Hank Flynn: The Return by Candace Nola
Uncomfortably Dark (July 2025)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent
I’m generally not a fan of Western horror, though it’s an interesting subgenre. I’m revising that idea after Candace Nola’s Hank Flynn: The Return. Haven’t read the original Hank Flynn? Don’t stress. I hadn’t either. In Hank Flynn: The Return, Nola pulls off an incredibly difficult trick: a sequel with familiar characters and storylines that can still be read solo (though it will spoil the first Hank Flynn, so reader beware).
Hank Flynn: The Return stars the eponymous main character, a brooding loner on a mission from the Christian God. The Father (as Hank calls Him) has commissioned this sword-toting long arm of the law to battle demons who are determined to sink mankind into darkness. That’s traumatic enough, but Hank’s also toting a metric ton of trauma — crushing loneliness, persistent isolation, and bottomless grief over the death of the only woman he’s dared to love. When a small Midwestern town finds a local family brutally murdered, God calls Hank to assure the demons responsible don’t escape. Hank is His justice. And he’s determined to do his Father’s will.
Aided by the local sheriff, his young deputy, and occasionally the Archangel Michael, Hank tracks the demon responsible. But it can leap bodies, and if he wants to stop Hell from harvesting more souls, Hank will have to battle it one-on-one. As the sleepy little town becomes a celestial battleground, Hank and Sheriff Townsend must rally its citizens to fight. They have beloved local hostelier, Judy, on their side. But even Hank doesn’t know if they’ll manage to stand against evil.
In Hank Flynn: The Return, Nola gives readers an immensely compelling main character and a well-developed supporting cast. An implacable instrument of God’s will, but also a flawed, complicated man, Hank is brooding but determined; while the early-1900s Midwestern town and its citizens feel comfortably familiar, they’re no less rich for it. We know these people. We know their wants, their needs, their dreams. Against this comforting, almost nostalgic backdrop, Nola sets the unfamiliar and the frightening. That contrast makes the novel hit even harder.
Boy, does it hit — and the action keep coming. Nola is a master of quick-paced plot, and Hank Flynn: The Return rockets through action faster than Hank can draw his swords. Charging out of the gate with a brutal murder scene, the book reads lighting-quick. Some of that momentum stems from Nola’s emphasis on well-paced action itself; satisfying demon battles abound (but never become trite). And like Hank himself, this short novel doesn’t waste words. That’s not to say Hank Flynn: The Return lacks for the lovely prose we’ve come to expect from Candace Nola — much of the novel is breathtakingly pretty.
Beware. Longtime readers know that Nola wraps trauma, tragedy, and brutal atrocity in beauty—she’s won Splatterpunk Awards for a reason. Hank himself could break your heart, and Nola gives us richly detailed, lovingly composed action scenes; some brutal murders; and gut wrenching sadness. Hank Flynn: The Return reads fast and lingers long. Hold on for a gut-punch climax that knocked me breathless.
Fans of demon possession, Western tropes (even if Hank’s armed with swords instead of guns), and horror that hurts will devour this quick bite of a book. Hank Flynn is one of the most memorable characters in contemporary horror, and I’m glad I caught up with him. Another triumph of a book that proves once again why Nola has become a fixture of the indie horror scene.
