Dead Silent: Cold Case Psychic Book 3, Pandora Pine

When pressure and stress get to be too much for Tennyson he decides the best thing for him would be a break...alone.  The only problem with that is he's never really alone.  And he finds his breaking point.  The silence that follows shows him a glimpse of a different life, one that scares him.  Realizing that his tantrum was obeyed in a very real sense and that alone was the last thing he actually needed, regret hounds him all the way back to Salem.

Ronan needs Tennyson's help on a decidedly less "exciting" case, but he'll have to find the courage to admit he's no longer special, no longer necessary.  What he doesn't fathom is that he's loved for more than his talent.  Except the spirits don't understand that he's unable to access his gift and they'll stop at nothing to get his attention.  He'll need to work through his fear and mental blocks or it's not just Ronan's case that will suffer, it will be their relationship, his career, his confidence, and even his life.

I almost don't recognize Ronan in this story.  Far from the blustering, grumpy, short-tempered, angry man we first met, he's soft, understanding, and all kinds of vulnerable.  It doesn't help that Tennyson is doing his best to keep him at arm's length because of his secret and simmering resentment.  Their passion is a bit stilted at the same time as it's opening to something much deeper.  It's Tennyson's turn to lash out, be accusatory, angry, and scared.  Add in the stress of having to turn to others to get his gift back and we have an emotional mess of a man unlike we've ever seen before.

The focus of this story is the romantic relationship and Tennyson's growth, or lack thereof, as a medium.  He's been getting by solely on his innate talent and desire to help others from the beyond.  What he lacks is the personal training and boundaries he encourages Cole and Craig to work on.  All of his years of abandonment, family issues, insecurities, and stress combine to make him flip out quite literally, and lash out at the one person that only wants to see him safe after witnessing the horror of what the spirits are willing to do to gain Tennyson's attention.  They have a long road to travel and Tennyson will have to make some serious decisions if it's one they'll travel together.

This was a highly emotional story.  While I wasn't bothered by the more angsty drama it contained, I was slightly disappointed by the direction of Ronan's case.  It took a back seat so often that I couldn't have cared less if they solved it.  The procedures were all over the place and the "villain" was less who committed the crime as it was an un-discussed discussion about whether emotional abuse and control is worse than removing the abuser in a violent manner.  None of that was given enough page time so it left me feeling ambivalent about the whole thing.  The book should have simplified the case, focused on the philosophical and emotional aspects of the parallels between Tennyson's history and the case, or just left the case completely out of the story.  Overall it wasn't a bad follow-up, it just needed more fine-tuning to give everyone and everything enough attention to be a great follow-up.

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