The Cardinal's Sin

The Cardinal’s Sin by Robert Lane             332 pages

The Cardinal’s Sin is the third book in the Jake Travis series. I have not read the other two, and except for two sentences that seemed to reference one of the other books, I didn’t need to as this is a perfect stand-alone.

Jake and his girlfriend, Kathleen, are wrapping up a four-week  European vacation. The last city they visit is London before they head home to Florida. Jake would like nothing more than to lose himself in Kathleen, but his duties as a Special Ops assassin call. It’s an easy hit: a Cardinal out for him morning stroll in Kensington Gardens. Jake carries out his duties and is back in their hotel room before Kathleen awakens. As the Cardinal lay dying, his last sentence is “Forgive me my sin.” Jake found this odd. Shouldn’t it have been “forgive me my sins.” Plural, not singular. Jake frets about this as he and Kathleen head home.

But…and readers know there has to be a but…Jake learns that he has killed the wrong man. He didn’t kill a bad guy dressed as a Cardinal, but he killed a real Roman Catholic Cardinal. Oh brother.

Back home in Tampa Bay, Jake teams up with his partner, Garrett Demarcus, and a guy named Morgan, that I’m not really sure who he is, other than Jake’s neighbor.

As the three try to figure out what happened to the real target, Alexander Partetsky, the regular formula for PI novels unfolds. I did especially enjoy the sprinkling of literary references.

The Cardinal’s Sin is a good read. I think Jake would make an excellent TV character (Imagine Travis, PI).  It fits well into the genre, but it’s not a great read. And for that reason, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.