Book Review: DEAD SILENCE by S. A. Barnes

DEAD SILENCE by S. A. Barnes (Tor Nightmare, February 2022) Hardcover, 343 pages.  ISBN # 125081997 / 9781250819994 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

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.

 

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     I read this along with the Horror Aficionados community, as a group read selection for March 2022. I'd like to thank the group for introducing me to this novel and this writer. I'm hoping to see more from S. A. Barnes.

In the early going, I read this in small doses. I struggled to fully engage with the story, although I found it very interesting and heading in a good direction. The last 100 or more pages really grabbed me more than the rest of the book, and I read more and longer. 

     As a haunted house story set in space, it didn't entirely work for me - especially after I figured out the source of the nastiness. I did think the scary passages were well-done and maintained the sense of dread/fear. It does remind me of two popular horror/science-fiction films - - Ghost Ship and Beyond The Event Horizon.

     I view this more as a science-fiction novel, and it seems to work better than way. The flow and presentation of the different elements and sci-fi trappings were thought out and done properly. 

     The character development became better as the novel progressed. I liked and empathized (up to a point) with all the characters, except Voller (arrogant and obnoxious), Darrow (obnoxious corporate tool) and Donovan (two-faced corporate creep). Claire Kovalik was the best of the bunch, despite her flaws. Who wouldn't be scarred after such an early childhood traumatic experience, especially one that she somehow felt responsible for. Overall a FOUR STAR read.