When Silhouette’s new paranormal line Nocturne was announced, I looked forward to it, having fond memories of the old Shadows line. Two months into it, I’m underwhelmed. Maureen Child’s Eternally is the fourth book in the line, the third I’ve tried to read, and only the second I’ve finished. The fact that I was able to finish it is one point in its favor. Too bad I can’t think of too many more.

A serial killer is on the loose in Los Angeles. But this is no mere murderer. It’s a demon, the same body-snatching evil being that wreaked havoc in London more than a century ago and became known as Jack the Ripper. Back then, the demon was captured by Kieran MacIntyre. Now it’s free again and back to its killing ways, and it’s once again up to Kieran to catch it.

Born in the sixteenth century, Kieran died in 1573 and was reborn as a Guardian, an immortal fighter of evil. Only his fellow Guardians know his true identity; to the rest of the world he’s a reclusive Los Angeles millionaire. When he tracks the demon to a party in the Hollywood Hills, he encounters Julie Carpenter, a reporter pursuing a story on him. He immediately responds to her on a deeper level in a way he hasn’t to any other woman. His reaction makes him begin to wonder the about the existence of destined Mates, a legend among the Guardians that he’d heard about but never believed. But whether or not she is his Mate, she’s in danger from the demon who has made her its next target.

In many cases, the difference between a good paranormal story and a weak one is the world building and whether the author is able to immerse the reader in a fully realized supernatural element. This book falls on the weaker end of the spectrum for that very reason. The mythology of the Guardians feels tossed off and vaguely defined. While the basic concept is understandable enough (you die, you’re brought back to life, you fight demons), none of it was explained as well or explored as much as it should have been. There are some good ideas here and I found it interesting, but ultimately the Guardian premise wasn’t particularly satisfying because the author never made it come alive or dug beneath the surface of the concept.

Honestly, though, the whole book feels sketchy and underdeveloped. Julie is a walking cliche. To be more specific, she’s another romance heroine whose husband cheated on her with her best friend and took all their money. Now, I don’t have a problem with a stock character in and of itself. It’s the author’s job to take the familiar character and develop her enough that she becomes a real person and not just a cliche. That doesn’t happen here. That trite backstory is the sum total of her character, and ultimately she’s just boring. Kieran is more interesting simply by virtue of who and what he is, and he receives a few more shadings to his character. He’s still pretty shallow. The love story is inoffensive, but strictly by-the-numbers. The ending could have been powerful, but isn’t because the characters are so unengaging.

The pacing is very uneven. For instance, in the initial meeting between Julie and Kieran in her kitchen, it slows to a crawl in a scene that starts to seem like it will never end. The author never manages to find a good balance between the love story, the paranormal element, and the suspense subplot, lurching along among the three. The suspense aspect is the weakest. It doesn’t amount to much and is seldom, if ever, as scary or exciting as it should be. Every once in a while the author will offer a scene from the demon’s point of view, as though to tell the reader, “Don’t forget about me! I’m still around and still scary! Grrr!” Kieran goes out looking for the demon a few times, but never accomplishes much. Obviously the ending will involve some kind of showdown between Kieran and the demon. Rather than develop an actual plot leading the story to that showdown, the author just lets the storyline lurk in the background without going anywhere, biding its time until then.

Despite my criticisms, I can’t say that I really disliked Eternally. I didn’t feel strongly enough about it for that. It had a few sporadic moments when I thought it might take off. It just never did. That left me sitting through an exceedingly mediocre tale that could have been compelling, could have been dramatic, could have been romantic – and was none of the above.