Name: shellybn's review of Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes
Item: Dead Silence
Rating: 4
Author: shellybn

S.A. Barnes

Titanic meets The Shining in S.A. Barnes’ Dead Silence, a SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended. A GHOST SHIP. A SALVAGE CREW. UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS. Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate. What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right. Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Dead Silence

Callisone Dozier

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate. What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago.

A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right. Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

This was a good mystery/horror story set in space.  I enjoyed it very much.

shellybn

Jasper

Asim Gasimzade

This book promised the world to me as a sci-fi reader and didn't deliver anything. 
All the characters are one-dimensional and underdeveloped. Nysus, for instance is a geeky guy. He sits all day in his room and "browses the forum threads" and that's all you'll ever learn about him. 
The main character is the worst of them all. She is constantly on the verge of mental breakdown, suffering from an uncountable number of mental illnesses, stuck in her past, taking every opportunity to self loath over everything that can even remotely make her feel guilty. She is a Team-Lead (like captain, but lamer, I guess), who doesn't know anything about space flight. Every time she looks at some screen, she complains about not being able to "decipher abbreviations". Lady, how did you get your license?
I don't like the present tense narrating style. I get that it's supposed to immerse us into the story and feel like the things are happening right now, but it's not working for me when the author is describing the events that clearly have taken place in the past. 
Another comment about the writing style (or maybe it's audio narrating's fault, or both) is that she tries to scare you by describing how the main character feels after seeing something scary. It's 2 sentences about the actual event that occurs (She saw a ghost in front of her. The ghost had blood all over it) followed by 3 pages of panicking and self-loathing from Claire. 
The author seems to not care at all about describing the world or technologies they are using. To be honest, if you changed the setting from space to sea, nothing much would change about the book.
The romance element was so unnecessary and uncalled for. There is zero chemistry between the heroine and Caine (big guy that stands up for Claire every time someone hurts her feelings and she drifts off to some unrelated flashback from her messed-up childhood). 
Verux corporation is just evil. That's the only thing that defines them. No description of any complex motives, nothing. 
In general, I would say read it only if you are a big fan of the YA sci-fi genre and need something to quickly skim through without burdening your head..

P.S.
Take a drink every time:
1. Claire thinks she is incompetent/guilty/failed everyone 
2. Someone "demands"
3. Someone "crosses their hands across their chest"
4. Something weird happens to Claire's heart, pulse, or skin.
5. Clair collapses to the ground because she sees something "in the corner of her eye"
6. "Something something something, or something something anyway"

I wanted a dead space esque book and while the twist works perfectly I wanted more horror from it. 

Hyde F

Danny Werhane

TW: Suicide, psychosis, flashbacks and trauma 

The more I think about this book the more complicated my feelings become. Originally it had everything that a 5 star book had besides the ending, so I rated it a 4.5. But I though about it for a while and I don’t think it deserves that high of a rating. I think my final rating will be a 3.75. 

Things I liked: 
-this book kept me on the edge on my seat the entire time. I read in in like three sittings 
-spooky/ creepy atmosphere 
-the romance. The romance was the backbone of this book. 
-a super easy book to read 
-I thought the explanation of why what happened on the Aurora happened was very interesting, if maybe a little far fetched. 

What I did not like: 
-The ending was so rushed. I feel like I need like a hundred more pages minimum of what happened after. 
-the characters where not developed enough. I feel like the only characters who got any development at all where Claire and Kane (mc and love interest) I could not name another character from this book honestly 
-the romance had a good start but I feel like it need way more time to grow
-Claire didn’t grow enough as a character. I liked the exploration of trauma, but it was suddenly resolved and mental illness doesn’t just go away like that
- We spent so little time on the Aurora. Much of this book is flashed forward to the present timeline
-this book is suppose to be a horror. I don’t read horror but I don’t think this would qualify as one. There was more romance then horror. It read more like psychological thriller 
-some things where just never explained. This book would have been much better if there where not memory gaps and the whole story was actually told.

C. J. Daley 

I had been seeing this book all over the place and I just absolutely loved the cover. I was on a book buying ban though (still am) so I waited months of being “good” before finally caving for it. 

I have to be candid with this one. Reading this hit me at the perfect time in many ways. My fiancé Priscilla was traveling for work at a new job. I went to bed at midnight and she woke me up at 4:30AM to bring her to the airport. I thought I’d get to go back to sleep but then the puppy was whining so I didn’t. I then preceded to do 7 hours of house and yard work, so exhaustion doesn’t really begin to explain it. I did the majority of my reading after that and the following day. I think because of the prior lack of sleep I worked myself up into a migraine for the next day. Didn’t stop me though, I just continued reading with it. 

The first 160ish pages nothing happens. I kept thinking like why is this so boring? Is it just written poorly? Why can’t I seem to sit still and get through it? Then I realized that I had been kind of sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for something to happen since page one. So it wasn’t poor writing, it was purposeful. It was building suspense. That cabin-fever feeling, that paranoia. What I noticed around this point was that I was actually feeling genuine paranoia while reading. I’ve only ever felt this way while reading a single time before. It was while reading Dracula, a Signet classic version with font so small I legitimately wished for a magnifying glass. Same thing though, I was sick with a migraine while reading it, and I felt heightened paranoia while reading it the entire time. Now, much older, I was feeling the same again with Dead Silence. Just a very continuous, creeping suspicion that someone was watching. I felt like I kept seeing things out of the corner of my eye or if I’d turn around too quickly I’d catch a glimpse of something. I mean, the kind of have-to-force-yourself-to-go-to-the-basement-laundry-room creepy. 

This may not work for everyone, this might not hit at all for some. For me though, this was just a perfect storm of things. Priscilla and I haven’t really been apart at all in the last two+ years due to Covid. The over-tiredness, the migraine, the being alone. It all just worked really well for me. I think this’ll be my new creepy suggestion from now on for people. 

With all that being said, there are still some things I didn’t particularly like. The story is first person and the main character says a great amount of things over and over and over. This certainly adds to the cabin fever-y, “is anything real” side of the story, but I do firmly believe that some of it was a little too repetitive. The story also has a ‘now’ and ‘then’ where the character is being interviewed about what happened (kind of Annihilation style) and they just straight up talk about deaths before they happen. That’s kind of overdone for me and it didn’t work as well here as it was intended. I also didn’t particularly like any of the characters. That doesn’t make the story less spooky or horrifying, it just would have hit home more if I cared about them each personally. 

The second half of the book breaks away from the ultimate horror side and becomes more of an action-y climax. This includes an explanation of what’s causing the events on the ship. For me, a nice and neat ending, with explanation included, kind of kills the overall feel of the novel. I don’t mind when horror is ambiguous, I kind of prefer it. With that being said, the second half of the novel is certainly still quite enjoyable!

This was a nice and light quick read. It was fun, but nothing super notable. Basically it’s Ghost Ship but in space, with (if you ask me) inspiration from Bioshock and the new Prey game. 

My only complaint is that it felt like the author really wanted to make it more of a ghost story, but never went full ghost story. We were left to try to guess if the main character’s hallucinations were actually ghosts, until the end where we were told maybe it’s both. 

I did think the author did a great job exploring MC’s PTSD and anxiety. It was easy to feel the dread and terror that MC felt, even when she knew something was a hallucination. There was also some decent commentary about the our industrial complex and the lengths an unchecked corporation will go to for profit. 

The graphic scenes were also done well. It definitely played out like a horror movie in my head, with some gruesome descriptions of the chaos taking place. 

Max Moss

This was a nice and light quick read. It was fun, but nothing super notable. Basically it’s Ghost Ship but in space, with (if you ask me) inspiration from Bioshock and the new Prey game. 

My only complaint is that it felt like the author really wanted to make it more of a ghost story, but never went full ghost story. We were left to try to guess if the main character’s hallucinations were actually ghosts, until the end where we were told maybe it’s both. 

I did think the author did a great job exploring MC’s PTSD and anxiety. It was easy to feel the dread and terror that MC felt, even when she knew something was a hallucination. There was also some decent commentary about the our industrial complex and the lengths an unchecked corporation will go to for profit. 

The graphic scenes were also done well. It definitely played out like a horror movie in my head, with some gruesome descriptions of the chaos taking place. 

Adam

Easy and enjoyable read. Fear is personal and subjective so for me it wasn't a scary read but for others it may be. Certainly quite a tense book it felt like when you know someone is going to jump and shout "BOO!" but you don't know where from!

Janice Hopper

A luxury cruiser.... in SPAAACE. But it disappeared 20 years ago, no one knows where or why.

Until now. A repair ship for the far-flung commweb stations has picked up a distress signal. It's the Aurora. And there's money to be made in salvage. So the Claire and crew of the repair ship decides to cash in. The cargo space of the liner is big enough to hold their small repair vessel.

What they find on the liner is... horror.

A couple of other reviewers mentioned that the book changes tone a little over half-way through. I agree, and I also agree that it's not really a change for the better. The first part builds dread slowly. It's obvious something really horrible has happened on the ship, but it's NOT obvious what caused it. Then boom, Claire is back on earth in the hands of the Verux corp who raised her and now employed her. She has no idea how she got back, or if the other members of her crew are alive or dead. And then they go and find out.

I had a tiny suspicion of the cause of the horrors on the ship, and I was right about it. That's neither here nor there. But the corporate malfeasance angle just makes me tired now. I'm tolerably sure that will be the future (corporations/capitalism running everything and not for the better, but jeezopete, I hate it.

Even if I found the last part a bit disappointing, I found the book a pretty exciting read for much of it. I think I read it in 3 days, mostly at night. Surprisingly, it didn't give me nightmares, which more compelling books tend to do.

I think could have given this 5 stars because it gave exactly what I was looking for in a spooky horror ghost spaceship book. I was able to predict some things but I also felt like I didn’t quite know what was gonna happen at other moments. The only thing I wanted more of is that I wanted to get to know the characters a little more before shit went down. A little rushed to get down to business with the horror.

Laura Wilson

Christine Bruce

Claire Kovalik and her crew are on their final mission before their entire department made obsolete and her job is dissolved thanks to an ever increasing reliance on technology and non-human workers. While on assignment, they receive a beacon. Then they find the mother-load- the long lost 5-star space-liner Aurora. Listing aimlessly in the blackness, forever adrift. They realize they have the payday of a hundred lifetimes in front of them. If they survive.
I wanted to read this book for months, as soon as I read the first summary, it reminded me of Ghost Ship- a favorite early 00's B-horror that I adore. It also has all the best "abandoned luxury ocean liner" vibes. And it did not disappoint. 
Corporate espionage, reality TV, and out of control murder are all present in this one. I know some people say they saw the reveal coming, but I throughly enjoyed the slow unfolding of the truth. I loved the subtle addition of real ghosts, and the horrors that are revealed in the second part of the book after returning to the ship. 
I wish we had a little less disjointed of an account of what happened to the crew, but I also appreciated the way it left me as a reader feeling just as disjointed and confused about what really happened as Claire. 
Overall, a great horror, and a great homage to a great movie. I will say that- If you loved Ghost Ship, you'll enjoy this.

sophia n

this book is everything i want in a horror. this book is everything i want in a sci-fi. this book is everything i want in a novel. PERFECTION!!!!

it's giving 5th element fhloston paradise vibes. it's giving doctor who "the impossible planet" and "42" episode vibes. it's giving also doctor who christmas special with kylie minogue vibes lmao iykyk. it's giving sunshine (2007) vibes. i'm like half convinced this book was specifically written with me in mind bc those are all my favorite things? lmao

no but truly this book was so good, so eerie, so tense, and so well written. i literally couldn't put it down and couldn't stop thinking about it and still haven't stopped thinking about it since i finished. the tension, the horror elements, the descriptions, the way everything unfolded, the characters, the main narrator ... chefs. fuckin. kiss. one of my fav reads of the year so far.

Jasmine

I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to get a physical ARC like I was with Dead Silence. I’d also be lying if I said that there wasn’t a bit of happy shrieking upon opening the mail and realizing what was inside. I’m going to go ahead and tell you that all the excitement? Totally warranted. 

Dead Silence is a book that grabs hold from the beginning with no intentions of letting up. The blurbs stating that this is a mix between The Shining and Titanic are pretty spot on but fail to mention just how nerve-wracking those plots are on earth, so it’s even more engrossing when the story is set in space. 

I’m not super great at this whole reviewing thing as I tend to pull from emotion (and this super fun ADHD stuff😂) and how books hit as opposed to the more technical aspects of writing, but I think Dead Silence will be a hit with readers. It’s absolutely deserving of a five-star rating! I’m also going to encourage readers to preorder or pick this book up upon its release in January of next year. 

Thanks so much to TorNightfire, Macmillan, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I don't often read a lot of sci-fi. It's more a genre I'd rather watch than read, but after skimming the synopsis, I knew I had to pick it up. I mean, it's described as Titanic meets The Shining. How could you pass that up? Right off the bat, I loved how eerie it was. I liked the creeping tension that builds and builds throughout. It was so unsettling, and there were a few times I felt uneasy reading it. It's told in the present and flashbacks, and you start to get the impression that maybe Claire isn't the most reliable narrator. She has a troubled past, so there are times you're not sure if you can trust what she's saying. Due to this, there were times it made the story feel all over the place, but it was still engaging. I was a little disappointed with the reveal of what caused all the destruction of the ship and passengers because I wanted something a little more paranormal, but it was still good, and I'd recommend it if you're looking for a creepy sci-fi read.

Heather Harrington

Lenya King

Sci-fi horror is normally my jam and I loved the creepy atmosphere in the first half. The characterization of the protagonist was poorly constructed, however, and the final act fell flat.
2.5/5 stars

Lacey Feigl

Claire wakes up in a strange room in what appears to be a hospital. She knows that the other things that she sees in the hospital aren’t real. The ghosts of her crew are staring back at her with knowing gazes. She wasn’t supposed to make it off of the Aurora, a famously lost luxury space ship that the crew had discovered with the intent of salvaging and cashing out. When Claire is pressed on what happened, she can’t seem to remember how this seemingly easy discovery could have gone so south. All she knows is that she can’t allow anyone to breach the ship because she does remember the blood, whispers and overwhelming fear that hit her the moment she stepped foot on the cursed Aurora.

Dead Silence is 329 pages long and took me two days to read.

I can’t give higher praise for this book than giving it a 5 out of 5! It was one of my favorite books I read in 2021 and is genuinely a unique horror that I won’t ever be able to forget! If you enjoy reading books that feel like you’re in a movie and also being scared, look no further!

Thank you, Tor Nightfire, for sending me this copy!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

Titanic meets The Shining in S.A. Barnes’ Dead Silence, a SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended. A GHOST SHIP. A SALVAGE CREW. UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS. Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate. What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right. Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

Callisone Dozier &
Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

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