Rating: 3 stars
Buy Link:
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Length: Novel


Iggy’s entire life has been dedicated to hunting down and destroying demons, a task given to him by a local sect of Jesuit priests who cared for Iggy as an orphan and who continue to guide him as an adult. His intense training has made him a formidable demon hunter—the average citizen in Denver has no idea their mile-high city is a beacon for the otherworldly creatures. Of course, as the son of Lucifer himself, Iggy’s got a handful of supernatural capabilities that help him eradicate any and all demons. At forty, Iggy is the youngest of Lucifer’s numerous offspring, but over the years, all his half-siblings have been slowly dying off. When his last living half-brother turns up dead in a dark alley, Iggy starts questioning the importance and meaning behind the task his Jesuit caretakers gave him. Then, Iggy encounters a man who is the spitting image of his deceased half-brother. Iggy suddenly realizes just how much information he doesn’t have about where the demons come from and to what purpose Lucifer created scores of offspring. All he knows for sure is that nothing good can come from an apparent clone of the devil’s offspring.

As Iggy tries to unearth the truth about his father, he calls upon Lalo, his best friend and not-so-secret crush, for help. Lalo was raised by Jesuits just like Iggy and they share a special bond. Iggy is one of the few people Lalo allows in and Lalo is the only person outside the Jesuit priests to know the truth about Iggy’s parentage. Lalo also knows Iggy’s interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him, but Lalo has some reservations about a romance altering their decades-long friendship. For Lalo, routine is paramount and he is loathe to risk it for anything. When he encounters demons not just in his hometown, but in the very gardens that act as his sanctuaries, Lalo has a change of heart and opens himself up to Iggy’s advances. Little do he or Iggy understand just how special Lalo is…or what it means for their future together.

Despite the juxtaposition of a hero whose father is literally the devil, I thought there was precious little to recommend this book. Initially, I liked some of Iggy’s commentary and the demon-hunter concept seemed like it would add some mystique. However, Iggy suffered from a couple of key character traits that were complete turn offs for me. First, although he’s about forty years old and has been best friends with Lalo, who is autistic, since high school, Iggy still demonstrates behavior that clearly indicates he takes Lalo for granted and/or is insensitive to Lalo’s needs. One prime example is asking Lalo to pick up sandwiches from a popular downtown eatery during the lunch rush when it would have been perfectly do-able for Iggy himself to pick up the sandwiches and/or make other arrangements for lunch. The other turn off was Iggy’s expectations for sex when he and Lalo embark upon a romantic relationship. Mostly, I found myself disgusted that Iggy thought it was not a problem to wake Lalo up with a blowjob despite apparently never having discussed engaging in sexual activities while one of them is unconscious. Lalo even points out he’s not exactly feeling the sexy and Iggy’s reaction seemed to be more like “you DON’T want to wake up to a blow job?” rather than “let’s talk about what we’re both comfortable participating in.”

The plot also felt strained. I don’t think the Jesuit/Lucifer/demon connection was clearly established, yet without this triumvirate, there would be no story. For centuries, the Jesuits have been grooming Lucifer’s copious children to hunt demons. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from the Jesuit journals that apparently document why this is necessary, but I found these chapter headings difficult to follow and, frankly, annoying. The connection between the demons and Lucifer was equally puzzling and not explained anywhere that I could tell. The ultimate kicker came when our dynamic duo just happens to stumble upon the exact combination of ingredients to solve the demon problem (not to mention it happens in the *epilogue*).

In the plus column, Here Comes the Son offers some diversity in its characters. This is best demonstrated through Lalo, but Donovan includes a pair of lesbians and a nonbinary character who conveniently appear just when the MCs need them to and continue to contribute exactly as much as the plot demands. There’s also a big old happily ever after and after a hot minute of angst, our to MCs figure out they want to be happy together for as long as they have.

Overall, the story meanders and gets bogged down with multiple details that I thought didn’t get resolved very well. The MC suffers from what I consider some significant flaws and the supporting characters are conveniently convenient. For what it’s worth, Lalo’s depiction does feel like a sensitive exploration of what it’s like to be autistic in an allistic world and the story has some characters. However, these pluses felt rather overshadowed by the demon/Jesuit/Lucifer snarl.