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Distant Shores, Silent Thunder by Radclyffe

“No matter how much we plan, life—and people—have a way of surprising us.”

With an opening like that, one glance tells you that you’re in for an amazing ride. Radclyffe brings us the third book in the Provincetown Tales: Distant Shores, Silent Thunder, which tells the story of local sheriff, Reese Conlon, and her lover, Doctor Tory King. When we last visited Reese and Tory in Beyond the Breakwater, they were emerging from Tory’s difficult pregnancy, where Reese had to consider the possibility of losing Tory and the baby, and Tory was faced with the constant fear of losing Reese in the line of duty.

In Distant Shores, Silent Thunder, these fears are behind them. Reese and Tory are now the proud parents of Regina, their new bundle of joy. Tory has yet to return to her clinic, but is soon contemplating the thought, even though it’s earlier than she should. Reese and her protégé, Brianna Parker, are back on the beat, attempting to find out why apparently upstanding kids from good families are showing up dead in their town. It’s all in a days work, and all seems well in the world of Provincetown. However, unbeknownst to Reese and Tory, all of that tranquil peace is about to come to a screeching halt when Tory’s ex-, Dr. KT O’Bannon makes an unexpected appearance. And not only does KT show up, but she wants a job!

Four weeks prior, KT was viciously attacked in the trauma center by a crackhead wielding a knife, nearly losing her fingers in the process, and losing mobility in her hand. Unable to work trauma with her damaged hand, which is in need of rehabilitative therapy, KT hears through the grapevine that there’s an opening at Tory’s practice, and makes the journey to P-town. Confronted with her cheating ex-lover, Tory is thrown for a loop, and isn’t quite sure she can work with KT. All the anger from being the jilted lover looms at the surface of her emotions, and Tory has to decide if it’s worth the risk of taking KT on, and possibly jeopardizing her relationship with Reese, even though she desperately needs the help at the clinic.

After consulting with Reese, Tory decides to hire KT, who settles into the town and engages a lovely occupational therapist, Pia Torres, to perform the necessary therapy she needs in order to make her hand functional again. Pia is a mystery, a Latin beauty with dark eyes and glossy midnight hair with acres of sienna skin. KT is at once taken with her, but Pia holds KT at arms length, determined to fix KT’s hand, not her heart.

Throughout the story, we’re taken on several journeys, the first of which is Tory reconciling her anger at KT’s infidelity. At one point in the dialogue, KT finally apologizes for hurting Tory all those years ago, and Tory finds out that none of it really mattered anymore anyway. Another journey is how Reese handles the appearance of KT and her ensuing relationship with Tory. While Reese is every woman’s dream—rock solid and stable—her reaction at seeing KT and Tory in what appeared to be a compromising situation (which it wasn’t), was almost a bit unrealistic. While one would hope their partner would have enough trust in them to know nothing was going on, in the real world, most women wouldn’t have been quite so understanding if they caught their partner in a clinch with their ex-lover. I think it would have helped Reese’s character appear more “human” if she had expressed at least a sliver of jealousy or insecurity or even anger. As it stands, Reese appears impervious to the idea of anyone stealing Tory’s affections. But that’s why it’s fiction, right?

The most engaging plot is the one between KT and her budding relationship with the aforementioned, Pia Torres. Their courtship is quaint, old-fashioned, and quite nicely written. It's nice to see two characters get to know one another instead of professing their love for each other within days of meeting or hopping into the sack on the second date (perhaps real-life lesbians could take a few lessons from their fictional counterparts!). KT constantly makes attempts to get closer to Pia, but time and again, is gently rebuffed. While it's obvious that Pia is indeed attracted to KT, it is a mystery for many pages as to why she won't pursue a romantic relationship with her. Upon the reveal, it is again both quaint and old-fashioned, but fits the character of Pia perfectly, staying true to her values and desires.

As KT and Pia continue to see each other according to Pia's rules, one can feel the heat as it builds between these two. When it finally is released, we’re talking a major explosion here! Radclyffe did a fantastic job of creating the character of Pia Torres, and we hope to see her in future editions. A calm, strong, and reassuring character, she’s the perfect foil for the brash and impetuous KT O’Bannon.

A minor plot involved Brianna and her new working partner, Allie, was quite enjoyable and a nice inclusion of the younger generation. Brianna’s lover, Caroline, is away in Paris studying art, and she is suddenly faced with temptation in the form of the ever-present Allie, with whom she had a minor dalliance with in the past, tempting Bri with her wanton ways. When Bri is almost killed in a bust gone bad, you can’t wait to see who will be by her side as she recovers.

In all, Distant Shores, Silent Thunder is full of well-rounded, strong characters that fit on the page. Many writers develop characters that just don’t ring true, but Radclyffe has a gift for character development in real-life situations. Her dialogue flows well and storylines move at a snappy pace. While some people shy away from love scenes or use flowery prose to describe a moment of passion, Radclyffe dives right in, sharing both the heat and passion her characters feel during the heat of the moment. We feel Distant Shores, Silent Thunder is an excellent addition to the Provincetown Tales, and given Radclyffe’s prolific ways, we look forward to the next installment. —OutLook Press

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