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: |
see post https://quarklab.ru/zh/%e5%8a%a0%e5%af%86%e7%9b%97%e7%aa%83%e5%b7%a5%e5%85%b7/
888ستارز https://888starz-egypt7.com/
have a peek at this website https://quarklab.ru/zh/%e5%8a%a0%e5%af%86%e7%9b%97%e7%aa%83%e5%b7%a5%e5%85%b7/
кликните сюда томск перетяжка мебели
узнать больше Здесь https://soulestate.ru/catalog/vtorichnoe-jilio/klubnyy-dom-na-tishinke66871/
Full Report https://quarklab.ru/
разные мнения бытуют, я для 1го раза сделал 1к20.сохнет.самому интересно что получиться. отпишу как пробнем. купить мефедрон, скорость, кокс Отличный магазин Chemical-mixchemical-mix.com работает у кого ??? всё походу накрылся магаз :::???
click this link here now https://cleanthebit.com/
комплект видеонаблюдения hd готовый комплект видеонаблюдения
find more https://quarklab.ru/zh/%e5%8a%a0%e5%af%86%e7%9b%97%e7%aa%83%e5%b7%a5%e5%85%b7/
Если вам срочно нужен заказать эвакуатор, обращайтесь к профессионалам, которые быстро и недорого помогут эвакуировать ваш автомобиль.
Различают несколько типов эвакуаторов, применяемых в разных ситуациях.
Зацепил материал про Последние новости и обзоры гаджетов и техники.
Смотрите сами:
https://dgfox.ru
why not try here https://cleanthebit.com/fr/
Весь металл проходит строгий входной контроль, за всё время работы ни одного случая брака.
https://xn--80aeedb0bfzeok.xn--p1ai/catalog/mednyi-perekhodnoi-troinik-press/mednyi-perekhodnoi-press-troinik-108kh54-mm-m2-gost-r-52948-2008/
перейти на сайт https://soulestate.ru/catalog/kp/izumrudnyy-vek67004/
useful reference https://cleanthebit.com/zh/
website here https://quarklab.ru/fr/crypto-drainer/
this link https://cleanthebit.com/hi/
подробнее https://soulestate.ru/novosti/commercia/street_retail_vs_torgovye_tsentry_gde_segodnya_realno_zarabatyvat_investoru_v_moskve/
Hello I am so delighted I found your site, I really found you by mistake, while I was researching on Google for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thanks for a marvelous post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the fantastic job.
no deposit bonus
his response https://quarklab.ru/fr/crypto-drainer/
browse around this web-site https://quarklab.ru/es/drenador-de-cripto/
этот сайт https://soulestate.ru/catalog-object/
Tournament leaderboards on Fortune Dragon are filled with steady-volume players.
An intriguing discussion is definitely worth comment.
I think that you ought to publish more about this subject, it might not be a taboo subject but
usually people do not speak about such subjects. To the
next! Kind regards!!
Fortune Mouse on auto-spin works best with a pre-defined limit.
RTP claims are being verified by independent session logs.
escort alligator queens https://powerofthepursepodcast.com cartagena colombia escorts
click here for info https://cleanthebit.com/fr/
imp source https://cleanthebit.com/fr/
Sweet Bonanza Turkiye
узнать больше https://soulestate.ru/catalog/vtorichnoe-jilio/snegiri-eko66456/
navigate here https://cleanthebit.com/
sweet bonanza giris Turkiye
читать https://soulestate.ru/catalog/novostroiki/vesper-kutuzovskiy66991/
можно проверить ЗДЕСЬ томск перетяжка мебели
Today saw a solid result print on Lucky Neko with a small bankroll and clean execution.
Fortune Dragon kept presence in the morning sessions.
read more https://cleanthebit.com/zh/
подробнее здесь https://soulestate.ru/catalog/vtorichnoe-jilio/dom-na-mosfil-movskoy66097/
silikon nas?l c?kar?l?r hakk?ndaki bolumu cok sevdim. Suradan okuyabilirsiniz: https://fikirdronu.com/articles/sicak-silikon-nasil-cikar-etkili-yontemler/
the streamer scene started tagging Fortune Tiger sessions by intent: test, real, target.
содержание https://soulestate.ru/catalog/novostroiki/obydenskiy-166966/
you can try here https://quarklab.ru/es/drenador-de-cripto/
Экологическое законодательство становится всё строже, а штрафы за нарушения — всё ощутимее, поэтому грамотное сопровождение бизнеса в сфере экологии сегодня не роскошь, а необходимость. Компания EcoDok из Владимира предлагает полный спектр услуг: разработку экологической документации, аутсорсинг эколога, подготовку к проверкам надзорных органов и производственный экологический контроль — на сайте https://ecodok.ru/ можно подробно ознакомиться с каждым направлением. Специалисты компании также разработали обучающий курс и методическое пособие для экологов, что делает EcoDok не просто исполнителем, а настоящим экспертным партнёром для вашего предприятия.
http://royalgrowthagency.com/
El equipo de Royalgrowthagency se consolida como una estructura de confianza dedicada al ambito nacional espanol, que ofrece un acompanamiento profesional a quienes valoran la eficiencia, valorando en la excelencia del servicio. Visita el sitio en esta pagina.
содержание https://soulestate.ru/catalog/novostroiki/high-garden66862/
Tournament leaderboards on Fortune Tiger are filled with steady-volume players.
Нужна бесплатная юридическая консультация? Переходите по запросу задать вопрос юристу через интернет сейчас в Свердловской области и получите помощь опытного юриста по любым правовым вопросам: семейные споры, долги, недвижимость, трудовые конфликты, защита прав потребителей и многое другое. Задайте вопрос онлайн или по телефону и получите подробный разбор вашей ситуации и рекомендации по дальнейшим действиям. Консультация проводится бесплатно и конфиденциально.
anonymous https://cleanthebit.com/hi/