I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dead Silence was my first foray into science fiction horror. AND I LOVED IT!! I am a big scaredy cat and hate horror movies. But apparently, I'm ok reading about horror.

I really enjoyed the eerie atmosphere and the mystery of the story.

I look forward to reading more science fiction horror in the future.

Everything about this book was so-so. Narration was fine, but sloooowww. The story could have been really great as it was a pretty great concept, but it just fell flat for me. When I got to the "big reveal" it was pretty much a let down. I was hoping for much more spookiness.

This book haunted me. The audiobook narrator did such a wonderful job that I had goosebumps when Claire and her crew came upon the Aurora. The author did such a visceral job of describing the deaths and the mutilation. Those bodies trapped because of the environmental is an image I had burning to my brain – I have to rewind and start again because it was so delectable. S.A Barnes is now an auto buy author in my books.

I had a sort of image in my head after reading the synopsis. The comparison was two huge favourites of mine: The Shinning and the Fear of the Titanic that I was a little worried that what Barnes had in mind wouldn't hold up. I was so wrong. Barnes took both pieces and wove them together to make something so heartbreaking but fascinating. The thing that was haunting about the Titanic was the isolation, the deaths that happened in slow motion and the inability to get rescued – complete isolation. Barnes made me feel this while sitting in my living room drinking a tea. Claire Kovalik will haunt me for a good long while after reading this.

Thank you so much for the advanced copy of this book. It definitely lived up to its hype. This author has become a must read.

Dead Silence is in the genre of Scifi horror which I tend to always flock to and the narrative to this one is quite bone chilling. It's about a space crew who board a lost spaceship but what they find is unexplainable and quite literally a nightmare. Our main character Claire must find the truth behind it all which throws her into quite a mental circus. It's creepy and claustrophobic. Highly recommend for the horror fans out there.
Full review on my YouTube channel.

This was my kind of perfect sci-fi book, You know, light on the sci-fi and heavy on the thriller mystery side!! This plot was so engaging and so descriptive. The narration was perfect. I felt like I was right there in the midst of this creepy read!! Everything I wanted from a horror book wrapped in one nice bow! I highly recommend listening to this one! This had my heart pounding from the beginning all the way to the end! 5 captivating stars!!

A huge thank you to the publisher for an ALC and e-arc of this thrilling gem in exchange for my honest review!!

Claire Kovalik, days away from unemployment after her last space communications network repair run, is giving up hope when something unexpected happens. Her crew pick up a distress signal far away from uninhabited space. When she takes advantage of this as a chance to extend her time left employed in her current job, what they find is extraordinary. The luxury vessel Aurora, lost in space over 20 years aboard. What will they find aboard the vessel? What happened to the crew and passenger of the long missing craft? And what horrors are the new boarders going to encounter finding out?

Let me start by saying that I don’t dislike this book. I like split timeline employed. You start with the knowledge that Claire has managed to escape the Aurora, you just need to figure out how and what happened while she was on board. Many of the scares were effective and the descriptions where fantastic. The writing and pacing were very well done. I loved the dive into the backstory of Claire and how that played into what was going on in the present.

The problem with having over the top blood and gore and horrors is that you eventually become numb to them. What is shocking at the start of a book is not by the end. The gore and violence has to keep being ramped up and by the end of the book you don’t really care that much anymore. At least I didn’t. Some of the characters were well fleshed out but many were one dimensional and I had a hard time caring about what happened to them in the course of the story. And I hate the live story shoved into the book. I don’t get why we can’t just have a spooky horror story in space. Not everything needs a love story.

Despite the flaws I see with this it did do a lot right though so I recommend it for science fiction and horror fans of appropriate age. The violence, blood, and gore get very over the top so I really don’t recommend this for younger readers at all.

Claire and her crew of scavengers were on their last mission before being replaced by machines when a mysterious distress beacon leads them to the find of a lifetime. They find the Aurora the first and last luxury space cruiser that disappeared more than 20 years ago. Claire and her crew decide to board the Aurora to claim finders rights so they can make the money to live the life they want after being forced out. When they enter the ship things start going wrong mysterious noises seeing visions and people not on the ship . They also notice that the people who died on the ship were from violent deaths. Claire ends up back home but her skull is fractured so she can’t remember everything that happens. When the Aurora starts moving again the company starts investigating what happened and plan to intercept the ship to see what happened.

I really liked this story it has some serious creepy vibes and had me questioning if this was paranormal, aliens or something else.I really enjoyed the ending and really didn’t see what was causing the things to happen on the ship. The only issues was towards the middle the story started to get a little slow but overall really enjoyed it. I listened to the audiobook and it was ok I wasn’t the biggest fan of the narrator but she was ok no issues understanding the story. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

2.5 star. The first half of this book was compelling. It had eerie scenes, creepy encounters, and tension between the characters. But then by the second half, all of this was gone and the story became boring. Also the reasons behind the ghostly hallucinations almost felt like a cop out.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Liked this more than i thought i would ngl! This book kept me interested the whole time and i read it with just one break, something i didn't think i could do at first lol really cool, would recommend

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this advance listener copy.


Description from NetGalley:
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 audiobook was super creepy. The descriptions of both what was going on in Claire’s head, the crew’s actions, the environment, etc. were all very well done. The narrator also does an excellent job. I’d definitely give it a go if a haunted spaceship or Titanic meets the Shining in space sounds up your alley.

Overall: 4.5/5

I thought the audiobook quality was great but I wasn't the biggest fan of the story itself. Most of the book was decent but a lot of parts were too predictable for me and I was let down by the ending.

The writing style was good though and I really liked the creepy atmosphere it gave but overall it was middle of the road for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was brilliant. Different from anything I've ever read. It was reminiscent of movies like Event Horizon, Passengers, and Ghost Ship. Horror/Sci-fi is one of my favorite genres of movies and books and this space thriller had it all. Elements of a haunted house story, the horror and dread of deep space and a mystery of "what the hell happened here?" all wrapped into one fast paced story. I absolutely loved this story. This book had me "wtf"ing quite a few times. It's pretty gory so keep that in mind. Our protagonist is authentic. She's vulnerable and relatable. I cannot recommend this book enough! Five stars!

The audio was great. The narrator embodied the horror the main character was feeling and held nothing back. She really added to the story.

This book starts off good. There is a lot of unexplainable things going on. I was starting to feel the dread but then it just kind of stopped. There were a few plot points that went nowhere. The ending became convoluted.

Omg this book was spooky on so many levels!!

The shining meets the titanic but set in space?!?!? A haunted house in space?? Like what??

Go read this immediately. It was so scary and compelling. I loved the way this author grabbed my attention - it did take awhile which is why I knocked off a star, but it’s still a solid read and I highly recommend!

Barnes does a fantastic job building up a tense atmosphere in the first half of this book when we aren't too sure what happened on the ship but we can tell by the condition of it and its passengers that it was really bad. That being said, I much preferred the first half to the second.
Not that the second half was bad, but I just prefer atmospheric tension over characters fighting a physical threat.
Anyway, this is a new favourite of mine!

A great mix of sci-fi and horror on Titanic (but not titanic). This is an edge of your seat, what the hell is going on kind of story. I'm a big fan of unreliable narrators and keeping the mystery going until the end and that's just what this is.

I enjoyed the characters and the slight romance, which didn't take over the entire story. It was perfect for the storyline and added that tiny bit of hope that this story needed.

It was twisty, and had the creep factor, as for the horror, I wish it was a bit more. I'd say this is a great start for anyone just getting into horror. It definitely made me not ever want to go on a luxury space cruise...

Haunted space ships? Yes, please!

As a sci-fi and horror fan, Dead Silence was an excellent genre blend of both. I received this as an audio ARC and I think the narrator did an excellent job of capturing the tension and fear Kovalik and the crew faced as they dealt with the terrors aboard the Aurora. I’d definitely check out other titles from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the arc.

I *loved* this. Think Ghost Ship (the movie) set in space. I'm not a big horror/scary story reader, but this hit the absolute perfect mark for me. So add a little horror to your sci-fi and Dead Silence is what you get.

The author did an excellent job of creating tension and doubt. I honestly questioned what was real and what wasn't between the two time periods. That said, I do think the first 60% of the book is better than the rest and the ending was tied up a little too nicely, but I enjoyed the ride so much that I honestly didn't care.

Lauren Ezzo was an excellent narrator, especially when it came to Claire's breakdowns, but her voices of the male characters weren't great. If you can put those voices aside, she was otherwise perfect for this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for allowing me to listen to this digital audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

I read Dead Silence at the perfect time. I recently binged all of For All Mankind on AppleTV, so I was hungry for more space fiction. Dead Silence more than delivered.

Outcast Claire Kovalik is running out her last days as an astronaut, on her final mission before an uncertain future. But then her ship picks up a distress signal from The Aurora, an opulent space cruiseliner, which went missing twenty years earlier. Claire and her crew decided to comb the wreckage for the spoils, but find unfathomable terrors that tear them apart, literally and figuratively.

Dead Silence is so much fun. It ticked so many boxes for me. An lovable, able underdog female protagonist with a messed-up past - check. A quirky crew of lovable rogues - check. Deeply disturbing supernatural and body horror - big old check for that one.

Barnes’ writing is phenomenally entertaining. She knows great horror, and Dead Silence delivers on every page. The claustrophobia of space, added to a bunch of terrifying hallucinations, and a couple of incredibly intriguing overarching mysteries, makes this novel insanely addictive.