Manuela’s Review of “Dead Silence” by S. A. Barnes

By: Manuela Soares

If you’re a fan of the movie “Ghost Ship,” then this is a book for you!

Sci-Fi: awesome. Horror: superb. Sci-Fi/Horror: spectacular. I love the mixing of these two genres.

This was a story that I just couldn’t put down, it sucked me right in from the beginning and had me immersed till the very end.

In the year 2149, team lead Claire Kovalik and her crew, pilot: Voller, comms: Lourdes, tech: Nysus, and mech/med: Kane, are at the edge of the solar system on their last mission together, fixing the last of the communication beacons. While in deep space they pick up a distress signal that turns out to be from a luxury space cruiser named the Aurora, which disappeared 20 years prior on its maiden voyage (major Titanic vibes). The team chooses to investigate the ship, as this find would make each one of them very wealthy. Once on board, they learn quickly that not all is as it seems with this ship and its 650 missing souls.

What happened to the Aurora and the souls aboard? Why were they so far out into space and drastically off course? So many questions, and oh, what wonderful answers.

As the story unfolds there are incredible twists and turns that create confusion (in a good way) and lead readers down one path only to spin everything around and lead them in another. The end had a spectacular twist that had me completely rethinking what had happened in past scenes and various interactions between characters; I didn’t see it coming, yet in hindsight, I’m not surprised that that was what was going on.

The characters in this were good; the main lead Claire has her fair share of issues, and each of the others has classic characteristics that are found in groups like this. There’s the jerk pilot, the sweetheart comms officer, the stern but gentle-hearted mech/med that’s in love with the lead, and the peculiar techy. I enjoyed these guys, and the others not listed, and they worked really well as an ensemble.

This was a 5-star read for me and one that I’ve re-read a couple of times now. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys this genre mix and loves twists and turns in stories.

Thanks to Goodreads Giveaways for this, I absolutely loved it!!!

This review is also posted on Goodreads.