Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, Fascinating and I couldn't put it down.....
Review: I just finished reading this book and I couldn't stop until I reached the end. (What a romantic end to this story!) I know this will be a great movie someday, but don't wait for the movie, read the book. I was entertained and educated. I actually have a friend that is a Revenue Officer with IRS. She is the one that recommended the book to me. She says it gives a right on the mark account of what goes on behind the secret walls of the IRS. She has worked there eighteen years so I think she knows. She also said the IRS is afraid many people will read it and find out how they actually treat their own. Yancey has received a lot of national praise for his writing style and talent. He is a great story teller. I've just started his other book. "Bravo" to Yancey for his talent and bravery in telling this story!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Entertaining and Scary......
Review: I read the USA Today review and finally read the book. I had seen a lot in the newspapers about it. It wasn't disappointing. It is extremely well writen and offers a look at the government employees that are able to put their hands into our pockets. That is the scary part, knowing these are the people looking at our bank statements and taking our money. Yancey keeps the book entertaining. This is one worth taking a look at....
Rating:
Summary: I WANT TO BE A REVENUE OFFICER
Review: I read this author's first novel and wasn't sure I wanted to read the second one, a book about the IRS. However, I loved the first one and took the plunge! I found Confessions of a Tax Collector to be fascinating. This speaks to this author's talent as a writer. Now I want to be a Revenue Officer! He makes this job come to life and the characters he works with are wonderful. Where do I sign up ?
Rating:
Summary: Retired From IRS - Book Is Too True
Review: I too am a retired Revenue Officer. I too have been in many IRS offices across the country. I found Mr. Yancey's book to not only be right on the mark, but in some ways too kind to the Service. There are many IRS employees in way over their heads, and the only thing they know to do is be a bully. It happens day after day. The prior reviewer continues to put his head in the sand in an attempt to be proud of the job he did for thirty years. Mr. Yancey's book is entertaining and educational. Anyone dealing with the IRS would be smart to spend some time checking out this book. I did this job for many years and I can assure you everything in this book is true. I have witnessed it all!
Rating:
Summary: Not Just a Tax Book....
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when I began this book. Not being a business major, but a liberal arts student I didn't have an interest in the actual workings of the IRS, but I soon learned this book was much more. Yancey explained the "technical" part of the agency's workings in fascinating but everyday terms. I actually enjoyed the personal tale that involved Yancey's finding his way home to be the best part of the book. I think either reader, the one most interested in this agency or the one looking for a book to entertain will be pleased. I agree with reviewer Steve Weinberg, "Confessions of a Tax Collector is not just a superb memior about working for the IRS, it's a superb memoir, period. "
Rating:
Summary: too extraordinary not to be true
Review: I'm not a big fan of this type of book, but I finally relented to my wife's demands that I read it. I fully expected to be bored out of my mind --- a book about taxes! --- but this story totally took me by surprise. It was funny, entertaining and completely absorbing. Some of the reviews I've seen in the media miss the point, it seems to me. This isn't so much an expose of the IRS as a powerful exploration of the human condition, against the backdrop of the secretive IRS. Yancey came of age in this story, discovering strength in himself, including the strength to follow his heart to true love. When I put the book down I told my wife, "This is a love story, disguised as a book about the IRS." Yancey talks in the epilogue about the Service bringing him to the place where he could appreciate the things that truly matter in life. Thank God it did, so he could write this brilliant, wonderful book. Don't buy the reviews you read that insinuate the IRS nearly ruined this man's life. In my opinion, it saved his life.
Rating: 
Summary: Repo Man
Review: It took guts for Richard Yancey to write a book that tries to make you sympathetize with an IRS agent. But if anyone could possibly pull it off, Yancey is the one. With a degree in English and a background in theater, he knows how to write well and can spin a story. Sometimes he gets carried away with literary pretensions, but only rarely. For the most part, he tells a tight and tense story. Yancey was a collections agent. He hunted down delinquent taxpayers and made them pay. If they refused or couldn't pay, he attached their bank accounts, repossessed their cars, and seized their homes and businesses. You can perform all sorts of mental contortions to deal with a job like that, but it will get to you one way or another. No one leaves unscathed. I would not have believed Yancey's characterizations of his colleagues and bosses if I had not been in federal service myself for fifteen years (not with the IRS). The psychotic mind games, the petty one-upsmanship, the general attitude that your agency and profession is the ne plus ultra of the universe; sadly, it all rings true. Even the cartoon-like uber-agent William Culpepper must have been real. Yancey telegraphs a fair amount of the story. You know as soon as he mentions her "mousey-brown hair" that his fiancee will not be with him by the end of the story. You know with his first description of the woman he eventually ends up with with that she will be the one. I was not able to predict whether he would stay with the agency after the first year or if he would get out before he sustained permanent damage, only because I was hoping against hope that he would take the advice of every interviewer, every supervisor, every colleague, to get out, get out, get out!
Rating:
Summary: I'm just a guy trying to make a living...........
Review: Rick Yancey needed a job. At the ripe old age of 28 he considered himself to be a total failure. It had taken him seven years to earn a four year college degree. He had never had anything more than an menial job and was living with his fiancee in her apartment. In desperation he had answered a blind ad in a newspaper. His new job would pay him three times more than he had ever made before. It was no wonder that Rick Yancey was determined to make his new gig at the Internal Revenue Service a success.
Much to his surprise Rick found that he was quite good in his new role as an IRS Revenue Officer. His superiors seemed equally amazed. After all, Rick was a writer who aspired to a career in the theatre! The IRS was not a place where you would expect such an individual to flourish. Yet Rick quickly learned the drill and actually became a rising star in the agency. He suddenly wielded a tremendous amount of power over those who might run afoul of the IRS. And deep down he loved it!!!
In the pages of "Confessions of A Tax Collector", Rick Yancey gives us a peek at several of the cases he handled during his 13 year tenure at the Internal Revenue Service. Some truly eye-opening stuff here. He observes that "I am a foot soldier in the most feared, hated and maligned agency in the federal government." He seemed to relish the role. We are introduced to many of the folks he worked with in his Florida district office and meet a number of Ricks clients. You'll learn a lot of government jargon and get an insiders view of the politics that exists inside the agency.
Although this book has its ups and downs you will likely find many of Rick's recollections to be absolutely fascinating reading. I would certainly consider this book a worthwhile read particularly if you are interested in learning more about what goes on at the IRS. Recommended.
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Summary: Brillant....Did you see the Christian Science Monitor?
Review: The reviews of this book are outstanding. This author has taken the revelation of this feared agency's secrets and weaved in a beautiul coming of age tale and love story. The critics are loving it as I am sure most readers will. Mr. Yancey has been receiving national praise. As for the O'reilly show, Fox owns the publisher, Harper Collins, so do you really think Mr. Yancey was invited on the show to discuss policy, no, it was to spread the word about this amazing book. I found it to be the best book I've read in a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Darn Nifty
Review: The saying I used to repeat was "The only people who hate the IRS more than the American taxpyer are the people who work there." It was interesting reading Mr. Yancey's memoir and realizing that that is still true. The book is well written and well-constructed with many a gripping anecdote and deft characterization. As a memoir of a generally low regarded job, it is a first rate book.
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