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: |
нажмите здесь водка бет
нажмите здесь травмат пистолет Санкт-Петербург
openok.ru
продолжить vodkabet
Читать далее vodkabet новый сайт
посетить сайт vodka bet casino
Bão demais. O Tigre não para de soltar carta boa.
В этой заметке мы представляем шаги, которые помогут в процессе преодоления зависимостей. Рассматриваются стратегии поддержки и чек-листы для тех, кто хочет сделать первый шаг к выздоровлению. Наша цель — вдохновить читателей на положительные изменения и поддержать их в трудных моментах.
Желаете узнать подробности? – нарколог на дом анонимно
здесь vodkabet новый сайт
нажмите, чтобы подробнее травмат пистолет Москва цена
этот контент купить травмат без документов
здесь зеркало водка бет
Dobrei minha banca no Hood vs Wolf na hora do almoço. Gestão de banca em primeiro lugar. Saque solicitado!
подробнее здесь травматическое оружие купить
Источник легальное оружие для самообороны
kitesurf instructor кайт лагеря Хургада
Читать далее травмат пистолет Екатеринбург
O pessoal avisou e é verdade: Gates of Olympus tá distribuindo. Saquei o valor da meta.
такой купить травмат без документов
капельницу на дом стоимость https://kapelnicza-ot-pokhmelya-samara-39.ru
Узнать больше водкабет
кликните сюда травматическое оружие ЕКБ
узнать больше vodkabet новый сайт
проверить сайт vodkabet
капельница от запоя цена капельница от запоя цена
Bu arada soyleyeyim, eger kurumus sac boyas? k?yafetten nas?l c?kar konusuyla ilgileniyorsan?z, suraya bir goz at?n. Suradan okuyabilirsiniz: https://kendiyolu.com/articles/sac-boyasi-kiyafetten-nasil-cikar/
узнать травматический пистолет цена
другие купить травмат СПБ
опубликовано здесь vodkabet
узнать больше vodkabet
можно проверить ЗДЕСЬ магазин травмат Махачкала
isowindows.net
ссылка на сайт vodkabet прямой сейчас
зайти на сайт травматическое оружие Москва
подробнее водка бет
Читать далее водкабет
Dica de ouro: Hood vs Wolf agora à tarde. Pagou R$ 1.000 liso pra mim.
Now noticing the careful balance the post struck between confidence and humility, and a stop at buildscalableideas maintained the same balance, finding the line between asserting and admitting is hard and this site has clearly developed the calibration to walk that line consistently which produces a more persuasive reading experience for me.
выберите ресурсы vodkabet прямой сейчас
нажмите, чтобы подробнее купить травмат без документов
В данном обзоре представлены основные направления и тренды в области медицины. Мы обсудим актуальные проблемы здравоохранения, свежие открытия и новые подходы, которые меняют представление о лечении и профилактике заболеваний. Эта информация будет полезна как специалистам, так и широкой публике.
Познакомиться с результатами исследований – вывод из запоя анонимно недорого
перейти на сайт vodkabet
сюда травматический пистолет цена
Cuts through the usual marketing fluff that dominates this topic online, and a stop at scopevoice kept the same clean approach going, this is the kind of writing that respects the reader’s time rather than wasting it on repetitive setups before finally getting to the point at hand which is what most sites do.
посетить сайт vodka bet casino
узнать больше купить травмат без лицезии
Текст посвящён распространённым мифам о зависимости и их развенчанию. Мы предоставим научно обоснованную информацию и дадим рекомендации по выбору эффективного способа борьбы с зависимым поведением.
Неизвестные факты о… – вывод из запоя капельница на дому
нажмите здесь травмат для самообороны
другие водкабет
перенаправляется сюда магазин травмат Махачкала