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: |
п»їJust now, I discovered an informative page about Indian Pharmacy exports. The site discusses the manufacturing standards for ED medication. If you are looking for Trusted Indian sources, read this: п»їmail order pharmacy india. Cheers.
Greetings! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask.
Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa?
My website addresses a lot of the same topics as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you’re interested feel free to shoot me an email. I look
forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!
https://ok.ru/profile/910337933795/statuses/157205598240227
What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It absolutely useful and it has aided me out loads.
I am hoping to give a contribution & help different customers like its helped me.
Great job.
https://financialit.net/modules/articles/?code-promo-linebet_bonus-sportifs-et-casino.html
Продолжение пин ап вход
Смотреть здесь [url=https://www.citytavern.com/]kraken ссылка на сайт[/url]
нажмите магазин
здесь kraken ссылка зеркало
найти это пин ап вход
посетить веб-сайт площадка
https://theandhrasugars.com/wp-content/pgs/?code-promo-linebet_bonus-sportifs-et-casino.html
Подробнее pin up casino вход
Подробнее здесь pin up вход
сюда kraken ссылка зеркало
посетить сайт pin up casino
code promo melbet
https://www.laserchina.com/wp-content/pgs/code-promo-linebet_bonus-sportifs-et-casino.html
каталог Пин Ап кз
нажмите casino pinup
To save on pharmacy costs, I recommend visiting this resource. It shows trusted Mexican pharmacies. Huge savings at this link: п»їhttps://polkcity.us.com/# pharmacia mexico.
https://www.panamericano.us/assets/inc/codigo_promocional_melbet_3.html
https://moskva.kamrbb.ru/?x=read&razdel=0&tema=131&start=0#new
Смотреть здесь pin up casino
https://vivealumni.usfq.edu.ec/2014/10/beneficios-escuela-de-empresas.html?sc=1766396774429#c2543180664945979400
https://agregatka.ru/images/pgs/?kent_casino_promokod_na_bonus.html
Перейти на сайт Пин Ап
https://usastreams.com/news/1win_promo_code_offer.html
Excellent post. Keep writing such kind of information on your page.
Im really impressed by it.
Hello there, You have performed an incredible job.
I’ll certainly digg it and in my opinion recommend
to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this website.
смотреть здесь пин ап казино официальный сайт
узнать krab2.cc
посмотреть в этом разделе kraken маркетплейс зеркало
посмотреть в этом разделе krab1.cc
этот сайт pin up 634
https://2ndopinion.ph/pages/melbet_free_det_promo_code.html
https://marcel-desailly.com/explore-voxcasino-app-play-win-big-online/
Howdy would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most.
Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a reasonable price?
Thanks, I appreciate it!
https://018.kz/ru/6541-virtualnye-nomera-kazahstana-obzor-i-rekomendacii-po-vyboru.html
https://astroyogjyotish.com/discover-vox-casino-danmark-your-gateway-to-big-wins/
перейдите на этот сайт Пин Ап официальный сайт
https://www.freepatent.ru/files/pages/index.php?gama_kazino_promokod.html
нажмите здесь пин ап официальный сайт
https://muravey161.ru/kak-virtualnye-nomera-pomogayut-ekonomit-i-rasshiryat-biznes.html
porno molodoy
Подробнее здесь кракен ссылка
Смотреть здесь Пин Ап сайт
https://telrad.com/wp-content/pgs/888starz-promo-code_and_bonus-code.html
сюда казино пинап
Sharing, an official guide on Mexican Pharmacy safety. It explains quality control for generics. Full info: п»їpolkcity.us.com.
посмотреть на этом сайте [url=https://pin-up-sayt.com]pin up casino[/url]