Title: Dead Silence
Author: S.A. Barnes (pen name of Stacey Kade)
Genre: Adult, sci-fi, horror
Publication date: February 8th 2022
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Source: eARC from publishers via Netgalley
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Synopsis:
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.
I was insanely excited when I first heard about this book! I read Stacey Kade’s The Ghost and the Goth series a couple of years ago, and I really loved it! (Well, I read the first two books... but we’re not talking about my terrible habit of not finishing series 😅) I was particularly excited to learn that she would be writing something a little different than she usually does with this adult sci-fi horror, and I gotta say, I really enjoyed it!
Right from the start, things were pretty sketchy. I mean, they get a distress signal from a ship that wasn’t even on the emergency channel. And then they find out that said distress signal is coming from a long-lost ship?? I would NOPE right out of there! Lol. This ship gave me some strong Titanic vibes, but a spaceship, and I loved that! That, coupled with the creepy atmosphere, was probably my favorite thing about this. Back when this spaceship was inhabited, it sounded absolutely stunning! And while it was fun imagining it as it was, as a horror fan, it was even more fun seeing it now, abandoned with the possibility of being haunted. Lol. I’m weird... what can I say? 😆
That being said, this book wasn’t terribly scary for me. But to be fair, horror novels pretty much never scare me, so take all this with a grain of salt. It also wasn’t too gory, but, again, grain of salt. We all have our limits, but I want ALL the spooks and gore! Lol. (Okay, there was this one scene with an eyeball that was very 😨 Sooo yeahhh lol).
The mystery surrounding the ship was very intriguing. And then the characters that board the ship start experiencing... things. And that was very engaging as well. I was wondering whether said mystery would be more psychological or supernatural/alien in nature—it definitely leans more one way, even though I was hoping it would lean the other. But I’m not gonna lie, the thing that actually happened on that ship was so fucked up that I didn’t even mind 😆 It was insane and I did not see it coming!
I adore horror, as I’ve mentioned, and lately, I’ve just been on a sci-fi kick, and this book was just the perfect thing to satisfy that craving! The story was interesting, the plot twists surprising, the setting incredible, and the overall atmosphere of this setting was super creepy! The book is told with flashbacks, and because I was so invested in the past and what happened on the ship, I almost feel like the present-day POV was kinda spoiler-y? I just didn’t want to know anything! But once the flashback caught up with the present day, things started making sense. I was also relatively meh about the characters... I mean, they weren’t terrible, but there also weren’t any favorites. BUT I did enjoy the book overall! It was a really good sci-fi book with horror elements I can’t help but love.
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