Review – Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

Posted February 8, 2022 by Carole in Reviews / 5 Comments

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review – Dead Silence by S.A. BarnesDead Silence by S.A. Barnes
Published by Tor Nightfire on February 8, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Horror, Fiction / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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four-stars

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.

This was great! Who knew that I needed science fiction horror in my life?! I was more than ready for every creepy moment this book had to offer and had a really hard time putting the book down once I started reading. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was happening to Claire and her crew. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.

Claire and her small crew are finishing up their last mission when they encounter a distress signal. They decide to check it out and are shocked to discover a luxury ship that has been missing for 20 years. They decide to make a claim on the ship which means they must retrieve something specific to the ship to prove their claim. Strange things start happening from the moment they board the ship. The more time they spend on the ship the worse things get. Each member of the 5 person crew is seeing things that are not there and hearing things all while surrounded by evidence of the horror that came before.

I loved the way that this book kept me guessing. I wanted to know what was going on with Claire and the rest of the team. I was also very curious about what happened that caused the ship to go missing so many years ago. Claire was a complex character with a very interesting past. The story was incredibly exciting with enough action and suspense to keep me glued to the pages. I liked the way that the book was laid out in two timelines so that some of the things that would happen were foreshadowed but even more questions were raised.

I would highly recommend this book to others. I found this to be an intense and thrilling read that kept me guessing and left me speechless. I will definitely be looking for more work by this talented author.

I received an advanced review copy of this book from Tor Nightfire.

5 responses to “Review – Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

    • In a lot of ways, I think that the line between horror and thriller is a thin one. I did think that this book was creepy at times but I didn’t find it scary.

  1. This is so not my genre but between your enthusiastic review and the Titanic meets The Shining comparison I kind of feel like I need to read it! It sounds like spooky fun.