The Spy Who Came for Christmas (#143) by David Morrell is my final Christmas book for this season. My husband actually read it first and was intrigued by a legend Mr. Morrell includes about the Three Wisemen. Since I was reading this on January 6th, Epiphany, which honors the Magi's visit to Bethlehem, I felt this was book was an entirely appropriate choice.
The plot involves a spy working undercover with the Russian mob. His group's assignment on Christmas Eve in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is to kidnap a baby and deliver him to their clients. Paul has done many distasteful jobs to prove himself to the Russians, but this one is the final straw for him. He grabs the baby himself and is on the run in Santa Fe on one of the busiest streets in the country as tourists mingle to see the lights and decorations. Paul was wounded as he escaped from the rest of the gang and is forced to hole up in a house with a young woman and her disabled son. Will any of them make it through the night alive?
This certainly isn't a "sweetness and light" Christmas tale; the body count is fairly high. Paul's pursuers are motivated not only by the money they will earn and fear of the pahkan, or head of their mafia group, but by revenge - one of their own has turned on them. They can't afford to let him or any other witnesses live. Meanwhile, Meredith and her son Cole have had their own personal trauma to deal with that evening. They've been so damaged by what happened to them that it's unclear if they'll be able to, or even want to help Paul and the baby. What did tie this book together was the recurring Three Kings motif, and the important role it played in influencing the events in the story.
If you're looking for something next Christmas season to read without fear of raising your blood sugar levels, this may be the story for you.
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