Taxed to Death
Debra Purdy Kong
Mystery/Suspense
[rating: 3/5]
Available in:
• Mobi/Kindle
• ePub/iPad
• PDF
• HTML
… from…
• Amazon
• MobiPocket
• AllRomanceEbooks
• OmniLit
Also in paperback
When Revenue Canada auditor Alex Bellamy discovers that $150,000 is missing from Ice Craft Jewelers inventory, someone from Special Investigations suddenly takes him off the case. But Alex decides to keep investigating anyhow, and before he knows it, his best friend is dead—suicide, if you can believe it. Moreover, someone is chasing Alex himself, and he must turn to Jillian Scott, a woman he’s never met and who is as afraid of him as he is of being caught. Soon, her fears and his search embroil them in a bizarre and disturbing nightmare.
I read Taxed to Death as part of a review-exchange on GoodReads: I read someone’s book, and someone else reviews one of mine. To that end, and short of cash, I purchased a copy of Debra Purdy Kong’s Taxed to Death on the used market. This is the first in the Alex Bellamy series, the second being her more recent release, Fatal Encryption. But I couldn’t find a used copy of the more recent title, and I thought it would probably be best to start with the first in the series, anyhow.
The book started by throwing names and facts at me, as many mysteries do. Unfortunately—maybe because I’m dense—I didn’t get what was happening until later in the story. The story is billed as a mystery, but in some ways, it reads more like a suspense novel… except that I didn’t understand the characters, at all. In fact, the major viewpoint character, Les Silby, who gets the most screen-time, he’s one of the suspects. Him I got, at least as much as I could without knowing his full role until the end. Alex and Jillian, the hero and heroine of the story, I had no idea why they did most of the things they did.
As a side-effect, because the story can’t give away the ending, it frequently gave me a partial view, blanking out obvious things that the viewpoint character could see and was thinking about. Now, I’m not an expert in the mystery genre. As I recall, the mysteries I’ve read have achieved this effect simply by staying in the mind of the detective. Suspense novels, not so much, but in a suspense, it’s more important to maintain the tension between hero and villain, rather than to keep secret who the villain is. I’m not sure I liked the effect in Taxed to Death.
The story did get better near the end, as the situation became clear and the forces of evil began to close around our heroes. Even so, I never understood why Alex and Jillian did most of what they did, or felt what they felt, or thought what they were thinking. This is extremely important to me, because rich, three-dimensional characters are key to a good story. And these characters just fell flat.
This story is also missing a theme, as far as I can tell. I had originally expected something like: financial fraud is about more than money. (And that could be the theme of the story… maybe, kinda.) Or: we all pay when someone embezzles funds. (And I didn’t get that at all from this story.) Much less did I see an uplifting, character-based theme. It simply wasn’t that kind of book.
After all of that, I do hope to read the next book in the series Fatal Encryption. Why? Well, Taxed to Death is Debra Purdy Kong’s first book, published 15 years ago. That means that Debra probably put more into it than any other story she’s written, but also that it reflects her inexperience as an novelist. I’m hoping that Fatal Encryption, which came out just a couple years ago, gave her a chance to address some of the storytelling issues I noticed in Taxed to Death. Most importantly, I’m hoping she has gotten better at characterizing her characters, and I really want to get to know Alex Bellamy.
-TimK
|
Taxed to Death |
Available in: |
Moonlit Shop Online – Everything is easy to find and the interface is intuitive — shopping felt effortless.
Капитальный ремонт магазина
https://promedikum.ru/?view=viewtopic&id=1382#postid-2469
her latest blog https://d2finance.cc/
official source https://etherealtrade.xyz
электрические карнизы для штор в москве http://elektrokarniz-dlya-shtor15.ru/ .
see page https://yieldfi.pro
клиники наркологические https://www.narkologicheskaya-klinika-34.ru .
электрокарниз москва http://www.elektrokarniz-dlya-shtor15.ru .
автоматические карнизы для штор автоматические карнизы для штор .
browse around this site https://theo.exchange/
published here https://avalonfinance.cc/
leafwildemporium – User-friendly interface, shopping flows smoothly and comfortably.
UrbanMist Collective – The wide variety and easy-to-use menus made finding what I wanted a breeze.
https://volvo.getbb.ru/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=143
sites https://hlp0.online/
leafwildstore – Shopping feels calm, and layout is neat and organized.
wildleafcollective – Clean design, shopping is simple and intuitive.
wildleafstore – Very easy to navigate, products are clearly displayed.
stone corner – Clean design and smooth scrolling enhanced the shopping experience.
go to this site https://hypperswap.cloud
наркологические клиники в москве наркологические клиники в москве .
Сравнительный анализ объясняет кракен тор или кракен ссылка разницу между клир доменами с автоматическим редиректом и полными онион адресами работающими только в Tor сети.
платный наркологический диспансер москва http://www.narkologicheskaya-klinika-40.ru .
https://groups.diigo.com/group/2008_olympics/content/code-promo-inscription-1xbet-bonus-130-20775655
Сравнительный анализ объясняет кракен тор или кракен ссылка разницу между клир доменами с автоматическим редиректом и полными онион адресами работающими только в Tor сети.
последние новости беларуси беларусь новости правда
вывод из запоя клиника вывод из запоя клиника .
visit this site right here https://yieldfi.pro
TrendyGoodsStore – Very enjoyable shopping, products are stylish and high quality.
Децентрализованная экосистема кракен маркет обрабатывает криптовалютные платежи в Bitcoin, Monero и Ethereum с псевдонимной защитой финансовых транзакций всех участников.
get redirected here https://safeglobal.club/
Геосинтетические материалы https://stsgeo.ru для строительства купить можно у нас с профессиональным подбором и поддержкой. Продукция для укрепления оснований, армирования дорожных одежд, защиты гидроизоляции и дренажа. Предлагаем геотекстиль разных плотностей, георешётки, геомембраны, композитные материалы.
Многоуровневая аутентификация гарантирует безопасный вход на кракен с использованием 2FA через TOTP приложения, резервных кодов восстановления и дополнительного PIN для транзакций.
news https://usdai.cloud/
https://aboutsnfjobs.com/author/centrocul1/
discover items – Everything opened quickly and the layout made navigating very straightforward.
try here https://ethereal.credit
новости беларуси свежие последние новости беларуси
наркологическая клиника в москве наркологическая клиника в москве .
наркологическая клиника москва http://www.narkologicheskaya-klinika-34.ru .
бездепозитные бонусы казахстан за регистрацию в казино с выводом без пополнения
Геосинтетические материалы https://stsgeo.ru для строительства купить можно у нас с профессиональным подбором и поддержкой. Продукция для укрепления оснований, армирования дорожных одежд, защиты гидроизоляции и дренажа. Предлагаем геотекстиль разных плотностей, георешётки, геомембраны, композитные материалы.
useful link https://hyperliquid-wiki.cc
Криптографически защищенный кракен сайт онион версии v3 содержит 56 символов перед расширением точка onion и математически связан с публичными ключами серверов через эллиптические кривые.
have a peek at this site https://hyperliquid-wiki.cv
беларусь новости правда новости беларуси и мира
Геосинтетические материалы https://stsgeo.ru для строительства купить можно у нас с профессиональным подбором и поддержкой. Продукция для укрепления оснований, армирования дорожных одежд, защиты гидроизоляции и дренажа. Предлагаем геотекстиль разных плотностей, георешётки, геомембраны, композитные материалы.
лечение зависимостей http://narkologicheskaya-klinika-37.ru/ .
анонимная наркология анонимная наркология .