A review by wordswritinstarlight
Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

First of all, the audiobook: I made it through about half of it before I broke and had to read it instead.  I’ve never used the word “overacting” about an audiobook reader before, but this one is uhhhhh a whole lot.  Genuinely she sounds like she’s about to burst into hysterics for more than half of what I read and I might just be an unsympathetic bitch, but it drove me up the wall.

Now, obviously, I DID like the book enough that I went to the trouble of getting it hardcopy to actually read it, rather than just bailing on the audiobook, which I think is a statement in and of itself.  I loved the ongoing mystery of whether Claire is actually seeing ghosts or if she’s just hallucinating
(actually, I’m going to need WAY more books where there are ghosts in space, because I confess that I was not expecting the answer to be “both” and I was delighted)
. I’m also obsessed with any horror story set in the aftermath of a much bigger and more horrible horror story, and the descriptions of the Aurora were genuinely spine-chilling on that front.  I could take or leave the romance plot line, but to be honest I was having such a good time with the rest of it that I’m going to give it a pass.

Recommended for lovers of psychological horror and sci-fi adventures, but also specifically for anyone who watched the show Avenue 5 and went “what if this, but make it fucking terrifying,” which I very much did and this book was exactly what I wanted.  If you have a strong visual imagination, I would maybe recommend not reading this right before bed, but we don’t need to go into why I know that.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings