Taxed to Death
Debra Purdy Kong
Mystery/Suspense
[rating: 3/5]
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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.

I’m about half-way through Debra Purdy Kong’s backlist novel Taxed to Death. (And all you rabid readers are saying, “Get on with it already, will ya?!” Remember, however, I have other things to do all day besides just reading novels. :-) I expect this one to take me at least another week.)

I’m not an expert on the mystery/suspense genre, but are the characters supposed to be this flat?

Yeah, I know. It’s actually Wednesday… The holiday on Monday pushed everything late, and I forgot to post this yesterday.

I’m reading Taxed to Death, by Debra Purdy Kong, as part of the “Pay It Forward 2010” group on Goodreads.

I’ve just started reading the book, so I haven’t really formed a complete opinion yet. It started slow, but it’s been slowly building up steam. I like stories that push hard at the very beginning, gets them rolling. However, I have gotten through the first two chapters without completely falling asleep, so at least it’s got some redeeming features.

You wouldn’t think that I would need more books, judging from the size of my Goodreads “to-read” list, all of which I have on the premises or readily available to borrow. But the fact is that I’ve been looking for some engrossing, character-driven fiction to read, and on that score Holly has always delivered. Besides which, the Little One has wanted to read Fire in the Mist ever since I told her about it months ago. (I had read part of it online at the Baen Free Library, but that was before ebooks were convenient to read, and I’ve been longing to finish it myself.)

But that wasn’t the end of my book acquisition. I’ve also set up an account on BookMooch, have already given away 5 books from my “to get rid of” pile, and have already requested 2 more Holly Lisle books.

All told, here are the books I’m expecting (some of which I’ve already received):