I initially thought that reading DYING FOR CHRISTMAS would require some suspension of disbelief. The initial premise seemed somewhat unlikely: a woman meets a charming, good-looking stranger while shopping on Christmas Eve afternoon, accepts his invitation to go with him for a drink (and the unspoken suggestion of perhaps something more), and gets in huge trouble. That author Tammy Cohen makes all of it not only plausible but intriguing, startling and frightening is a demonstration of her talent. The novel may be set during and after the Christmas holidays, but it’s a cautionary tale for all seasons.

"DYING FOR CHRISTMAS is one of those books that begs to be read twice to fully appreciate what has occurred. Cohen’s writing is so strong that even when one learns the truth...the indoctrination sewn throughout the narrative has set in so well that its aftereffects linger right up to the final page."

DYING FOR CHRISTMAS is told primarily but not exclusively in the voice of Jessica Gould. It is Jessica who accepted the invitation from Dominic Lacey and who, through the medium of a journal, tells the reader how she quickly finds herself in bad straits. This would involve being held hostage in Lacey’s semi-isolated home while he subjects her to physical and emotional torture, the latter of which includes a series of bizarre gifts over the 12 days of Christmas. From reading between the lines of Jessica’s epistle, we learn that she pretty much was born to be a victim, seemingly wearing a sign that reads “Kick Me” on her posterior.

There is really nothing good going on in Jessica’s life. Her committed relationship to a somewhat dud of a guy named Travis doesn’t seem to have much commitment glue at all, and her parents and brothers are strange in harmless but vaguely off-putting ways. We get to see her family and significant other, at least initially, through the eyes of Kim, a British policewoman assigned as a family liaison to keep Travis and the Goulds advised as to the progress the police make as they investigate Jessica’s disappearance. Kim has problems of her own. She wants a promotion in the police department and is very driven to be successful. The problem is that she is losing her husband and children in the process, seemingly unable to realize that circumstances have overtaken her to the extent that she cannot have both the promotion (or at least the effort to get it) and her family.

It is Kim who makes the breakthrough in the investigation, ahead of the curve of everyone else in some ways, but not in the way one, including the reader, would think. The reason for this is that Cohen... I was going to say “flips the script,” but that would be an understatement. She flips it, turns it upside down and scatters the pages all over the room. Then, just as you’re recovering from the revelations that hit the reset button on the story, she changes things up again, and then a third time. In the process, Jessica gives the term “victim” a whole new meaning, from the beginning right up to the chilling last sentence. But Jessica isn’t the only victim here. Not by a long shot.

DYING FOR CHRISTMAS is one of those books that begs to be read twice to fully appreciate what has occurred. Cohen’s writing is so strong that even when one learns the truth --- whatever that might be in this finely written suspense/thriller --- the indoctrination sewn throughout the narrative has set in so well that its aftereffects linger right up to the final page. Or maybe, just maybe, we had the correct impression all along. Read it and enjoy. You’ll hesitate before you ever respond to a stranger again.