Power of the Mind, the second book in Nicky James’ Shadowy Solutions romantic suspense series, takes place around three months after the events of Skeletons in the Closet – and hard-boiled PI Diem Krause is no closer to shaking his fascination with Tallus Domingo, the gorgeous records clerk at Toronto PD. As has been established, Diem is a deeply troubled individual who struggles to relate to people on pretty much every level; he’s often blunt to the point of rudeness, and because he finds it incredibly difficult to find the right words in many situations, he prefers to remain silent or to express himself in non-verbal grunts. He doesn’t have friends and he doesn’t do relationships, but Tallus has got under his skin and is turning Diem’s carefully controlled world inside out.

In the weeks since they last worked together, Diem has taken to sitting in his Jeep outside Tallus’ apartment most nights until late, and sometimes showing up at his door half-drunk to hook up. Tallus doesn’t turn him away, and Diem knows he shouldn’t be doing any of it – but he’s the moth to Tallus’ flame and he just can’t quit him.

Tallus is just as strongly drawn to the big man with scars inside and out. He’s more intrigued and attracted by Diem than anyone he’s ever known and longs to dismantle the walls he’s built around himself, yet even though Tallus knows Diem’s limitations and that he can’t offer the kind of affection and physical intimacy Tallus wants, he can’t help hoping that perhaps they can become something more to each other than infrequent working non-partners and the occasional quick fuck.

When the story begins, Tallus and his bestie, Memphis, are hanging out watching bad TV, when Memphis announces he’s going to see a psychic because he wants to know where his life is going and whether Mr. Right is around the corner (as opposed to all the Mr. Right-Nows he picks up at the local club). Tallus can’t believe his friend would fall for such a scam, but Memphis insists it’s all legit and suggests maybe Tallus should visit Madame Rowena, too – perhaps she can cure his migraines – and pulls up the reviews on her website. Tallus isn’t swayed by all the 5 star reviews singing the woman’s praises; instead, he looks at the lower-rated ones, and one in particular grabs his attention. The writer accuses Madame Rowena of brainwashing his sister, whose behaviour changed abruptly after she started seeing the psychic and who committed suicide a couple of weeks ago. Others talk about Madame Rowena getting inside their heads, of feeling violated, of loved ones acting out of character and showing signs of paranoia. After Memphis goes home, Tallus starts digging deeper, reading article after article about Madame Rowena and discovering a long arrest record, including one for manslaughter in the 1980s. By morning, Tallus is starting to think that maybe the idea that someone could be manipulated into suicide isn’t as crazy as he’d at first thought. Of course, magic and psychic readings are all bullshit, but suspicious deaths aren’t – and something tells him there’s more to this than meets the eye. And while he’s not ready to admit it to himself yet, it’s also the perfect excuse to go to see Diem.

Tallus turning up at his office unannounced is the one thing guaranteed to turn Diem’s brain to mush and make him even more tongue-tied than usual. But when Tallus switches from flirting to talking about a mind-controlling psychic driving people to kill themselves, Diem’s brain comes back online and he starts angrily waiting for the punchline – because this has to be some kind of joke. When he realises that Tallus is perfectly serious, he shuts him down. Or tries to. Because they both know Diem finds it impossible to say no to Tallus, and Diem reluctantly agrees to at least look at the evidence Tallus has found so far and to do a little digging of his own. He also can’t help hearing the small voice in the back of his mind that tells him this is a way for him to spend some more time with Tallus before Tallus gets tired of his quirks and tells him to fuck off for good.

Nicky James does a great job here of creating an intricate mystery that appears to be one thing but which turns out to be something else. Both Tallus and Diem are aware they’re dealing with something more mundane than auto-suggestion or psychic manipulation, but given the dearth of physical evidence, it’s hard to find the dots, let alone join them. But as they look deeper into the histories and backstories of their victims and suspects, a picture begins to emerge and they expose an operation that’s much more complex than they’d originally assumed it to be. But hard evidence is difficult to come by, and they have to work hard (with a little help from their friends) to find enough evidence to convince the police that what they’ve found warrants an official investigation.

Tallus and Diem’s chemistry is undeniable, and their non-relationship is progressing, despite the fact that it scares Diem to death. His life-experiences have made it incredibly difficult for him to relate to others and practically impossible for him to express love and affection. He knows he’s seriously messed up and knows his limits, yet with Tallus, Diem wants, for the first time, to try to break out of his comfort zone. One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the one in which Diem opens up to Tallus more than he ever has, telling him more about his past, his anger, his anxieties, and his fears for the future in an attempt to warn Tallus away for good. He’s completely blindsided when Tallus shows no signs of wanting to run.

Something else I loved was Diem helping Tallus to hone his natural instincts for investigative work and encouraging him to look at situations from another perspective. Tallus is bright, intuitive and curious, but he’s inexperienced, prone to letting unsubstantiated speculation run away with him, and hasn’t yet learned to rein in his imagination. With Diem’s guidance, Tallus starts learning how to think more like an investigator and how to shape his thoughts and theories into stronger leads for them to follow – which is, surely, an act of love on Diem’s part. He’s convinced he can never be the man Tallus wants or deserves, but this – and the gesture he makes at the end of the book – is him telling Tallus that he wants them to be more than they have been. That he wants to try.

The one bum note in the book is the way Tallus so obviously manipulates Diem into doing what he wants in the first part of it. I’m sure the author’s intention is to draw a comparison between Tallus’ behaviour and that of the so-called psychic healers, but his actions bring him dangerously close to being unlikeable. I was glad when his colleague, Kitty, called him on it and he admitted to himself that he wasn’t being fair to Diem, and pleased to see him making an effort to rein it in and be more respectful of Diem’s wishes.

Power of the Mind is another compelling read, a great combination of sloooooooow burn romance and off-beat mystery full of unexpected turns, red herrings and dead ends. The central relationship is moving slowly from awkward not-conversations and emotionless hook-ups towards something more intimate, and although the book ends with Tallus and Diem light years away from where they were at the end of the last one, they still have a long way to go before they’re in anything like a healthy relationship. But it’s progress, and I’m excited to see where Nicky James is going to take them next.