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: |
Hi, I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbledupon it 😉 I
am going to revisit yet again since I bookmarked it. Money and freedom
is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to
guide others.
Hurrah, that’s what I was searching for, what a data!
present here at this weblog, thanks admin of this web site.
This article presents clear idea in favor of the new visitors of blogging, that truly how to do running a
blog.
We absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be just what I’m looking
for. can you offer guest writers to write content in your case?
I wouldn’t mind writing a post or elaborating on many of the
subjects you write regarding here. Again, awesome website!
Great information. Lucky me I found your website by accident (stumbleupon).
I’ve saved as a favorite for later!
Мы предлагаем документы институтов, расположенных на территории Российской Федерации.
Заказать диплом любого ВУЗа: naukriupdate.pk/companies/premialnie-diplom-24
Привет! Если вы ищете платформу с джекпотами — не гонитесь за громкими названиями. Лучше смотрите реальные отзывы. Мой проверенный список — тут: СЃСѓРєР° казино. Кто что добавит?
caliente – https://www-caliente.com
Shot power, hardest hitters and their strike velocities
Приветствую! После череды неудач наконец нашёл честные онлайн казино. Ключевые критерии: лицензия. Все подходящие площадки с быстрым выводом собрал тут: [url=http://osoko.ru/publ/dajdzhest/razvlechenija/sovety_po_zarabotku_kazino/17-1-0-27857]Рльдорадо Рльдорадо зеркало[/url]. Кто уже успел потестить?
http://hydrology.irpi.cnr.it/projects/hsaf/
888 – https://888-mx.com
超人和露易斯第一季高清完整官方版，海外华人可免费观看最新热播剧集。
queens – https://www.queens-br.com
一帆官方认证平台，专为海外华人设计，24小时不间断提供高清视频和直播服务。
My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses.
But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on various
websites for about a year and am worried about switching to another platform.
I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net.
Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into
it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
guru casino – https://guru-casino-mx.com
https://www.mrclarksdesigns.builderspot.com/board/board_topic/690695/7665594.htm
купить диплом хгу купить диплом хгу .
I like reading through an article that will
make people think. Also, many thanks for permitting me to comment!
Привет! Решил собрать только те казино, где лично получил выплату. Критерии: без паспорта. Все рабочие ссылки — по адресу: vovan casino зеркало. Кто уже тестировал эти площадки?
Всем привет! Много читаю про скам-казино, поэтому теперь тщательно проверяю всё: лицензию. Лучшие игровые сайты 2025 года с моментальным выводом — здесь: боливуд казино. Делитесь своим опытом!
Приветствую! После череды неудач наконец нашёл рабочие онлайн казино. Ключевые критерии: отсутствие скрытых условий вейджера. Все подходящие площадки с бонусами без отыгрыша собрал тут: Ретро казино. Кто уже успел потестить?
You can certainly see your skills within the work you write.
The sector hopes for even more passionate writers like you who
aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always follow your heart.
Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this website.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s hard to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appearance.
I must say you have done a awesome job with this. Also, the blog
loads extremely fast for me on Chrome. Superb Blog!
I am truly thankful to the holder of this website who has shared this
fantastic piece of writing at at this place.
Heya i’m for the primary time here. I came across this board and I to find It really helpful &
it helped me out a lot. I am hoping to present something back and help others like you
aided me.
Дополнительно, юристы проводят проверку
всех представленных следствием доказательств и обнаруживают нарушения и ошибки, способные послужить
поводом для отмены судебного решения или уменьшения
меры ответственности. Особенно существенным это
является в делах по наркотикам, где каждая подробность может
оказать ключевое влияние на результат.
Опытный адвокат содействует снижению ненужных рисков и обеспечению
максимально справедливого вердикта.
Чтобы обеспечить качественную помощь, стоит выбирать адвокатов с
надёжной репутацией, представленную на
профильных ресурсах с результатами работы и отзывами клиентов.
Своевременное привлечение квалифицированного адвоката способствует уменьшению возможных уголовных наказаний и сохранению прав
и свобод подзащитного. Поддержка опытных адвокатов критично важна в трудных делах, когда неудачная тактика может повлечь строгие меры, вплоть до тюремного заключения.
Hi there! This blog post couldn’t be written any better!
Going through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He constantly kept preaching about this. I’ll send this post
to him. Fairly certain he will have a great read. Thank you
for sharing!
Good way of describing, and nice paragraph to take information regarding my presentation topic,
which i am going to convey in institution of higher education.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several e-mails
with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
Appreciate it!
If you are going for finest contents like myself, just visit
this website every day as it presents quality contents, thanks
Hello to every body, it’s my first pay a quick visit
of this weblog; this web site carries amazing and truly excellent information in support of readers.
Автор предоставляет читателю возможность взглянуть на проблему с разных сторон.
Clinical finishing, players with best goals to chances ratio
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve visited your blog before but after going through some of the posts I realized it’s new
to me. Regardless, I’m definitely delighted
I found it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking
back often!
I’ve been active for a month, mostly for testing new tokens, and it’s always fast transactions.
flames bet – https://flamesbet-br.com
We’re a bunch of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community.
Your site provided us with helpful information to
work on. You have performed an impressive activity and our whole neighborhood will probably be thankful to you.
william hill – https://william-hill-mx.com
Hi there are using WordPress for your site platform?
I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and
set up my own. Do you require any html coding knowledge
to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
vm777 – https://vm777-44.com
yak casino – https://yak-casino-mx.com
Definitely imagine that that you stated. Your
favourite justification appeared to be at the internet the simplest thing
to keep in mind of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed at
the same time as people consider issues that they
plainly do not realize about. You controlled to
hit the nail upon the highest as well as defined out the entire
thing without having side effect , people can take a signal.
Will likely be back to get more. Thank you
Статья содержит анализ преимуществ и недостатков различных решений, связанных с темой.
ifuntv海外华人首选，采用机器学习个性化推荐，提供最新华语剧集、美剧、日剧等高清在线观看。
I personally find that fees are great support, and the execution is always smooth. The dashboard gives a complete view of my holdings.
Бот для накрутки подписчиков в Телеграм – Мои 20 лайфхаков в 2026 году!!! https://vc.ru/2621421
Друзья, не тратьте время на левые сайты! Играйте только в лицензированные казино с поддержкой рубля. Мой личный топ с реальными выплатами — по ссылке: clubnika casino зеркало. Кто что может порекомендовать?
18bet – https://18betmx.com