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: |
Fantastic site. A lot of helpful info here. I’m sending it to a few pals ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thank you on your sweat!
naturalselectionhub – NaturalSelectionHub presents quality items with a smooth browsing interface.
Good day I am so grateful I found your blog, I really found you
by accident, while I was browsing on Digg for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like
to say cheers for a remarkable post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design),
I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have saved it and also included
your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to
read a lot more, Please do keep up the excellent b.
Quality content is the key to invite the visitors to pay a visit the website, that’s what this site is providing.
Sunset Hub Online – Smooth navigation with warm aesthetic ensures easy browsing.
I learned so many new things from this article.
Fantastic web site. A lot of useful info here. I’m sending it to some friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks on your effort!
It’s great that you are getting thoughts from this piece
of writing as well as from our argument made at this place.
ResourceFinder – Pages load fast, and finding information feels effortless.
Fort de l’essor croissant des sites de casino en France, vous recherchez certainement le meilleur casino en ligne sécurisé et offrant des retraits rapides. Consciente de cela, notre équipe a pris le soin d’évaluer plusieurs casinos pour ne retenir que les meilleurs pour 2025, comme Unibet, Betclic ou Winamax. Nous avons analysé chaque casino en ligne en France selon les critères suivants : licence, sécurité, paiement, offres de bonus et jeux. Découvrez nos meilleures recommandations dans ce guide.
Magnificent website. Plenty of helpful info here. I’m sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks for your effort!
Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d
like to send you an e-mail. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might be
interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.
Howdy! This post could not be written any better! Looking at this post reminds me of my
previous roommate! He constantly kept preaching
about this. I most certainly will send this article to him.
Fairly certain he’ll have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
Heya this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if
blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with
HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so
I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience.
Any help would be enormously appreciated!
содержание https://krab1cc.at
What’s up, everything is going perfectly here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s
in fact good, keep up writing.
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it
but, I’d like to shoot you an email. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing.
Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.
Таможенное оформление автомобилей москва без лишней бюрократии
https://tkla.be/modestoc60189
Hi there to every one, the contents present at this website are genuinely
awesome for people experience, well, keep up the
good work fellows.
Interesting blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make
my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your design. Thanks
Rising River Boutique Online – Great layout with a careful selection of items, very easy to browse.
Having read this I believed it was extremely informative.
I appreciate you spending some time and energy to
put this information together. I once again find myself personally spending a
lot of time both reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!
Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it is really informative.
I am gonna watch out for brussels. I’ll appreciate if you continue this in future.
A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
AnswerHub – Very clear resources and navigating the site was a breeze.
InfoHaven – Navigation is intuitive, and content is easy to browse.
пин ап ставки на теннис http://pinup5010.ru/
Your writing never fails to impress me.
River Collective Online – The selection feels carefully chosen and browsing is effortless.
Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday.
It will always be exciting to read through articles from other authors and use
something from other web sites.
I love reading an article that will make people think.
Also, many thanks for allowing me to comment!
This excellent website truly has all the information and
facts I wanted concerning this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
pin up bonus aktivatsiya pin up bonus aktivatsiya
I’m curious to find out what blog system you are working with?
I’m experiencing some minor security issues with my latest blog
and I would like to find something more safe. Do you
have any suggestions?
купить курсовую сайт http://www.kupit-kursovuyu-22.ru/ .
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright
infringement? My blog has a lot of completely unique
content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any solutions to help protect against content from being ripped off?
I’d genuinely appreciate it.
взгляните на сайте здесь кракен onion сайт
Hello to every one, the contents present at this web page
are in fact remarkable for people knowledge, well, keep up the nice work fellows.
authenticdailyhub – AuthenticDailyHub features carefully selected items that make shopping enjoyable and easy.
Wow, this article is nice, my sister is analyzing these things, thus I am going to
let know her.
Wonderful web site. Lots of helpful info here. I’m sending it to a few pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thank you in your effort!
honestbuyzone – HonestBuyZone offers genuine selections with a smooth shopping experience.
Hello, I enjoy reading through your article post.
I wanted to write a little comment to support you.
Узнать больше kraken onion ссылка
Very good article! We are linking to this particularly great article
on our site. Keep up the good writing.
Howdy, I believe your web site could be having web
browser compatibility issues. Whenever I take a look at your web site in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in IE, it’s got some overlapping
issues. I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Aside from
that, fantastic website!
truehomefinds – TrueHomeFinds features authentic items that make the shopping journey enjoyable.
click for more info thinkorswim
Hello, this weekend is fastidious in support of me, for the reason that this
point in time i am reading this wonderful educational piece of writing here at my home.
Перейти на сайт сайт kraken onion
double down casino codes