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: |
超人和露易斯第二季高清完整官方版，海外华人可免费观看最新热播剧集。
riobet casino на деньги
pin up оф сайт
williamhill – https://williamhillmx.com
dyson v15 купить спб dn-pylesos-kupit-6.ru .
мостбет скачать на ios Киргизия http://mostbet2035.help/
Ребята, не верьте громким обещаниям! Настоящее игровое заведение должно иметь официальную лицензию. Я отсеял все подозрительные площадки и оставил только топовые варианты — смотрите здесь: KiloGram. Кто уже выводил оттуда?
Привет! Если вы ищете платформу с джекпотами — не гонитесь за громкими названиями. Лучше смотрите реальные отзывы. Мой проверенный список — тут: Голд зеркало. Кто что добавит?
winner – https://winner-777.com
his explanation https://toast-wallet.net/
Ребята, не тратьте время на левые сайты! Чтобы выбрать проверенное казино, обращайте внимание на: русскоязычную службу поддержки, а также на условия бонусов. Я лично протестировал десятки платформ и оставил только те, где нет скрытых условий. Весь список — по ссылке: http://new.sakhas.com/index.php/2026/01/10/synyptay-new-retro-onlayn-kazino-oynau-kak-igrat-cazino-saytynda/. Делитесь опытом!
vm777 – https://vm777-55.com
pin-up казино официальный сайт
gg999 – https://gg999-99.com
Midweek football livescore, Tuesday Wednesday Champions League Europa action
купить пылесос дайсон в санкт pylesos-dn-kupit-6.ru .
рио бет
click reference https://d2finance.cv/
пин ап официальный сайт казино
https://www.bethechangebaf.com/blog/2020/9/childhood-cancer-awareness-month-2020
Africa Cup of Nations livescore, AFCON tournament with comprehensive coverage
betfair – https://betfair-mx.com
dyson gen5 купить в спб dn-pylesos-2.ru .
novibet – https://novibet-777.com
cbet – https://cbet-br.com
mexplay – https://mexplay-mexico.com
see here now https://unich.icu
read this article https://avalonfinance.cc/
Сливаете энергию на чужие цели? Найдите свой истинный отклик.
Золотые цепи чужого успеха на вас.
-хьюман дизайн генератор;
-тип личности генератор дизайн человека;
-дизайн человека генератор кто это;
-человек генератор кто это;
-дизайн человека генератор описание;
-дизайн человека генератор;
Extra resources https://gluex.io/
https://golden-elephant-ktpfk8.mystrikingly.com/blog/nouveau-code-promo-1xbet-2026-1x200man-bonus-130
pin up casino играть на деньги
click for more https://g8keep.org/
click here to read https://toast-wallet.net/
Ребята, не тратьте время на левые сайты! Чтобы выбрать платящее казино, обращайте внимание на: поддержку рубля, а также на условия бонусов. Я лично протестировал десятки платформ и оставил только те, где дают фриспины сразу. Весь список — по ссылке: Мелстрой казино. Делитесь опытом!
anchor https://plasma.credit
Привет! Недавно искал онлайн-платформу, где можно спокойно вывести выигрыш, и понял: главное — отзывы. Собрал рабочие варианты с поддержкой QIWI — ссылка: [url=https://blog.belezamarket.com.br/igrayte-v-onlaynkazino-sykaaa-segodnya-zerkalo-dlya-slotov-na-segodnyashniy-den/]СЃСѓРєР° казино[/url]. Кто уже пробовал?
click here now https://beraborrow.cc/
go to this site https://toast-wallet.net/
Substitution tracker, player changes and tactical switches noted live
important link https://d2finance.cv
Глубокий минет 2026
Всем привет! Поделюсь лайфхаком: чтобы не слить депозит впустую, выбирайте онлайн игровой клуб с лицензией от уважаемого регулятора. Я проверил десятки сайтов и оставил только те, где быстрая верификация. Список тут: mellstroy casino. Кто уже играл — подтвердите?
Привет! Если вы ищете платформу с джекпотами — не гонитесь за громкими названиями. Лучше смотрите статистику. Мой проверенный список — тут: мелстрой гейм. Кто что добавит?
Ребята, а вы знаете, где сейчас дают кэшбэк? Я проверил десятки казино, оставил только те, где реально работают в РФ. Ссылка на подборку: https://www.grupocaral.com.pe/villavelarde/onlayn-kazino-glory-kazino-kezdes-kezdes-promokoddar/. Обсуждаем!
爱一番海外版，专为华人打造的高清视频平台，支持全球加速观看。
I have been browsing on-line greater than 3 hours these days, but I by no means found any attention-grabbing article like
yours. It is lovely worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content
material as you did, the internet might be a lot more helpful than ever before.
gg999 – https://gg999-66.com
https://tornadosocial.com/story6627839/g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rateur-de-code-promo-1xbet
I think this is one of the most significant info for me.
And i am glad reading your article. But want to remark on some general things, The site style is
ideal, the articles is really nice : D. Good job, cheers