Title:	The Cardinal’s Sin
	Author:	Robert Lane
	Published:	Mason Alley Publishing, 2015
	No. of Pages:	368
	Cover Price:	$14.95 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle

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Jake Travis is on a European vacation with his girlfriend, Kathleen, who is the love of his life. Before the vacation ends, Jake receives an assignment to kill an assassin who has been targeting the loved ones of Special Ops agents. He completes the seemingly simple assignment – the target generally dresses as a Cardinal, so he’s easy to pick out – and prepares to return home. However, he soon learns that he has killed the wrong man, and to make matters worse, the man he killed is a real Cardinal, and a popular one at that. When Jake confesses to Kathleen, she is angry and no longer wants to see him. Jake feels that he must get to the bottom of the debacle and find out why the Cardinal has used him to basically commit suicide and let the assassin go free. He also must find the assassin and finish his original assignment.

The Cardinal’s Sin is the third installment in the Jake Travis series by award-winning author Robert Lane, and it is a well-written and fascinating tale. Lane is a skilled wordsmith, and weaves his story in such a way that readers will be on the edge of their seats. One very appealing attribute to Lane’s style is that he has the ability to add humor to lighten what is a serious and deep novel. The characters are interesting; Jake is a blend of several popular suspense characters: sort of a maverick like Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, a man with integrity and a sense of fairness like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, a man with international intrigue like Brad Thor’s Scot Harvath and Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp, and a sense of humor like Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar.

The story has ties to Catholicism, and as Travis investigates further, he learns that corruption in the church is possibly the underlying cause of several deaths and ultimately the death of the Cardinal. There are twists and turns, as is expected in a good suspense novel, and just when the reader thinks that all of the ends are tied up and the truth has come out, the story takes a turn to a very unexpected, but satisfying end.

The Cardinal’s Sin is highly recommended, and readers will surely add Jake Travis to their lists of favorite protagonists.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this novel.

This book may be purchased at Amazon:
The Cardinal's Sin, Paperback
The Cardinal's Sin, Kindle