God's Spy

I finished this book in two days, which was fast enough for me. I was also glad to be able to get it at a bargain price.
Juan Gomez-Jurado is a journalist lives in Spain and this is his first book.

I had imagined something else in mind after reading the title and the synopsis, and after finishing the book, if I get it right, in my opinion the title can be misleading. God's Spy is indeed there, but it's not what the main story is about.

The story is set in 2005, after the death of Pope John Paul II and cardinals from all around the world come for the conclave in Vatican. The heroine is a profiler, Police Inspector Paola Dicanti, who enters the story when a cardinal is found murdered in a chapel and she is asked to investigate. She gets help from Fabio Dante, a deputy inspector of the Vigilanza (Vatican police force); and Father Anthony Fowler, an American priest who has contacts with the killer in the past. Dicanti's hunt becomes personal after her friend detective Maurizio Ponteiro also becomes a victim.

The story is fast paced, I almost couldn't put it down. The conclusion is satisfyting, although there are some secrets from Fowler's past which are left unanswered. I hope the story is 100% fictional and that corrupt cardinals merely existed in the Middle Ages.