“Dead Silence” Book Review

By Karlie Shoffner

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes Review

Dead Silence is a science fiction story centered around the mysterious disappearance of a once-luxurious space cruise ship and the company conspiracies that surround it. Claire Kovalik and her crew are at the end of their final mission when suddenly they receive mysterious SOS signals from a long-dead communication station. After charting off their initial course, they discover a massive space “cruise ship” that was designed to journey through the solar system like a luxury cruise known as the Aurora, a ship that has been classified as missing for the past twenty years. Intending to raid the ship and sell its belongings to start her own space company, Claire and her crew decide to step foot on the ship. But what they find will only add more questions to the conspiracies that have fascinated all of them—and civilians—since the ship’s disappearance was reported. Bodies that have been brutally mutilated are spotted throughout the ship, and there is information in the ship’s data that the crew cannot explain. In an effort to solve the mystery, Claire and her crew decide to stay on the ship until they can determine what really happened. But chaos ensues and Claire suddenly finds herself back on Earth, unaware of what made her return and the fate of her crew. She decides to join the corporation she works for and return to the ship in order to find answers herself, but things quickly turn south and Claire realizes everything is not what it seems, and the fate of the Aurora was much darker than she initially thought.

 

Likes

One of my favorite parts of the novel and what made me decide to pick it up is its combination of science fiction and horror. Science fiction stories that take place in space already have a hint of terror to them because of the vast aloneness of space, and so when a horror twist is added to that space, the eeriness of it all grows stronger. I don’t get scared easily when I read horror novels, but this novel made me feel a bit uneasy as I read it. The tense element left me intrigued and in desperate need to keep reading so that I could find out what happened to the Aurora.

 

Dislikes

I loved the plot of this novel and the world that the author has created. What I found lacking, though, was the characters themselves, especially the main character Claire. On almost every page we are reminded of Claire’s abandonment issues, and while I understand that this is something that would greatly affect a real person and is something that would follow them throughout their life, it becomes exhausting to read for pages on end in a novel. The author does not subtly show us that Claire feels a detachment to those around her and instead simply tells us each time Claire thinks she should stay away from others and not form a bond. If the author had shown and not told, this novel would have been far better.

 

Rating

I give this novel 4/5 stars. While I really did love the atmosphere of the novel, I don’t feel I can rank it any higher because of my dislike for the main character. If you’re looking for a horror novel with a unique setting that will make your skin crawl, this book is for you. Even though I’ve expressed my dislike for the main character, I don’t think this should prevent anyone from reading the novel. It is still an excellent combination of science fiction and horror.