Dead Silence

By: S.A. Barnes

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

"The audiobook read by Lauren Ezzo makes for compulsive, edge-of-seat listening."—Buzzfeed

"Ezzo's dark tone and emotional connection terrify and comfort listeners in equal measure. Not for the faint of heart."—AudioFile Magazine

Titanic meets The Shining in S.A. Barnes’ Dead Silence, a SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire

©2022 S.A. Barnes (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"This story slides and slithers from creepy and atmospheric to skin-crawling, edge-of-your-seat terror." —T. Kingfisher, author of The Hollow Places

"Barnes ably conjures the kind of haunting setting and atmosphere required for this Event Horizon-esque novel, providing an effective sense of immediacy to Claire's frequently shifting and at times tenuous grip on reality. Recommended for fans of claustrophobic space horror."—Booklist

“Dead Silence mixes horror, mystery and sci-fi into a thrill ride sure to shock you out of your reading rut. ...a claustrophobic race against time as the ship’s horrors begin to affect the crew one by one. Dread slowly builds as small, frightening moments inside the Aurora multiply, showcasing Barnes’ patient plotting and steady pacing. This is one of those time-warp books—the ones where you look away from the clock, then look back and it’s suddenly way past your bedtime.”—BookPage, Starred Review

a little labored

I liked the premise and the story overall. The process of it was interesting, but the performance felt rather a bit forced. The words as written is spoken rather than so heavily emoted, I think would’ve done a bit better for it. The performance was a bit aggressively emotional, and in a lot of places it came off affected.

Naval-Gazing in Space

Meh. I hung on to the end but barely. Maybe it's the over-the-top, melodramatic narrator that made the main character so repellant, or maybe, like other reviews have noted, she is just too self-absorbed and stupid. IRL they wouldn't put Claire in charge of a broom. Crossed wires with the whole "they have hallucinations" but she sees "ghosts and hallucinations". Typical evil government/corporation plot and a ludicrous "romance". Only if you're desperate for new sci-fi.

Horror + Self-Loathing = A Bit of a Slog

I really wanted to love this book, and both S.A. Barnes and Lauren Ezzo did their best to make it great, but I feel whomever edited it let them both down. It spends way too much time in the main character's head at the expense of the story and the pacing. Maybe with an hour or so trimmed out it would be tight enough to ignore the similarities to the Alien franchise, but the constant barrage of Claire's self-loathing and doubt had me on the verge of not finishing the book. If an in-depth exploration of someone who despises almost everything they are intrigues you, then this book is for you, but if not then I cannot recommend it.

pretty good

super good all the way to the last 2 hours or so then falls off but worth it

Solid sci-fi/horror effort

Part House on Haunted Hill, part Event Horizon...with a twist.

Ezzo does a great job guiding us through the claustrophobic environment and conveying the sense of dread the crew eventually must confront. Twist ending was my only complaint, but it wasn't enough to take away from the strong overall story.

Confused yet still very predictable

The narrator did an amazing job, unfortunately the story itself was a let down. The main character is very aggravating. Her insecurities while understandable with the story really impede the progression of the story and make parts really drag. The story is written in such a way that the main character isn't sure if what she is seeing is her or something external, but you as the reader know it is external.

great story

great story, strong female character, and very believable emotions. read it, love it, recommend it

Very good!

was a story where you, the reader, felt like you peicing the mystery together with the character. This was one of best I've read in a while!!

loved it

Loved the plot, the suspense of not being sure of what was really going on and the narrator put a lot of feeling into it. she did a great job of making it feel straight from the character.
Edit: I see people saying the main character is whiny or too self-loathing but it makes her seem real to me. Not everyone can be an action movie hero especially after enduring horrible trauma.

good idea and plot

liked the background and all of that. the story was really cool. characters were all unique and written well.