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: |
This was helpful, inspiring, and beautifully written.
Just WOW. This exceeded every expectation!
перейдите на этот сайт vodka bet
mostbet live http://mostbet2029.help
мостбет регистрация mostbet2029.help
п»їTo be honest, I discovered an interesting article regarding cheap Indian generics. It details CDSCO regulations for generic meds. In case you need factory prices, visit this link: п»їkisawyer.us.com. Worth a read.
Подробнее здесь казино водка
Смотреть здесь зеркало водка бет
Следующая страница vodka bet casino
этот сайт vodkabet водкабет казино
Hello there! This is my first comment here so
I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading through your posts.
Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that
go over the same subjects? Thanks for your time!
в этом разделе vbet poker онлайн
aviator melbet https://www.melbet5006.ru
Khiêu dâm trẻ em
Следующая страница зеркало vodka bet
проверить сайт водка казино
подробнее здесь зеркало vodka bet
посетить сайт vodka премиум онлайн казино
mostbet live https://mostbet2029.help/
каталог зеркало vodka bet
страница vodka премиум онлайн казино
здесь водка бет
посетить веб-сайт водка бет казино
посмотреть на этом сайте vodkabet водка бет казино
узнать больше [url=https://vodkabet-mel.com/]vodkabet водка бет казино[/url]
промокоды мелбет промокоды мелбет
здесь войти на vbet poker
melbet вход регистрация https://melbet5006.ru/
melbet cash out http://www.melbet5006.ru
подробнее водка бет казино
dyson официальный интернет магазин в россии dn-kupit-1.ru .
login mostbet http://mostbet2029.help/
сюда водка бет казино
где заказать кухню в спб где заказать кухню в спб .
melbet ua https://www.melbet5006.ru
узнать больше [url=https://vodkasoup.com]зеркало vodka bet[/url]
ставки мостбет https://mostbet2029.help/
выберите ресурсы vbet casino
узнать больше vodkabet водкабет казино
https://spencerewmc10875.arwebo.com/61591255/1xbet-philippines-promo-code-1xlux777-bonus-130
посетить сайт казино водка
кликните сюда водка бет
официальный номер дайсон dsn-10.ru .
melbet казино http://melbet5006.ru
официальный сайт дайсон проверить dn-ofitsialnyj-sajt.ru .
опубликовано здесь зеркало vodka bet
Главная vbet poker онлайн
продолжить vodkabet водка бет казино
сайт зеркало vodka bet
дайсон россия дайсон россия .