Liquid Silver Books, $5.95, ISBN 978-1-59578-468-1
Paranormal Romance, 2008

Echo of Distant Thunder confuses me because I am led to believe that I will be getting a story about a spooky order of sorcerers and lots of mythical elements, but for a long time, I’m never sure where the story is taking me.

We have a couple comfortably in a relationship, scholars Graeme Shepherd and Diana Glendover. Graeme has some secrets, however, and his past catches up with him in the form of a naughty old boyfriend, Peter Oberon. An order called the Acolytes of Taranis want something from Graeme, but even the man is not sure what that thing is. Meanwhile, Peter’s arrival causes no shortage of conflicts between Graeme and Diana as both are attracted to Peter.

For a long time, I’m not sure what this story is supposed to be. The mythical elements are pushed to the background for a considerable portion during the middle of the story as the three characters try to deal with their emotions for each other. Is this mainly a ménage à trois musical chair drama? I’m disappointed if that is the case because the publisher website blurb and the set-up of the story all led me to believe that this will be something like The Da Vinci Code only with naked threesomes. Still, the emotions are on the most part believable as the authors allow the characters to simmer and think instead of unrealistically having all three characters hop into bed together from the start.

Ultimately, it’s the paranormal aspects of the story that are underdeveloped. And because the paranormal aspects of the plot are what drove me to the story in the first place, I can’t help but to feel disappointed by it as a result.