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: |
W pierwszym akapicie wyjasniamy tlo promocji oraz wplyw na spolecznosc graczy i entuzjastow vulkanspiele.
vulkanspiele kod promocyjny vulkanspiele kod promocyjny.
Actually, I have to disagree slightly with the second point. In our testing, we found that over-optimization was less of a factor than pure engagement metrics. It’s interesting to see how different niches react differently.
такой vodkabet
http://www.richmondavenuecigar.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?p=536968#536968
оптимизация сайта блог seo-blog14.ru .
интернет vodkabet
W trzecim akapicie omawiamy historie uzytkownikow, ktorzy skorzystali z promocji i osiagneli sukcesy.
vulkanspiele kod promocyjny bez depozytu https://inscada.ru/vulkanspiele-kod-promocyjny-jak-dzia-a-aktywacja-kodu-bonusowego-krok-po-kroku/
смотреть здесь casino vodka
pet rx: pet pharmacy online – pet drugs online
в этом разделе зеркало водка бет
этот контент водка бэт
мелстрой казино мелстрой казино .
The online casino market changes year by year, but Polish players 100 zł bez depozytu za rejestrację
каталог зеркало водка бет
подробнее водка бет
опубликовано здесь водка бэт
узнать больше Здесь [url=https://drop.vodkabet-vbt.com]vodka bet casino[/url]
https://certifiedcanadarx.com/# buy prescription drugs from canada cheap
грозный луи оставил отзыв о магазине купить Кокаин, Бошки, Марихуану, Мефедрон трек не работает тишина уже 3 дня прошло >< у всех все гуд а у меня щляпа как так почему ((( ?!?!?!?может стоит разводить 1 к 10? Кто брал ам 2233 отпишитесь на щёт пропорции,вообще 2233 1 к 20 разводится если продукт хороший
Since the admin of this site is working, no doubt very rapidly it will be well-known,
due to its quality contents.
The online casino market changes year by year, but Polish players Fontan Casino 100
зайти на сайт vodka bet
посмотреть на этом сайте водка бэт
сайт vodka bet
Читать далее vodkabet
http://sarmacikrolewscy.phorum.pl/viewtopic.php?p=27451#27451
найти это водка бэт
https://images.google.com.pa/url?q=https://www.bigcatalliance.org/news/bonus_d_inscription_au_casino_1xbet.html
The online casino market changes year by year, but Polish players Fontanna Casino
Смотреть здесь зеркало водка бет
нажмите, чтобы подробнее зеркало водка бет
этот контент vodka bet
посетить сайт vodka bet
Kolejnym krokiem jest wpisanie kodu Polska 2026 w odpowiednie pole przy zakupie lub w ustawieniach konta.
vulkanspiele kod promocyjny bez depozytu https://inscada.ru/vulkanspiele-kod-promocyjny-jak-dzia-a-aktywacja-kodu-bonusowego-krok-po-kroku/
страница casino vodka
Подробнее зеркало водка бет
боты для бизнеса Покупка или разработка ИИ-агентов для бизнеса становится все более актуальной задачей в условиях растущей конкуренции.
Смотреть здесь vodka bet casino
Hello everyone!
Unlock mind mysterious potentials with interesting and valuable psychological facts and tap into unused brain power see on the website for brain training
Full information on the link – https://33capy.site
All the best and development in business!
seo продвижение магазин наушников seo-kejsy12.ru .
заказать кухню цены zakazat-kuhnyu-2.ru .
на этом сайте vodka casino
найти это vodka bet
Have you considered the impact of mobile-first indexing on these placements? We’ve noticed that some “desktop-safe” strategies are flagging on mobile crawls.
выберите ресурсы vodka bet casino
Перейти на сайт водка бет
Hey there! Quick question that’s entirely off topic.
Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly?
My site looks weird when viewing from my iphone4. I’m
trying to find a template or plugin that might be
able to resolve this issue. If you have any suggestions, please share.
Appreciate it!
интернет водка бет
Источник vodka bet casino
The site is simple and user-friendly, with no unnecessary clutter, making it easy to find your favorite slots Fontan Casino bonus bez depozytu