Monday 6 June 2022

Dead Silence - Book Review

 

Dead Silence
by S.A. Barnes

What is it about:
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.

What did I think of it:
When I saw this book on the schedule of the Horror Book Club I'm in I hadn't heard about it before, so decided to investigate. And immediately bought it and read it way ahead of the book club schedule.

This book is so good!

I loved Claire and her crew, even the antagonistic Voller, so I was eager to find out what they would encounter on the Aurora. The story starts with Claire being asked to recount what happens on the Aurora, so you know she survived whatever they encountered, but from the context you also know her crew most likely didn't survive.

So I was on edge from the moment they entered the Aurora, I can tell you. Strange things seemed to have happened there and might still be happening. The mood is spooky and atmospheric. I could easily imagine this luxury space liner and the creepy things Claire and her crew encounter.

It's not often that a horror book spooks me, but this one came really close. I feared for the lives of my favorite crew members and as there wasn't an immediate body count I secretly hoped that maybe they would survive. The things they find on the Aurora seemed to mock my hopes though.

At a certain point in the story the mood changed and it became more action-packed than eerie, but I didn't mind at all. I loved where the story was taking me and couldn't put the book down at that point: I had to know how things would end.

All in al this is an amazing and haunting story that creeps you out as well as gives you cool action. You bet I'll reread this pearl. I'll also investigate what else Barnes has written.

Why should you read it:
It's a really cool atmospheric SF Horror Read 


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