Book Review of Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes (Feb. 2022)
This is my first unsolicited book review that I’m doing. This means I was not asked by the author or the publisher to do this book review (or anyone, actually), and I am not being paid for this review (although I make an Amazon affiliate commission if you purchase this book through my website–so please help support me and the author!). THERE ARE NO SPOILERS HERE.
And quite frankly, I’m surprised my first unsolicited book is this book. Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes is a space horror story involving a haunted ship. I hate all things space and cosmic — with the exception of old Star Wars — and really had no interest in this book when I saw it. But I saw the reviews come back pretty strong, and I noticed that S.A. Barnes was fairly active on Twitter and well-received (i’m on Twitter too! Follow Stacey Kade/S.A.Barnes @staceykade on Twitter and me Nick Writes Law and Horror @nickthelawyerNY).
Then I saw a few posts by the fast-growing publisher Sley House (Twitter @SleyHouse and @SleyHouseLitBit), including a podcast interview with S.A. Barnes. They had high praise for this book and I noticed my local library had an audiobook copy (which had a long wait list). I figured, alright, let’s see how this goes.
Now I have high praise for this book.
First Impressions
Okay let’s begin by looking at the cover: It’s gorgeous. I’ve heard some people say that you shouldn’t judge a book by the cover, and that’s generally true about a lot of things (like people, or dogs… not cats, judge them all you can), but I disagree. I think a book with a poor cover means the author or publisher don’t care. But Dead Silence, it has a gorgeous cover and it is well-designed.
What really hooked me were the descriptions on the cover that had me quite intrigued. “A ghost ship… A savage crew… unspeakable horrors.” The snippet from Alma Katsu, another author enjoying a fast rise in popularity (and for good reason!), added a quote “The ultimate haunted house story, in space.” And I agree — that helped sell me a little more on this one.
As for a description from the Amazon and Barnes and Noble, here it is (please be seated and hold onto your butts!):
“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 is shocking: the Aurora, a famous luxury spaceliner 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 search of the ship reveals something isn’t right.
Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Messages scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold on to her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.”
Let’s dive into this one!
The Story Itself
Yeah, it’s excellent from the start. Barnes does a fantastic job of doing what so many authors are not comfortable doing — using language, terms, and labels with confidence and without explanation. She throws us right into the salvage crew and sets up their job roles, working on the commweb, and names different ships with confidence and no need to explain what they are other than using them in context. We immediately accept this reality that she weaves for us, as the universe she has created is both believable and reasonable — which is what makes it all that much scarier later on.
Right from the start you’ll be vacuum-sealed to your seat, airlock into the clean prose. Don’t expect Barnes to constantly overwhelm you with complicated vocabulary and overused descriptions for seemingly innocuous interactions or plot progressions — which is a good thing. Rather, her expertise is keeping the flow and pace at a steady but perfect rate, crafting careful and efficient language to keep the book’s plot progressing at an easily digestible rate. I almost feel her style is reflective of James Patterson or Dean Koonz, more story-oriented which is how I like my prose.
However, Barnes really does turn it up to a Richard Matheson, Nick Cutter, and reminiscent of Stephen King style of description when the time comes. Her description of the Aurora — from outside inspection on the safety of the salvage ship to the first time the lights come on while inside (and before that even) — is hauntingly fantastical exercise of literary calculus that all authors should strive to achieve. I absolutely loved Claire’s shocking revelations the first time in the Aurora, and you will too.
Here is where the prose slows down and the painted descriptions shine through. Barnes knows how to expertly play red-light, green-light with her readers, speeding up the prose to keep us engaged and at the edge of our jump-seat, but also how to slowdown the prose with descriptions in a foreplay of the macabre. I absolutely loved her style of writing.
As expected and without spoilers, the story contains what you’d expect from a horror story with the description given by the author. Gore and violence, never excessive (or at least for me, but then again, I’m a Jack Ketchum fan so it takes a lot), but Barnes gives you enough to get the point across. There are some twists and great loops in the story, with an exciting climax.
I would say that, for how the story sets out and goes about 95%, I would have expected a grimmer ending for the cast of characters. Again, I’m a Ketchum so… yeah, no spoilers. You’ll have to see how this one ends! I assure you though, you will enjoy it!
The Good
Do I need to say more? I’m a hater of space horror and cosmic anything, and I gobbled this book up and loved every part of it. Seriously, that should be all the praise you need. I hate this sub-genre with a passion, but I loved this book.
To the extent, I would therefore strongly recommend that you give it a try if you don’t think you’ll like the sub-genre. I am glad I did, and I am glad people like those literary geniuses at Sley House had an interview with S.A. Barnes (and I’m glad she is the type of author that indulges in those), because her presence on Twitter and that praise really helped me go to this book. I have even gotten two RL friends (that’s “real life” for those keeping score) to purchase this book. They haven’t started it yet because they have TBR stacks as high as me (that’s my short height, not my TBR stack — which is also higher than me), so I take that as a victory.
But getting more into the good, the best attribute is the prose. Barnes rights such clean and refreshing prose while littering macabre throughout, wielding the perfect balance for a horror novel that is easily digestible and salient to every burning touch. Her descriptions are well-visioned, and the universe she created was believable and creative. So many little nuances of how we operate in the future through space maintenance and travel was reasonably and tastefully done, down to the little training phrases that pilots and crews are taught (“there’s no down in space.”). Really fantastic job here.
The So-So
I always include a so-so section with every book, even if it is perfect, because nothing can be perfect. Here, I’d say I thought — based on the rather grim and ravenous story — that the ending would be equally so. That’s my major critique, albeit a very small one. I really had no other major quibbles.
Verdict on Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes [BOOK REVIEW]
I hate everything about this sub-genre and really loved nearly everything about this book. You’ll quickly get sucked into this haunted house story in space, devouring its clear and engaging prose before you realize you just binged it. The characters are well-crafted with believable (and all too real) faults, as well as frightening twists in their fate. S.A. Barnes’ Dead Silence is a real horror novel treat in a read hot horror market right now, and certainly worthy to be on your bookshelf next to some of the horror greats.
Therefore, I mark this one as a MUST BUY largely on Barnes’ brilliant universe she created, perfect flow and control over when to move it fast and when to slow it down, and fantastic haunted house/ship story.
I have three categories of ratings with Ghosts being for new authors and Indie/new publishers, with Werewolves being for mid-level authors and publishers, and Demons being for established authors and big-name publishers. Although I haven’t heard of S.A. Barnes before (sorry! But now I love your work!), I have heard of Tor Nightfire which has some of the biggest names of horror right now as they ascend to greatness — like S.A. Barnes. This is a large publisher with a huge bull’s-eye for every aspiring horror author. Their books and covers are gorgeous and their audiobook publications are fantastic. I think this must push them into the highest rating category of Demons, making it subjected to high scrutiny.
Upon my due deliberation, I rate Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes as having a rating of 5 OUT OF 5 DEMONS — my highest rating possible! It is also my highest rating to-date, my first 5, and my first Demon rating.
AGAIN, this was an unsolicited review, I was not paid for same, and I only make money if you purchase the book through my links as an Amazon affiliate.
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