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: |
I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your weblog. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A couple of my blog visitors have complained about my site not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?
bcasino – https://bcasino-mx.com
отделка подвала gidroizolyacziya-podvala-iznutri-czena8.ru .
ремонт в подвале ремонт в подвале .
https://lovewiki.faith/wiki/User:1xbetwelcomes01
посмотреть в этом разделе vodka casino
After looking into a few of the blog articles on your site, I seriously like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back in the near future. Take a look at my web site too and let me know what you think.
зайти на сайт vodkabet
Hello colleagues
Good evening. A 32 cool website 1 that I found on the Internet.
Check out this site. There’s a great article there. https://zaneym.org/what-is-the-2-3-4-handicap-effective-betting-experience-for-you/|
There is sure to be a lot of useful and interesting information for you here.
You’ll find everything you need and more. Feel free to follow the link below.
vm777 – https://vm777-99.com
The using the bridge tools are trustworthy service and reliable uptime. Definitely recommend to anyone in crypto.
I personally find that i’ve been using it for almost a year for portfolio tracking, and the reliable uptime stands out. My withdrawals were always smooth.
What’s up to every one, it’s genuinely a fastidious for me to pay a visit this web page,
it contains priceless Information.
william hill – https://william-hill-mx.com
https://soniamittal-248206.mn.co/posts/96748619
Greetings, I do believe your blog could possibly be having web browser compatibility issues. Whenever I take a look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in I.E., it’s got some overlapping issues. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other than that, fantastic site!
You’re so interesting! I do not think I have read through a single thing like that before. So great to discover somebody with some original thoughts on this subject. Really.. thanks for starting this up. This website is something that’s needed on the web, someone with a little originality!
vm777 – https://vm777-vn.com
Good article! We are linking to this particularly great post on our site. Keep up the great writing.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks a lot!
Solution discovery platform – Makes it easy to explore and learn through interaction.
найти это зеркало vodkabet
1xbet today promo code philippines
ремонт гидроизоляции фундаментов и стен подвалов ремонт гидроизоляции фундаментов и стен подвалов .
Hey very interesting blog!
Heya! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the superb work!
https://www.bonback.com/forum/topic/278633/meilleurs-codes-promo-1xbet-2026-:-1xbono200-%E2%80%93-bonus***-vip
Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same results.
Quick wins included.
Hi there, I enjoy reading all of your post. I wanted to write a little comment to support you.
читать казино водкабет
wingdus – https://www.wingdus-br.com
I every time used to study article in news papers but now as I am a user of internet so from now I am using net for content, thanks to web.
Thanks in support of sharing such a pleasant opinion, article is fastidious, thats why i have read it fully
apostebet – https://apostebet-br.com
Keep this going please, great job!
bet master – https://bet-master-mx.com
What’s up, just wanted to tell you, I enjoyed this blog post. It was practical. Keep on posting!
такой водка бет казино
Ищете тестирование rest api курс? Учебный портал markovpavel.ru представляет прикладные программы обучения по REST API, архитектуре микросервисов и системной аналитике от эксперта с десятилетним стажем в финансовом секторе. Создатель курсов представляет подлинные примеры разработки API, анализирует шаблоны и ошибочные подходы к интеграциям, раскрывает концепции предметно-ориентированного проектирования и функционал систем контроля версий. Контент включает описание NFR-требований, процедуры стресс-тестирования, проверку корректности запросов и определение оптимальной структуры приложений, способствуя специалистам в предотвращении распространенных недочетов при создании комплексных информационных решений.
winner – https://www-winner.com
Ad Creatives Included – Full Google & Meta Setup
Гугл + Meta Ads. Bona fide traffic. Palpable clients. No fluff.
We present up and enlarge performance-driven ad campaigns championing offers that convert.
If your funnel works — we’ll sally volume. If it’s questionable — we’ll help finalize a furnish it first.
? Verticals:
– Licensed iGaming (EU/CA/AU)
– Nutra & health
– Fintech / crypto-adjacent
– E-com & SaaS
? What’s included:
– Full tracking (GA4 + Meta CAPI + Pixel)
– High-converting creatives & echo
– Audience game + bid optimization
– Routine monitoring + Telegram updates
? Policy-compliant. No cloaking. No spurious disembarkation pages.
? Min. proof budget: $800
? GEOs: 30+ countries (EU, CA, AU, LATAM, ZA, и так далее)
?? DM to start. Institute your extend — we’ll achieve the traffic.
Life-or-death only.
?? Get your free ad strategy now
интернет зеркало vodkabet
gg999 – https://gg999-11.com
Optimised for learning here.
I do not know whether it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else encountering problems with your website. It looks like some of the text in your content are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them as well? This may be a problem with my browser because I’ve had this happen before. Appreciate it
lobo888 – https://www.lobo888-br.com
Качество тоже супер. купить кокаин, мефедрон, бошки, марихуану тоже самое-продавец свяжись со мной для оплатыДа работает в асю обращайся если чё надо только товара мало там мхе да дмт
babibet – https://babibet-mx.com
http://www.bakinsky-dvorik.ru/communication/forum/messages/forum4/message126011/79655-code-promo-1xbet-casino-2026-1xbono200-bonus-vip-casino?result=new#message126011