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: |
What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious knowledge concerning unexpected feelings.
Great article.
try this website https://dexrp.wtf
Just wish to say your article is as astounding.
The clearness in your post is just nice and i could assume
you’re an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission let
me to grab your feed to keep up to date with forthcoming
post. Thanks a million and please continue the rewarding work.
a fantastic read https://palladiumlabs.net/
I really like reading a post that can make people think. Also, many thanks for allowing for me to comment!
дайсон пылесос дайсон пылесос .
useful link https://avalonfinance.cc
It’s amazing to pay a quick visit this web page and reading the views of all friends about this paragraph, while I am also keen of getting know-how.
byueuropaviagraonline
https://www.waffleandwhisk.com/2018/12/peanut-butter-hot-chocolate-bakemas-day.html?showComment=1769510524096#c525514849882390025
you are truly a just right webmaster. The web site loading pace is amazing. It sort of feels that you are doing any unique trick. Moreover, The contents are masterwork. you’ve done a excellent job on this subject!
apostebet – https://apostebet-br.com
find out this here https://etherealtrade.xyz/
Финансовый директор Вадим Грубов работает свыше 25 лет и специализируется на наведении порядка в учёте. Его подход — не точечные консультации, а комплексное выстраивание финансовой архитектуры бизнеса. Ищете аутсорсинг бухгалтерских услуг москва? На сайте findir.info представлены услуги CFO: от диагностики и постановки управленческого учёта до внедрения 1С и бюджетирования. Вы получите понятную отчётность, контроль денежных потоков и легальную налоговую оптимизацию. Формат работы ориентирован на владельцев МСБ, нацеленных на создание открытого финансового контура.
http://csko.g6.cz/profile.php?lookup=722
mrbet – https://mrbetjack-br.com
betcris – https://www-betcris.com
click this over here now https://hlp0.cloud/
codere – https://www-codere.com
Your style is really unique compared to other people I have
read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you’ve got
the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this site.
海外华人必备的ify官方认证平台，24小时不间断提供最新高清电影、电视剧，无广告观看体验。
Hello pals!
I came across a 155 fantastic page that I think you should browse.
This platform is packed with a lot of useful information that you might find interesting.
It has everything you could possibly need, so be sure to give it a visit!
https://itor-ghs.org/casino-games/casinos-as-nighttime-social-experiments/
Additionally do not forget, guys, — a person always may inside this piece discover responses to the most complicated queries. The authors attempted to lay out all information via the most accessible way.
I’m extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog like this one today.
дайсон v15 купить в спб pylesos-dn-kupit-6.ru .
novibet – https://novibet-777.com
check out here https://avalonfinance.cc/
1bet – https://1betmx.com
dig this https://hypperswap.cloud
foliatti – https://foliatti-mx.com
This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your wonderful post. Also, I have shared your web site in my social networks!
byueuropaviagraonline
look what i found https://palladiumlabs.net/
I have been browsing online more than 2 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.
content https://avalonfinance.cv
дайсон санкт петербург официальный dn-pylesos-kupit-6.ru .
brwin – https://www.brwin-br.com
http://www.edufinancierafcpc.com/index.php/forum/user/59963-jazzyroute10
Throw in goals, long throws and their dangerous outcomes
index https://prjx.online
Nice blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your theme. Kudos
my website https://prjx.online/
http://dtan.thaiembassy.de/uncategorized/2562/?mingleforumaction=profile&id=452594
caliente – https://www-caliente.com
hop over to this web-site https://alchemix.center
sportium – https://sportium-mx.com
Il ambiente Nomini casino en ligne si propone come una piattaforma Nomini
talon777 – https://www.talon777-br.com
you could try this out https://camelot.click/
see this here https://d2finance.cv/
hop over to this site https://beratrax.org/
YOURURL.com https://terminal.credit