A New Spin on the 3 Kings...

The Spy Who Came for Christmas
David Morrell

genre: suspense, action, thriller
pages: 239
rating: *****

I have been reading mainly Christmas themed books for the last few weeks.  That's hard to do when you are sitting in shorts because it is 70* outside.  The traditional warm and fuzzy novellas with snow covered houses on the cover just don't work.  Luckily, I found The Spy Who Came for Christmas.

The Spy Who Came for Christmas, is an action-suspense thriller.  It follows a double agent named Kagan (aka Pyotyr) who is deep under cover with the Russian Mafia in the US.  His team is hired by the Arab terrorist to kidnap a baby of one of it's enemies to use as leverage.  Kagan chooses this mission to pull himself out and hopefully save the baby.  The plot unfolds with the backdrop of Christmas Eve in Santa Fe on Canyon Road (sounds like fun).  Kagan ends up injured and involves a woman and her 12 year old son.  Kagan explains the spy version of the Three Kings and the birth of Jesus.

If I didn't have to sleep I would have finished this book in one day.  I loved it.  It was action packed, full of twists and turns and tons of emotion.  I sat on the edge of my seat waiting to read if Kagan and the two innocent bystanders would survive with the three hit men from the the mafia stalking them outside.  I could not fathom what the terrorists wanted with the baby.  Chilling.  I enjoyed how Morrell mixed the old bad guys (Russians) with the new bad guys (Arab terrorist).  It was brilliant.  I really wanted Kagan to survive and save the baby, I will not tell you what happened you must read the book.  Then Morrell gave the spy's version of the Magi.  I don't know where this story came from, but it was very interesting.  I especially liked the ideas of what killed Herod!  The plot was quick moving and the writing was sharp.  The big fight at the end was great.  I really could see it as I read it.

The Spy Who Came for Christmas is a must read.  If you don't like the traditional warm and fuzzy Christmas novel, give this a whirl.  It is nonstop action and intrigue.  It has a great mix of characters and rich layers, many small stories wrapped up in one bow.

- Caren