing Cross Over translates into enjoyment for the reader. Probably the first word that comes to mind when speaking about this book is “fun”. There is so much going on that you can’t possibly get bored. Of course, Finn has beef with the country of Italy and manages to tear apart some more of the countryside, but that’s awesome too. I guess my biggest complaint about Cross Over is that there’s so much going on that I didn’t want to stop reading it. As a matter of fact I’m going to a convention in September and Finn is going to be there. After I stick my tongue out at him (see my review of Blue Saint) I’m going to look him straight in the face and ask, “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND TWO MINUTES TO PEE WITH SO MUCH GOING ON IN THIS BOOK?” Seriously, my bladder will never forgive Finn for this one.
It’s weird though, too. Cross Over is the fourth book in the Honeymoon from Hell series but I honestly think it shouldn’t be. Granted it features Marco and Amanda from the series, but their honeymoon is over. Most of the people that accompanied them are no longer present. There are characters from other series present though. In a lot of ways, Cross Over feels like it should be Book One in the Vatican Ninja Training series instead of a continuation of the old one though. That much having been said, this is a good thing.
Pretty much every time I review a sequel to pretty much anything I recommend not reading the sequel until you’ve read what comes before. I’m going to break that habit here. Cross Over is the start of a new story. I’ve never read a book by Finn that I wouldn’t recommend but you don’t have to read the other stuff first to understand the story here. You could run off to Amazon, pick up a copy and follow along just fine. I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t enjoy the book more because I knew a ton of the characters from previous works but hand to hand combat and zombies and absolute and total destruction are fun regardless of whether you know about Marco’s history with the gangs of New York or not.
The action sequences in Cross Over are over the top and amazing. No one can trash a place quite like Declan Finn can. Whether it’s Marco with his knives, Tommy with his charisms, Ryan with his guy or Amanda with her vampire abilities the important characters in any Finn novel always know how to use their abilities to cause the maximum amount of carnage. And, in the spirit of all superhero stories everywhere (and Finn’s protagonists uniformly have a bit of superhero feel to them) our protagonists don’t give up and keep pushing forward toward victory even when victory seems impossible. It’s the type of indomitable relentlessness that I really respect in a main character.
It’s nice to see a group of characters with a true moral center in a modern novel. Cross Over is the story of heroes fighting for what’s right. There are no morally gray anti-heroes here. Finn’s characters are unabashedly Catholic and that belief in God informs a lot of what happens in Cross Over. They’re not training with the Vatican Ninjas just because the Vatican Ninjas are a bunch of badasses (they are) but because they’re training with representatives of the Catholic Church. This makes sense for all of them and especially for St. Tommy. That much having been said, if you’re the bigoted type and are offended by Catholic imagery this is not the book for you. Of course, my ex-wife and both of my daughters are confirmed Catholics so that doesn’t bother me, but to each his own I guess. And yes, there is actually praying the book, although no depictions of Mass are included that I remember.
Catholic weaponry does make its appearance though and that’s always been a fun part of any St. Tommy novel. Packets of holy salt, Super Soakers full of holy water, etc. do seem to make sense as weapons against the literal minions of Satan and it’s okay if I get a little chuckle when they’re used. Who thinks to load holy water into a squirt gun and shoot it at a demon? Good time guys. Good times.
I’d say that I’m waiting impatiently for the second and final book in the Vatican Ninja Training series (that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it, even if Finn spells it Honeymoon from Hell and thinks it’s the fourth book. I dunno what he did to his autocorrupt to break it to that extent. I’m not sure I want to.) but the bottom line is that I already have it. I purchased the ebook awhile back and I’ll be reviewing it soon. I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure you are too. Probably. I mean, you’re still here, right?
Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Silver Blades
Cross Over
Declan Finn
Self Published, 2025
Cross Over is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.
Cross Over