Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

24 reviews

spaghettii's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This will spoil the entire fucking plot so do NOT read the rest before finishing the book 🗣📢‼️

Immediately you have to question the validity of what the narrator says, which was actually well written for this book. At first I thought that she was having hallucinations, but when she described Reed's grandfather I slowly warmed up to the idea that she could see the dead. It hurt to go in knowing (or at least under the impression) that all the crew dies and trying not to get attached. I very much got attached and subsequently emotionally destroyed.  When Kane was scared to give her the screwdriver, I think that was my breaking point. This also implied that he knew he was talking to a hallucination of Nysus and chose to speak to him anyways. I love scifi horror and confined horror and this was so fun. My favorite characters were unfortunately Voller and later Reed before the murder incident. Idk what that says about me but I don't want to think about it too much,,,, I also loved Nysus but we didn't get to see too much of him. I always think I want a book where main characters die but then when it happens I regret wishing for it. I've actually been waiting for a book that uses the out of hearing range sound-induced hallucinations. I learned about it a while ago and thought it was pretty useful to know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Bullying, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

ottercorg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was...spectacular.

I initially went to the library to pick up a different book on my list by Barnes, but it was unavailable. This one caught my eye, though, and I wanted some spooky books for October. I am so glad I did, and now I can't wait to read more from her.

From start to finish, I was engrossed, trying to figure out what was going on. I clung to what little romance was available. I devoured all the horrors, forcing myself to slow down so as to not miss anything. I wanted to savor every moment.

For such dark material, Barnes writes in a way that is still so light and consumable. I really appreciate that the story took no time to take off. I didn't mind the initial back and forth between past and present because I was just as interested in the interrogation as I was in what really happened. I loved the sprinkling of Claire's past throughout the story as we piece together what happened to her before this. 

It's not a full 5 star read - I wanted a liiiiiittle more from the ending - but it's damn close.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dreadspawn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Alcohol

kaneebli's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Spice Rating: 🫑 / 5 🌶️

Dead Silence takes sci-fi horror to a new level as it merges the story of the Titanic with the terror of Stephen King's The Shining. 

Claire prefers being out in space to being confined to Earth. To Claire's dismay, this is her last mission before her employer terminates her. The rest of her crew is ready to go home after long months in space, but when they receive a distress signal from the famous Aurora, a ship that was wrecked 20 years ago and never found, Claire and her crew decide they just have to check it out to see what they can find. This salvage could set them up for life, and they would be famous for just discovering the Aurora. But when the crew boards the Aurora, they find things, and people, they didn't expect to. Soon they are unsure how to determine what is reality and how they're going to get off this ship alive. 

This book is addictive, to say the least. S.A. Barnes takes readers on a wild ride as the crew discovers horrors they never thought possible on the Titanic-esque spacecraft. Claire makes an excellent main character as readers struggle to decipher which parts of her story are true. 

From the great twists to the many jump scares, Dead Silence is sure to satisfy all fans of sci-fi, horror, mysteries, and thrillers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Alcohol

han_pear's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I absolutely LOVED this book, I was hooked from the first chapter and I was telling everyone I knew about it, I even told a customer at work about (I work at a doggie daycare lol). The story is interesting and I think the direction the author went in was interesting regarding Claire. I LOVED the twist. In all honesty I put this book down for a bit because of life and work, but the twist sucked me right back in and held on tight until I was done. I was a bit disappointed the book ended where it did, and honestly I would devour an entire book about the Aurora’s voyage, the ship is so fascinating. HUGE RECOMMEND!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, and Alcohol

cait's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dattmay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Overall this was a fun enough sci-fi story that was a quick read. If you're looking for horror, though, this is not the place. While there are a few moments that can be considered 'creepy' and some gruesome imagery used, the story is much more toned down than I expected coming in. 

Bad future super corporations doing bad things and screwing over the little people is the name of the game here, and even the haunted ship of the dead idea doesn't really overcome what we've seen in the past. The framing used in the book, that of the main character relating what happened in the past to her interviewers, robs the story of a lot of its surprise as she frequently reveals outcomes of events before we even know they happen. 

To dip a bit into spoiler territory,

the eventual reveal of what's causing the spookiness on the ship fell entirely flat for me. From that point on, it was really just a wrote sci-fi adventure with quite a few loose ends (why was Claire seeing what she did? What/where were the actual device? Why did Lourdes gouge out her eyes when everyone else seemed to go for their hearing?).

So while I had a decent time with the book, I don't think it'll stick with me in the long run. I mainly just wish it was a bit more horror focused than it ended up being. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Alcohol

gracefulraven's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Suicide attempt and Alcohol