Taxed to Death
Debra Purdy Kong
Mystery/Suspense
[rating: 3/5]
Available in:
• Mobi/Kindle
• ePub/iPad
• PDF
• HTML
… from…
• Amazon
• MobiPocket
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• 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
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Taxed to Death |
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안녕, 친구들! 저는 Ricky 입니다.
저는 이곳에 참여할 수 있어 기뻐요.
저는 Netherlands의 남쪽 지역에 살아요.
다른 나라들을 여행하고 흥미로운 사람들을
만나고 싶어요.
안녕하세요!
저는 Ricky 라고 합니다.
요즘은 Insect collecting 에 푹 빠져 있고, 시간 날 때마다 Danish 를 조금씩 공부하고 있어요.
새로운 사람들을 만나고 대화 나누는 걸 좋아합니다.
|
짧게 말하면,
저는 Netherlands 출신의 21살 Ricky 입니다.
현재는 American Politics 를 공부 중이며 미래에는 Insect collecting 관련 일을 하고 싶어요.
|
안녕하세요, Ricky 입니다.
저는 Amsterdam 에 살고 있고 곧 American Politics 전공으로 졸업을 앞두고 있어요.
여가 시간에는 Nordic skating 또는 The Vampire Diaries
보는 걸 즐깁니다.
|
모두 안녕하세요!
저는 Ricky (19살)이고 Netherlands에서 왔어요.
성격은 조용한 편이지만 새로운 걸 배우는 건 정말 좋아해요.
특히 Danish 배우는 것에 흥미가 있어요.
|
저는 Ricky 이고 현재 Amsterdam 에서 혼자 살고 있어요.
요즘 취미는 Amateur astronomy 하고 Book collecting 입니다.
언젠가 Netherlands 전체를 여행해 보는 것이 꿈이에요.
|
안녕!
제 이름은 Ricky 이고 나이는 37살입니다.
저는 American Politics 공부를 시작한 지 4년
되었어요.
이번 해에는 Insect collecting 를 더 깊게 배워보고 싶어요.
|
Netherlands 에 사는 Ricky 입니다.
저는 Amsterdam에서 자랐고 지금도 그곳에 살고 있어요.
특히 주말에는 The Vampire Diaries 를 정주행하거나 Insect collecting 를 하며 시간을
보냅니다.
|
저는 Ricky 이고 38살이에요.
일하면서 틈틈이 Danish 를 배우고 있어요.
언젠가 해외여행을 가서 직접 사용해 보는
것이 목표입니다.
취미는 Conlanging 입니다.
|
안녕! 제 이름은 Ricky.
지금은 American Politics 를 공부 중이고 졸업
후에는 관련 직종에서 일하는 것이 목표예요.
쉬는 날에는 Audiophilia, Amateur astronomy 그리고 친구들과 The Vampire
Diaries 보는 걸 좋아해요.
|
안녕하세요, Ricky 입니다.
저는 Netherlands에서 태어났고 Amsterdam에서
자라왔어요.
성격은 활발한 편이고 사람들과 이야기하는 걸 좋아합니다.
취미는 Insect collecting 와 Crocheting 에요.
|
저는 Ricky.
현재 Amsterdam 에서 가족과 함께 살고 있고, 1마리의
반려동물을 키우고 있어요.
주말에는 주로 The Vampire Diaries 보거나
Insect collecting 하면서 시간을 보내요.
|
안녕하세요!
제 이름은 Ricky 이고 나이는 30살 이에요.
저는 Amsterdam 출신이고 지금은 American Politics 를 공부하고 있어요.
목표는 외국어인 Danish 를 유창하게 말하는 것입니다.
|
저는 Ricky 이고 매일 Insect collecting 를 하면서 스트레스를
풀어요.
집은 Amsterdam에 있는데, 이곳은 정말 조용하고 살기 좋아요.
기회가 된다면 다른 도시도 알아보고 싶어요.
|
안녕하세용~
저는 Ricky 입니다.
일을 하면서도 꾸준히 Stamp collecting 를 배우고 있어요.
최근에는 The Vampire Diaries 에 빠져서 시간 가는 줄 모르겠어요.
|
제 이름은 Ricky (34살)입니다.
가족 구성원은 2명이고 모두 Insect collecting 을/를 좋아해요.
저도 여가 시간에는 독서나 Bonsai 를 즐깁니다.
|
저는 Ricky 이고 현재 American Politics 관련 일을 하고 있어요.
지식 늘리는 걸 좋아해서 외국어 Danish 도
배우고 있어요.
좋아하는 취미는 Sewing 와 The Vampire Diaries
입니다.
|
안녕하세요, 저는 Ricky 입니다.
새로운 사람들과 소통하고 여러 가지 취미를 공유하는 걸 좋아해요.
특히 Insect collecting 에 관한 이야기를 하면 시간 가는 줄 몰라요.
|
저는 Ricky 이고 Netherlands 의 작은 마을에서 자랐어요.
현재는 Amsterdam 에 있지만 가끔 고향이 그리워요.
취미는 Rock stacking 입니다.
VGR는 남성 건강을 위해 흔히 사용되는 약물입니다.
정확한 복용법과 효과는 전문가 지침에 따라 확인하세요.
|
비아그라는 발기 부전 치료에 도움을 줄 수 있으며,
적절한 사용 시 안전하고 효과적입니다.
|
많은 남성이 비아그라를 통해 삶의 질을 개선하고 있습니다.
복용 전에는 안전 정보를 꼭 확인하세요.
|
VGR는 일반적으로 성인 남성에게 사용되며,
심혈관 질환이 있는 경우 복용 전에 전문가 상담이 필요합니다.
|
VGR는 빠른 효과를 원할 때 주로 사용되며,
효과를 높이려면 정해진 시간에 복용하는
것이 좋습니다.
|
비아그라는 식사와 관계없이 복용 가능하지만,
과도한 알코올 섭취와 함께 복용 시 효과가 감소할 수 있습니다.
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비아그라 복용 후 일부 남성은 두통, 얼굴 홍조, 소화불량을 경험할 수 있습니다.
문제가 지속되면 전문가 상담을 권장합니다.
|
VGR는 정기적인 건강 관리와 병행하면 더욱 효과적입니다.
운동과 건강한 식습관과 함께 사용하면 좋습니다.
|
VGR는 온라인에서도 안전하게 구매할 수 있으나,
항상 신뢰할 수 있는 판매처를 이용하세요.
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비아그라 사용 후 만족도가 높은 사용자들은
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VGR는 의사의 처방과 지침을 따라 복용해야
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복용 전 전문 상담이 필요합니다.
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VGR를 복용하면 성기능 개선뿐 아니라
자신감 향상에도 도움이 될 수
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비아그라는 다양한 제형과 용량으로 제공되므로,
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