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: |
browse around this web-site https://mixmy.money/
moved here https://anycoindirect.me/
weblink https://daobase.info
from this source https://daobase.online
More Bonuses https://daobase.online
Continue https://yomix.biz
В медицинском центре «Время Возрождения» в Кемерово обеспечивается конфиденциальный формат наркологической помощи. Применяются современные методы терапии, направленные на снижение тяги к психоактивным веществам и формирование устойчивой ремиссии.
Получить дополнительную информацию – капельница от похмелья состав
view it https://mixmy.money
More Help https://daobase.online
additional hints https://anycoindirect.me
visit site https://anycoindirect.me
you can check here https://daobase.io/
Fortune Tiger cluster pays are generating clean session prints lately.
over at this website https://daobase.online
have a peek at this web-site https://daobase.info
look at this web-site https://yomix.biz/
recommended you read https://anycoindirect.me/
informative post https://bitmix.app
additional info https://bitmix.app
the forum is comparing time-to-bonus more than just the final multiplier.
pop over to these guys https://daobase.info/
this contact form https://daobase.online/
https://8ua.ru/hsCHAA6a/
my explanation https://swaplab.io
original site https://daobase.online
Get the facts https://swaplab.io/
pop over to this site https://daobase.online/
her response https://anycoindirect.me
find out here https://bitmix.app/
here are the findings https://tornadocash.app/
look at this website https://anycoindirect.me
website here https://anycoindirect.me/
http://mexicanpharm.com/# Mexican Pharm
Наличие прецизионных сплавов в ассортименте подтверждает работу компании с высокоточными и наукоемкими материалами.
https://rms-ekb.ru/catalog/stalnoi-list/stalnoi-list-30khn3m2fa-22x1000x1700-gost-19903-2006-gladkii-neotsinkovannyi-goriachekatanyi/
view it https://mixmy.money
article https://yomix.biz
http://goldwingmarketing.com/
Goldwingmarketing consolida-se como uma consultora experiente dedicada ao panorama nacional portugues, que oferece servicos de qualidade a quem valoriza a eficiencia, priorizando na transparencia e confianca. Descubra todos os detalhes atraves do link.
try these out https://anycoindirect.me/
internet https://daobase.io/
Click This Link https://bitmix.app
Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Ie.
I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to
do with web browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know.
The style and design look great though! Hope you get the issue fixed
soon. Thanks
visit this web-site https://daobase.online/
blog https://tornadocash.app
you can check here https://daobase.info/
click for source https://mixmy.money/
https://8ua.ru/hsCHAA6a/
http://goldwingmarketing.com/
Goldwingmarketing consolida-se como uma consultora experiente focada no panorama nacional portugues, que disponibiliza servicos de qualidade a empresas e particulares, com foco na transparencia e confianca. Descubra todos os detalhes nesta pagina.
go to my blog https://daobase.info/
http://goldwingmarketing.com/
A empresa Goldwingmarketing consolida-se como uma agencia especializada com forte presenca no publico em Portugal, que disponibiliza um acompanhamento profissional aos seus clientes, destacando-se por na excelencia do servico. Conheca mais nesta pagina.
http://goldwingmarketing.com/
A equipa Goldwingmarketing consolida-se como uma estrutura de confianca focada no tecido empresarial portugues, que disponibiliza uma abordagem completa aos seus clientes, destacando-se por na transparencia e confianca. Veja a oferta completa atraves do link.