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: |
Лучшее казино upx играйте в слоты и live-казино без лишних сложностей. Простой вход, удобный интерфейс, стабильная платформа и широкий выбор игр для отдыха и развлечения.
Hi this is kind of of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
一帆平台AI深度学习内容匹配，专为海外华人设计，提供高清视频和直播服务。
you could try this out https://prjx.space
Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the pictures on this blog loading? I’m trying to find out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
visite site https://prjx.online/
магазин дайсон в спб pylesos-dn-kupit-7.ru .
Visit This Link https://prjx.space
http://foto.rzia.ru/profile.php?uid=80046
check this site out https://hyperliquid-wiki.cc/
Лучшее казино ап х играйте в слоты и live-казино без лишних сложностей. Простой вход, удобный интерфейс, стабильная платформа и широкий выбор игр для отдыха и развлечения.
Check This Out https://hyperliquid-wiki.cv
Лучшее казино ап икс скачать играйте в слоты и live-казино без лишних сложностей. Простой вход, удобный интерфейс, стабильная платформа и широкий выбор игр для отдыха и развлечения.
site web https://cakepad.digital
see this here https://berapaw.org/
Greate pieces. Keep writing such kind of info on your blog. Im really impressed by your site
https://fertilitypctguide.us.com/# can you get generic clomid pills
сервисный центр dyson в спб dn-pylesos-2.ru .
best site https://theo.exchange/
海外华人必备的ifun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。
my site https://boros.cfd
vm777 – https://vm777-66.com
link https://unich.icu
dyson магазин в спб pylesos-dn-kupit-6.ru .
check this site out https://palladiumlabs.net/
strendus – https://strendus-777.com
novibet – https://www-novibet.com
Go Here https://etherealtrade.xyz
fantastic issues altogether, you simply won a emblem new reader. What could you suggest in regards to your post that you just made a few days ago? Any sure?
winbra – https://www.winbra-br.com
why not find out more https://kinetiq.buzz
more helpful hints https://navigator-exchange.org/
愛海外版，专为华人打造的高清视频平台智能AI观看体验优化，支持全球加速观看。
helpful resources https://hlp0.online/
click here to read https://avalonfinance.cv/
go right here https://looksrare.cfd/
I have read so many posts on the topic of the blogger lovers but this post is genuinely a nice article, keep it up.
You have a real talent for communication.
Visit This Link https://unich.icu/
This article will assist the internet viewers for setting up new website or even a weblog from start to end.
дайсон центр в спб pylesos-dn-kupit-6.ru .
Get More Info https://beraborrow.cc
If you want to take much from this post then you have to apply such techniques to your won website.
find more info https://theo.sbs/
find more info https://prjx.space/
websites https://avalonfinance.cc
http://daewooo.rx22.ru/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1538
Greetings I am so delighted I found your blog page, I really found you by error, while I was browsing on Askjeeve for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a marvelous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the great work.
byueuropaviagraonline
Howdy! I simply wish to give you a big thumbs up for the great info you
have here on this post. I am returning to your
web site for more soon.
I just like the valuable info you supply in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and take a look at once more here regularly. I’m fairly sure I’ll be informed lots of new stuff proper here! Best of luck for the following!