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: |
A motivating discussion is worth comment. I believe that you ought to publish more on this topic, it may not be a
taboo subject but typically folks don’t speak about such topics.
To the next! Cheers!!
omgbet – https://www.omgbet-br.com
нарколог на дом круглосуточно нарколог на дом круглосуточно .
Can you tell us more about this? I’d love to find out more details.
Продолжение трипскан
сюда трипскан вход
bizconnectplatform – Effective platform for networking, interface is smooth and user-friendly.
ссылка на сайт трипскан вход
If some one desires to be updated with most recent technologies then he must be visit this website and be up to date everyday.
Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thank you so much, However I am going through issues with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I can’t subscribe to it. Is there anybody having identical RSS problems? Anyone that knows the solution will you kindly respond? Thanks!!
I seriously love your blog.. Great colors & theme. Did you create this amazing site yourself? Please reply back as I’m trying to create my own personal site and would like to know where you got this from or just what the theme is called. Thanks!
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and starting a brand new scheme in our community. Your website provided us with useful information to work on. You have performed an impressive activity and our whole community shall be grateful to you.
выберите ресурсы трипскан сайт вход
https://darkorange-magpie-514154.hostingersite.com/czyz-warto-grac-w-vox-casino-analizujemy/
It’s remarkable for me to have a web site, which is helpful in support of my know-how. thanks admin
Very good info. Lucky me I came across your site by chance (stumbleupon). I’ve saved it for later!
Tremendous things here. I am very glad to see your post. Thank you so much and I’m looking forward to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
Главная сайт трипскан
I’ve learn several excellent stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how a lot attempt you set to create this type of excellent informative web site.
Hello there! Quick question that’s entirely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when viewing from my apple iphone. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to correct this issue. If you have any suggestions, please share. Cheers!
This post is invaluable. When can I find out more?
I am extremely inspired together with your writing abilities as smartly as with the layout for your weblog. Is this a paid subject or did you modify it your self? Either way stay up the nice high quality writing, it’s uncommon to peer a nice blog like this one today..
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back down the road. Cheers
Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday. It’s always exciting to read articles from other authors and practice something from their web sites.
1win минимальный депозит https://1win12050.ru/
на этом сайте трипскан сайт вход
Asking questions are actually nice thing if you are not understanding anything totally, but this paragraph provides fastidious understanding yet.
bookmarked!!, I love your blog!
I’d like to find out more? I’d like to find out some additional information.
mindadvance – Informative and simple, topics were explained well.
Bahis severler selam, Casibom kullan?c?lar? icin onemli bir paylas?m yapmak istiyorum. Herkesin bildigi uzere site adresini BTK engeli yuzunden tekrar degistirdi. Erisim hatas? varsa cozum burada. Resmi siteye erisim linki art?k paylas?yorum https://casibom.mex.com/# Bu link uzerinden direkt hesab?n?za girebilirsiniz. Ek olarak kay?t olanlara sunulan freespin kampanyalar?n? mutlaka inceleyin. En iyi slot keyfi surdurmek icin Casibom tercih edebilirsiniz. Tum forum uyelerine bol kazanclar dilerim.
Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I find It truly helpful & it helped me out much. I am hoping to give one thing back and aid others such as you aided me.
https://sensorsystems.kz/czyz-nalezy-grac-na-vox-casino-testujemy/
найти это трипскан
I appreciate how you approach topics with such sincerity and detail.
Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a completely different subject but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Great choice of colors!
Thanks for the good writeup. It if truth be told was a enjoyment account it. Glance complex to far brought agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?
7k casino предлагает широкий выбор игровых автоматов. Пользователи могут выбирать игры по тематикам и механикам. Сайт регулярно обновляет каталог. Это поддерживает интерес игроков. Доступ к играм осуществляется в несколько кликов: 7k casino зеркало на сегодня
Друзья, подскажите, куда лучше играть в 2025? Сам недавно протестировал кучу платформ — большинство тянут с выплатами. Остановился на тех, где есть поддержка рубля и вывод за 5 минут. Полный список с RTP и бонусами — по ссылке: Mellstroy game зеркало. Кто с чем сталкивался?
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This paragraph posted at this web page is truly nice.
Всем здравия! Недавно искал, где реально можно получить честный выигрыш в онлайн слотах. Оказалось, что многое зависит от политики платформы. Проверяйте лицензию, читайте обзоры. Составил актуальный рейтинг на 2025 год с прямыми ссылками: [url=https://dhunis.ltd/igrayte-v-onlaynkazino-jvspin-i-poluchayte-udovolstvie-ot-igr-segodnya/]казино JVSpin[/url]. Интересно, кто из вас уже играл здесь?
I don’t even know how I finished up right here, however I believed this submit was great. I don’t understand who you are however definitely you are going to a well-known blogger in the event you aren’t already. Cheers!
Hey there would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with? I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S Sorry for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
jogodeouro – https://jogodeourobet-br.com
I love what you guys are usually up too. This kind of clever work and exposure! Keep up the good works guys I’ve you guys to our blogroll.
Very rapidly this web page will be famous among all blogging and site-building users, due to it’s
fastidious articles or reviews
Читать далее трипскан сайт вход
lucky day – https://lucky-day-mexico.com
betleao – https://betleao-cassino.com
If you desire to grow your know-how simply keep visiting this web site and be updated with the most up-to-date information posted here.