This was a suspenseful thriller that did not disappoint. It involved religion and organized crime and was very well written. I was kept engaged until the end.
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A priest is killed, with the killer citing the paedophile accusations. Easily believable about the Catholic priest these days, right?
But Father Luis, brought in by the archbishop himself, can not find the background for this accusation. But it might very well be the cover for another, mighty heavy crimes. And then people start to die and Father Luis, his politico frenemy Michael story and young doctor Susan might have their hands fuller than they could imagine in their wildest dreams.

Mixed feelings at the least. On the one hand - this is fast-paced read, moving around with the speed of the last thriller movie (no wonder that the author has the screenwriter experience under his belt). The plot is full of the attractive motives - corrupted politicos, Chinese triads, the unusual hero winningly fighting the unsolveable case agains the powerful figures, truth and faith and - and love, real even when unrequited or being not your standard love story. Yes, this is the very attractive and very readable mix, going on the full speed.
Yet - when out of it, you feel exactly like when leaving the cinema, for all of its good and bad characteristics. For me personally this feels a bit shallow, a bit full of set-up answers.

Even if the answers come in the form of modern, attractive hints at the "welcome" (meaning: welcome by the author) changes within the Catholic church. Particularly the hidden and the less hidden jabs are against the Church-perceived and/or promoted racism and not supporting the "non-regular" forms of love, against playing with the powerful figures and against not fighting the evil of our times enough. While I personally can accept the part of the criticism (the exception here are the "non-regular relationships" - ever heard of sin?), I honestly say I don´t like these hints much. For one they are of generalized nature and the author conveniently forgets to speak about all of the Church good deeds here. Also - all the good Church characters are the "nonformal guys" like Father Luis, Father Whillans or Father Chang - while the "regular" characters presented like pompous or narrow-minded.
Yes, I know that this is a fiction. But I also know what is to be Catholic, so I argue as one here, as one who speaks from the "expertise of being Catholic" here. And as this is a book about Catholic priest, I feel the need to comment about this.

And yet - I must honestly say that there are pearls of wisdom and real, raw faith present here, too. To me, this is the saving grace for this series. I feel enriched by them.

So, this is not a book I would recommend. But I acknowledge the good parts of it.

I didn't realize this was part of a series until I had started reading it. I will go back and check out the first book! The story kept me interested and I was intrigued by the characters and the backstory I missed on the main two. A good ride the whole time.

There was nothing wrong with this book but it wasn't a book I rushed back to and couldn't put down. It moved along, had an interesting storyline and was well written. It just didn't really grab my attention.