The Cardinal’s Sin

A dramatic opening kicks off Lane’s complex third Jake Travis thriller (after 2015’s Cooler Than Blood). Travis, a member of American special ops who’s on vacation in Europe, receives orders to kill Alexander Paretsky, an international assassin with a penchant for disguises, who’s been targeting loved ones of both current and former special ops members. Paretsky, who’s pretending to be a cardinal, is in London, where the operative stalks him to Kensington Gardens and shoots him. The wounded Paretsky manages to ask Travis to forgive him his “sin” before Travis finishes him off. Given the blood on his victim’s hands, Travis is untroubled by the hit—until his superiors inform him that the man he killed is not Paretsky but Cardinal Giovanni Antinori, who was popular with the poor, insisted that the Catholic Church confront its history of abuse, and devoted himself to humanitarian relief for Africa. Guilt-ridden, Travis tries to figure out how he got the wrong guy. The answer will surprise some readers. [em](BookLife) [/em]