Reading Club Reviews

January 2024, Book 2: Dead Silence

Dead Silence is a science-fiction horror novel by S.A Barnes.

With just days before she becomes unemployed, Claire Kovalik and her beacon-repair crew pick up on a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her crew decide to investigate the signal. When they track the signal to its source, they make a shocking discovery: the Aurora, a luxury space liner that vanished twenty years ago on its maiden tour of the solar system. Knowing that a salvage claim like this would set them up for life, Claire and her crew perform a quick search of the ship, but their search reveals that something isn’t quite right aboard the Aurora.

The novel opens approximately two months after Claire and her crew discover the Aurora, with Claire confined to a hospital, apparently the sole survivor of whatever occurred. She’s recounting the events that occurred to two investigators from the company she and her crew work for, shifting periodically between “now” and “then” sections. The “now” sections are current events of the investigators talking to Claire, with the “then” sections acting as flashbacks, which are Claire relaying the events to both the investigators and the readers. Not fully believing Claire's version of events, especially since there are gaps in her memory, one of the investigators revels they've been monitoring the area where she said the ship was, and not only does the Aurora appear to be on the move, but there was also a new distress signal, apparently from a member of Claire's crew, who are all supposedly dead. Being the only person known to have survived being on the ship, Claire is reluctantly convinced to join a rescue mission.

The novel is well-written and cohesive. The characters are distinct, interesting and believable. Having the first few chapters divided into the "now" and "then" sections helps to build the suspense and spookiness of the later chapters. The setting of the space liner is well-described and executed.

Overall, a well-built horror novel with distinct characters. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys horror novels.