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: |
SimpleLivingFinds – Items look great, navigating through pages was easy.
гидроизоляция цена работы за м2 https://gidroizolyacziya-czena1.ru/ .
ComfortFinds – Products are attractive, and moving through pages was intuitive.
инъекционная гидроизоляция холодных швов http://www.inekczionnaya-gidroizolyacziya.ru .
CozyHomeMarket – Great assortment of items and the website feels intuitive.
цена ремонта подвала https://www.gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena.ru .
узнать больше кракен ссылка onion
содержание кракен онион
ремонт гидроизоляции фундаментов и стен подвалов gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena.ru .
материалы инъекционной гидроизоляции материалы инъекционной гидроизоляции .
ремонт подвала в частном доме http://gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena.ru/ .
гидроизоляция цена кг https://gidroizolyacziya-czena1.ru/ .
DiscoverAmazingDeals – Deals updated nicely, navigation intuitive and browsing experience felt pleasant overall.
обмазочная гидроизоляция цена работы за м2 https://gidroizolyacziya-czena1.ru .
гидроизоляция подвала цена за м2 гидроизоляция подвала цена за м2 .
стоимость инъекционной гидроизоляции inekczionnaya-gidroizolyacziya.ru .
Simply want to say your article is as surprising.
The clarity in your post is just excellent and i could
assume you’re an expert on this subject. Well
with your permission allow me to grab your feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please continue the gratifying work.
Когда мгновенный доступ к ставкам становится таким же естественным, как проверка мессенджера, мобильное приложение 1Win превращается в незаменимый инструмент для активных пользователей. По ссылке https://t.me/s/win1win_skachat_na_android можно скачать официальную версию 1win для Android и получить в кармане полный функционал букмекерской платформы: от линии и лайв-ставок до личного кабинета и истории операций. Удобный интерфейс, адаптированный под смартфоны, быстрый отклик и возможность следить за событиями в любом месте делают приложение логичным выбором для тех, кто ценит скорость, контроль и комфорт в мире онлайн-ставок.
гидроизоляция цена за рулон гидроизоляция цена за рулон .
Excellent post — concise, clear, and thoughtful.
You always bring a unique and valuable perspective.
Such a powerful and well-written post.
For the reason that the admin of this site is working, no doubt very rapidly it will be renowned, due to its feature contents.
гидроизоляция подвала самара гидроизоляция подвала самара .
посмотреть в этом разделе kraken onion
For the reason that the admin of this site is working, no uncertainty very rapidly it will be well-known, due to its quality contents.
гидроизоляция подвала технологии гидроизоляция подвала технологии .
SimpleHomeLiving – Pleasant selection of products, navigation was smooth and intuitive.
веб-сайте kraken darknet
нажмите, чтобы подробнее kraken официальные ссылки
нажмите, чтобы подробнее кракен онион тор
My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less.
I’ve been using Movable-type on a variety of websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform.
I have heard excellent things about blogengine.net.
Is there a way I can import all my wordpress content into it?
Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!
гидроизоляция подвала гаража гидроизоляция подвала гаража .
инъекционная гидроизоляция цена инъекционная гидроизоляция цена .
гидроизоляция подвала технологии гидроизоляция подвала технологии .
инъекционная гидроизоляция москва инъекционная гидроизоляция москва .
продолжить kraken онион
инъекционная гидроизоляция санкт?петербург https://inekczionnaya-gidroizolyacziya.ru/ .
гидроизоляция подвала гарантия gidroizolyacziya-podvala-samara.ru .
ремонт бетонных конструкций москва ремонт бетонных конструкций москва .
гидроизоляция подвала технологии гидроизоляция подвала технологии .
вода в подвале https://www.gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena1.ru .
EmpowerHub – Positive layout, simple navigation, and uplifting site vibe.
ремонт бетонных конструкций обследование http://www.remont-betonnykh-konstrukczij-usilenie.ru/ .
цена ремонта подвала http://gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena1.ru/ .
вертикальная гидроизоляция подвала http://www.gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena1.ru/ .
EmpowermentDaily – Engaging content, user-friendly design, and encouraging navigation.
ремонт подвала в частном доме https://gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena1.ru .
ремонт бетонных конструкций технология ремонт бетонных конструкций технология .
SoftGroveCorner Deals – Browsing felt comfortable thanks to neat organization and design.