Dead Shock: A Sci-Fi Horror Novel

The Shock Series, Book 1

By: Wallace Henry

Narrated by: Tom Sleeker

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

They're stranded. They're scared. But they're not alone. Something is waiting for them...in the darkness of the ship.

In the distant future, a team of diplomats embark on a mission to make contact with an authoritarian ship that has gone radio silent. It's supposed to be a simple job, a look-see operation to make sure something terrible hasn't happened. The leader is prone to fits of violence, and there are rumors of previous human rights abuses.

Only, when they arrive, the ship is...empty. The question is - where did everybody go?

Armed only with riot gear, they explore the ship, intent on discovering the truth about what's happened on The Ark. What they find will be more nightmarish than anything they've seen before.

Indeed, it's worse than anything they could imagine.

Dead Shock is a creepy atmospheric novel from the author of The Playroom and Party Snatchers.

Fans of H.P. Lovecraft and Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation will love this claustrophobic, terrifying book. It's equal parts horror and soft science fiction. Think Alien meets Dawn of the Dead.

A mix of body horror, action, and sci-fi, Dead Shock is the first in the Shock series of novels. It's the kind of dystopian sci-fi or dystopian horror you'd come to expect from Wallace Henry. So, grab a space suit, grab a force gun, and hold your breath, because nobody can breathe in space.

©2020 Tyler Braddy (P)2021 Tyler Braddy

It was passably good.

Dead average sci-fi horror story with a similar performance. This one is OK but nothing to write home about. It isn’t terribly well written, is super tropey, and by the numbers.

The elements are there

The story is ok, the characters are ok. Everything should have come together but for me it just never did. It wasn't bad.

decent story but slow

A bit slow but enjoyable horror book good narration lots of detail overall not bad

Feels unfinished

I realize that it's part of a series, but the "to be continued" ending still seems lackluster to me. When you finally reach the big climactic moment, it's cut short and left without any real conclusion. Although this is a great strategy for ending a chapter, it's not so great for ending a book. It was, however, interesting and well written and likely would have convinced me to seek out the rest of the series if I had not felt as though the author were trying to force my hand in that regard.

The word "said".

I have never heard the word "said" so much in a novel.
The story is fine and I like the narrator.
The characters are average. A little more fleshing out on them would have gone a long way in making the story better.

Just okay

This was fine. Not an absolutely terrible book but not memorable or stand out in basically any way. The world building was only barely scratched upon for the majority of the story and then towards the end there's a huge info dump. Also, I don't hate cliffhangers as a rule but this one was poorly executed. It could have been extended into a bit of a longer book and ended at a more final place while still giving an enticing lead into a next book.

It was fine for a short, entertaining read but there are similar books that take the same concept and do it better.

Start to a great series

Dead Shock by Wallace Henry is a fun story. The overall story was great as long with the pacing. There is a lot of action and this is truly a non stop thrill ride. It kind of felt like Dead Space meets Bio Shock. I enjoyed all of the characters quite a bit.

WARNING: NO ENDING!

I understand that when you're writing the first book in a series, you need to leave stuff for the sequel. That makes sense. But you're also supposed to at least offer some conclusion to the events of the first book. Dead Shock does not. EDIT: This is doubly true if THE NEXT BOOK ISN'T EVEN OUT YET. What the hell, Wallace Henry?

Imagine you're watching a James Bond movie. You keep hearing about some secret doomsday weapon, and Bond is trying to reach the villain's hidden base. He gets to the secret entrance, but can't figure out how to get in. Just then, the intercom kicks on, and the villain taunts Bond that he's about to die... and then the movie ends. That's roughly analogous to the "ending" of this book. I would probably have rated it as high as 4 stars if it actually had any kind of ending, but it doesn't, so I'm almost tempted to give it a 1. It gets a 2 because it's decently well written in most other respects.

If you're cool with the extremely cheap tactic of forcing the reader to buy the next book just to get what should have been the ending of this one, go right ahead; otherwise, I can't recommend.

Didn't work for me.

World building was not there and characters were flat. And it does end with "To be continued".