This scratched every horror itch I had. It was right up my alley. I LOVE the whole premise of an abandoned ship, house, spaceship or whatever and this was so well done with the unreliable narrator, who unlike other horrors was believable and well thought out.

From start to finish it was unputdownable.

I have found lately that "horror" genre books aren't always creepy and scary, but this isn't one of them. I haven't enjoyed a horror this much since The Elementals or The Deep

Dead Silence is a gripping sci-fi horror read that had me hooked from beginning to end. Barnes quickly establishes an engaging cast of characters and an oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere, both of which pulled me in as a reader immediately. I particularly liked the protagonist-- Claire is willful yet sometimes unsure of herself, self-isolated yet longs to connect, and determined to live through the horrors she faces on the abandoned interstellar cruiseliner, the Aurora, despite her intense terror and seemingly impossible odds. These tensions within her character make her relatable and easy to root for. What is causing anyone who steps foot on the Aurora to hallucinate and lose their grip on reality? Barnes' haunting imagery and relentless pacing will leave you desperate to find out.

Always a big fan of the space mystery, it turns out that I am unsurprisingly also a fan of the space horror novel. If I tell you that this is a book about a haunted space ship, let it be known that the first half will fulfill any expectations you have regarding all that. A little bit Event Horizon by way of Alien, when the ragtag archetypal crew of the LINA - team lead with a traumatic past Claire, angry young man pilot Voller, polite novice comm specialist Lourdes, calming influence second in command Kane, and preoccupied tech guy Nysus - discover a distress beacon, of course they'll check it out because they're in a haunted space ship novel, so one can just sit back and enjoy the tension and wait for the gore, of which there is a satisfying amount on both counts. Unfortunately when the book morphs into ill-advised Aliens territory, I was left wishing that we'd gotten to spend a lot more time in the creepy, claustrophobic Aurora with the doomed LINA crew watching found footage of how it all went wrong instead of hanging with the Weyland-Yutani-style Verux company goons. Because company guys gonna company, the bad guy gets a very long period of exposition to hold forth on his evil plan, Claire's whole thought process does a dramatic, nonsensical 180 (view spoiler) and we all know even Lt. Gorman wouldn't have been so cavalier as to let anyone bring live rounds on a space ship.

Outer space horror is among my favorite movie genres, with Alien and Event Horizon vying for top spot and while I don't know that the literary world is packed with such options, I was way excited when I discovered Dead Silence on Netgalley. Usually, I troll Netgalley for familiar authors but lately I've been fortunate enough to discover some titles by authors whom I've never read.

S.A. Barnes, whom I believe is also a high school librarian has written quite the horror novel. Think The Shining in outer space. No one can hear you scream and help is not going to reach you in time.

The only critique I have is that this particular reader did not quite understand the why, how, and what behind the hallucinations that befell the passengers of the Aurora. It is explained, but possibly through my own lack of understanding, I was still a bit fuzzy on the details.

Otherwise, a solid showing from Barnes and count this reader among those who will be hoping for more from this author.

Claire Kovalik and her team are in space when they come across the famous, missing, luxury space liner. It went missing a few decades ago during a tour of the solar system. Once they go on board they realize something is not right.

I love the idea of this book; outer space, abandoned ship that’s made to look like a cruise liner, and is possibly haunted! That sounds like a killer combination. It was pretty spooky especially the scenes that I read at night. I felt like it started moving pretty fast and I hadn’t really had time to get to know the characters that well before crazy stuff started happening to them, but I still appreciated the entertainment value. The “now” parts weren’t as exciting as the “then” parts, but towards the end those parts picked up as well.

“Whatever is on there, ghosts, aliens, some undetectable virus or bacteria, it doesn’t matter. It’s real and it is deadly.

Dead Silence comes out 1/25.

I really enjoyed this! The story was intriguing and kept my attention. I liked the way PTSD was portrayed. It felt realistic and explained a lot of the fragmented thoughts and storytelling - which kept things interesting. Any time I put this down I was itching to get back to it for answers.

The pacing was good. I was genuinely surprised at certain points. The environment was spot on. I love the creep factor. The way multiple storylines over different time periods tied together was brilliant. The story + setting + characters really made this feel intense.

At times the description felt a little out of place. My only big gripes with this book (mild spoilers) are with the ending - I felt it was a little too happy in some aspects and there were also questions I still wanted answers to! I also didn’t feel like some of the secondary relationships were as developed as they needed to be. I didn’t see Claire interact with her team much, so her strong attachment to them at some parts felt a little off.

Overall, I would read this again and will definitely recommend it to people!

This one got me good! I was genuinely scared throughout the book. To the point where I was having to make sure my entire body was covered up at night before going to sleep. I was describing this as Ghost Ship meets Titanic if it had happened in space but I could totally agree with The Shining as well. The whole book was so atmospheric and just really creepy! Not knowing who or what was real and what was going to happen kept me on the edge of my seat. The only hard thing for me was that science and space is not my forte so at times it was a bit hard to understand what was going on or what they were referencing to in regards to space, the ship, etc. Other than that this book was fantastic and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed this book up till three quarters through. The book started being redundant I thought. In my opinion it could’ve been shorter and got a four star rating from me. The story and idea are fantastic however it’s just long. If you’re into sci-fi and horror this is a good read. Felt a bit like Event Horizon meets Ghost Ship. I was provided an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

If you've been in search of a wholly original & unique spin on the classic haunted house story, look no further than S.A. Barnes' "Dead Silence" - what a book!

"Event Horizon" is one of my favorite movies, & this gave me major "Event Horizon" vibes while still being its own distinctive story. This took a ton of twists & turns I wasn't expecting, at all - I don't want to give anything away, but I'll say that not everything is as it seems & I really like when horror makes you question whether or not paranormal forces are present. All of the characters were great, but particularly Claire - I appreciated the focus on past trauma & how that doesn't necessarily define what you are or aren't capable of as a leader. I really enjoyed Barnes' use of alternating timelines here - most of the horror takes place in the past, but that didn't deter from the creepiness that was persistent within the present portions. & let me tell you - this was creepy! Barnes' writing was so cinematic & detailed, & some of the descriptions she used really made my skin crawl.

Also, I've got to say, I loved (& was pleasantly surprised by) the commentary on corporate competition & greed - it's almost eerily similar to the beginnings of this new space race we've got going on, & it definitely gave me something to think about!

All in all, I loved everything about this, & I've got to give it give it up to Barnes for being able to get me out of a month long slump - highly, highly recommend putting this on your TBR lists! I can already tell this is going to be an early contender as a 2022 favorite! & thank you so much S.A. Barnes, NetGalley, & Tor Nightfire for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review!

I did not like this. It was slow, meandering, and ultimately a huge letdown, from a plot perspective. I was very intrigued by the description of this as something like Titanic meets The Shining, but there's really nothing here that's similar to either of those.

Super creepy sci-fi horror. I had to stop reading at one point because it was late and my room was pitch black other than the glow of my kindle, and I got super freaked out. Promptly resumed reading when the sun was out and I was less suggestible.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes a space adventure/mystery paired with some alarmingly with scary business, all held together with a damaged but strong female lead.

Loved it.

This was extremely good & creepy!!! Scifi horror is one of my fav sub-genres, & I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. Highly recommend!

An abandoned luxury space cruise ship, a maintenance crew on their final job, and a company that makes Bladerunner’s Tyrell Corporation look positively benign.

Dead Silence, by S.A. Barnes, comes storming out of the gate with some incredible ideas, and an author with the skill to combine them into one delightfully terrifying novel.

Claire Kovalik is on the verge of being unemployed – leading a small crew as they maintain comms stations in the furthest reaches of known space, she’s about to lose the life she’s worked so hard to establish following a childhood tragedy that left her the only surviving member of her family. To say she’s in a bad place about it would be to understate it. Just as they’re about to wrap up their final job, however, they pick up a faint distress signal – the perfect excuse for her to postpone leaving the closest thing to home she has. The reluctance of her team turns to excitement when the beacon leads them to the most famous missing ship in space-faring history; but will they all survive to bring her treasures home?

The crowded isolation of a cruise ship makes them the perfect setting for a mystery, and moving the action into space worked absolutely beautifully here. S.A. Barnes writes expressive scenes that painted a very clear picture of the events of the book, filled them with characters that felt vividly real, and then unleashed her formidable imagination in ways I couldn’t bear to look away from. It really does bring the horror, but the author knew just when to break the tension by cutting to a different moment in time. Main character Claire had me both cheering her on, and questioning if I could trust her – it’s a delicate balance, but one that keeps the reader just uncertain enough, in my opinion.

Dead Silence delivered everything promised in that tantalizing setup, and then some. Easily already one of my favorite releases of 2022, and one I’m hoping will have a chance to scare readers around the globe.

Imagine you are in space in charge of a small crew about to be laid off when you discover a huge luxury space liner that has been lost for years. Suddenly, you are a treasure hunter looking at one heck of a cushy retirement. Things are looking up until you go aboard. Titanic meets The Haunting of Hill House meets one really bad hallucinogenic trip. Claire barely escapes only to find herself suspected of killing her entire crew. To prove that she is not a killer (she hopes), that the ghosts on board the ship are real and that there might still be survivors she goes back to the carnage. Top marks to this sci-fi horror tale that keeps you guessing and questioning Claire's sanity right up to the last page. Is she a killer? Is she hallucinating? What really happened on board The Aurora? Can she make back out of there alive a second time? Fans of classic haunted house stories as well as sci-fi space drama will find much to love here! My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

I just so happen to be reading a book about the Titanic when I came across this book, and I was super happy that I got a copy through Net Galley in exchange for a review, which I am happy to provide.
The book had me hooked right from the beginning and I could not put it down, I read past my bedtime and I might have even neglected some work to get it done. I liked the characters and the storyline, which reminded me of Alien and the doomed Titanic voyage, but each time I thought I had it figured out, it went into another direction. The pacing was good and I did not want the book to end, thoroughly entertaining, at the edge of my seat reading.

Another horror-scifi-mystery blend! Though it's being compared to The Luminous Dead, it feels more like the submarine scenes in Titanic mixed with the good parts of Event Horizon and a touch of Prometheus--not quite Alien, but the vibes of Alien with less subtlety.

The strengths of this work are really choice. All 4 other crew members have enough of a voice to make the decision-making on a tiny ship as frustrating and volatile as it would probably be in real life. The narrative felt as claustrophobic as the ship, and it spaced out nicely when the ship comes across the Aurora, where they have space to physically get distance from each other. The heroine's mental illness also makes her more ready to combat whatever made everyone on the Aurora die. I cannot get enough of mental-illness-as-strength narratives. The visceral horrors are extremely gross, the unreliable narrators are unreliable, and the way people fall apart under pressure is both naturalistic and builds upon their established character traits.

The weaknesses are in the amount of unexplored avenues. There are whole sub-plot threads that seemed to be leading somewhere, only to have it never come to anything. And the plot threads that were picked up resolved in very standard ways. Which is fine--authors aren't obligated to subvert every trope. But being so close to other options makes the traditional ones intensely unsatisfying. I feel like a hundred more pages exploring the unexamined plot threads could have pushed the book from good to great.

Claire Kovalik is on her last mission. Her job is being replaced by a new machine, and her attempt to launch her own transportation vessel was denied. When her ship's beacon picks up a distress call, Claire and her crew go to investigate. They find a ship thought to be lost to space 20 years ago called Aurora. A luxury space-liner equipped with highly valuable items, Aurora could be the answer to Claire and her crew's prayers of what comes next. But once they board Aurora, it's clear that all isn't as it should be. The crew is seeing things that aren't there, the bodies of the passengers show that they died in brutal, sudden ways. What they thought could be there chance at a new life could end up being the death of them all...

DEAD SILENCE had me utterly captivated. When we first meet Claire, it's clear that she's had a rough life. She's the sole survivor of an illness that wiped out everyone on her ship growing up, including her mother. She was raised under the 'charity' of a mega-corporation that wants to save face more than it wants to do good. And now, the job she finds the most comfort in is ending, with no clear path forward that doesn't make her want to give up. It's clear she isn't well, but it takes a good portion of the book to figure out if she's unreliable or not (or if she is, how unreliable). I loved her character arc in fighting for herself and her future, even in the face of deathly odds. I also adored the side romance between her and one of her crew.

I love space horror involving a mystery ship, and DEAD SILENCE nailed the eerie, haunting mood of a ship whose passengers died to an unknown cause. Each found corpse brought new terrors, and I stayed up fully past my bedtime to keep reading to figure out what happened to them and why.

A bit of Sunshine meets Aliens meets Into the Drowning Deep, DEAD SILENCE is a frighteningly immersive space horror that slowly wraps itself around your throat and squeezes. S.A. Barnes is a master of tension and mind-fuckery, and I can't wait for Barnes's next book.

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes is a superb sci-fi/horror adventure, one of the best I've ever read. I haven't read a science fiction book this good in years, not since Obscura was released in 2018. S.A. Barnes does an amazing job with character development, especially with Claire. Her story arc is really something to see and follow. I loved that she felt real and believable, a flesh and blood breathing person. The technology in the future and advancement of space travel is damn cool, original and inventive. Dead Silence had me on the edge of my seat, this is a page turner filled with suspense. I'd highly recommend this book to any fan of science fiction or horror who love a suspense filled mystery.

Claire Kovaloik and her crew pick up a distress signal that is different from ore distress signals. Once she finishes this trip, she will be unemployed and has nothing to lose. Claire and her team members make the decision to investigate this distress signal and what they find on the end of it is something none of them expected. They find the Aurora, which was a famous luxury space-liner that vanished more than twenty years ago. The Aurora was on its maiden tour of the solar system filled with several hundred guests and staff members. Claire and her team members know that a salvage claim that is as extraordinary as this one could set them up for life but they soon realize that something isn’t right on the ship. Claire has to quickly find out what happened with the events leading up to the disappearance of the Aurora to prevent her crew from ending up in a similar fate.
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Have you ever read a book so fast and then once you finished it, you wish you could read it for the first time again? Because that is what happened with this book. I finished it within 2 days of starting it because I could not put the book down. I wanted to figure out what was going to happen. But then once I finished the book, I was so sad that it was over and wanted more of the story. This book was set in a dual timeline but the author did such a fantastic job at writing the two timelines that you never got confused as to which was which. This book gave me major vibes of the movie Ghost Ship and I think that is one of the reasons for why I loved this book so much. It was hauntingly beautiful, scary, and fast paced all at the same time. The author does such a great job describing the scenery and the events that are happening that you, as the reader, feel like you are on the ship with them experiencing the horrifying events at the same time. Overall, I could not recommend this book enough and it will probably be a while before I stop talking about it because it was just that good.

This was a tense, gripping read with an engrossing set-up and populated with characters I loved rooting for. It was a fast, thrilling read and I'd love to read more by this author.