Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes is a novel worth your time. Dead Silence is worth reading because it combines horror and sci-fi with good writing and an awesome protagonist which from start to end (excluding the epilogue which pales in intensity) will captivate you. The reasoning behind Claire's decision-making was my favourite part of the novel. She elevates the story because her choices are tough and more often than not, there is no right answer and therefore, no perfect outcome. She is a character put in horrific positions that make you wonder what you would do if you were in their shoes and deeply grateful you are not. If you want an engaging read with strong elements of horror and sci-fi, Dead Silence is a good novel to choose.

Titanic in space but with Stephen King horror is how this novel has been described. It is an accurate description. There is an abandoned ship and a crew who board it to reap its riches only to find horror awaiting them. The horrors waiting create a terrifying plot and again, if you like sci-fi, horror, and good writing, you will enjoy this plot. There is a lot of complex and powerful decision-making and much more waiting to captivate you in this read.

Claire is an exhausting protagonist and a delight to read. It feels that with each chapter, Claire reveals a new layer of herself that impacts her decision-making. She is brash, a leader, and a loner. She is human and craves things for herself at the expense of others and makes decisions at the expense of herself. Claire is flawed and she makes Dead Silence engaging. Her underlying goal of protection is always present throughout but her shifting morals/rationale ensure the read is never predictable. It is evident that Claire has been put in a sticky situation, and how or why she chooses something over something else heightens the story's complexity. The supporting characters themselves are great but it is Claire who drives the story.

You may find the epilogue a bit lacklustre in comparison to the rest of the novel but the chapters leading up to it are climatic and engaging. The ending takes the intensity of the boarding of Aurora and ramps it up to a sprint. The last portion is where the novel goes from spooky to terrifying - it is wonderful. Dead Silence is a novel filled with action, fear, and heartbreaking moments. It is absolutely worth your time and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on Dead Silence.

When I first saw the run time on my audiobook for Dead Silence, I couldn't comprehend how it was soo long. The blurb suggested a simple plot that I wrongly thought couldn't be expanded upon to warrant such a long book. The length of Dead Silence makes complete sense now that I've listened to it and the consensus is, it needed those pages and it is a good read. I adored almost every second of this novel.

My favourite parts were Claire's visions and the descriptions of Kane pre-rescue in the ship. Kane's destruction was powerful; his lack of response compared to Claire's viciousness and protectiveness in getting him out created a highly engaging contrast. I appreciated the juxtaposition between them and also valued how Claire kept on pushing even when she knew Kane was no longer Kane. He wasn't the stoic medic she knew but a shell of his former self - until they escaped! Kane's transformation back to himself with haphazard memories mirrors Claire's experience as a child which made it understandable how he bounced back so fast. The ship seemed to have such a pull that by leaving, it was like lifting the fog away from his eyes whilst still leaving a touch of trauma, just a touch.

I valued Claire as a protagonist because she survived against the odds. She survived on a flesh rotting ship for a month, she survived with no emotional support from that trauma, and she survived another horrifying ship. I think her trauma is why the Aurora didn't affect her as much as the others, because she already lived through something similar including the voices. My theory on why she could see ghosts is that as a kid, there was a microorganism on the ship she was abandoned on for a month that infiltrated her body which gave her the ability to see the dead/manipulate the frequency emitted earlier than others. A bit far-fetched but so is a noise machine that causes hallucinations so it could be possible.

Claire's reasoning behind her decision-making was a strong aspect of the novel I admired. At times, there was too much exposition or repetition behind her reasoning but regardless, the reasoning was always solid. At first, she boarded for herself and her future and at the end, she survived for Kane and his future. She survived to return the bodies home, so others would never experience her pain of having no grave to mourn at. She survived as a big F-you to her company and then she scored big but lost big. She lost her crew, her friends, her sanity, and her trust. She gained power, money, and the ability to be vulnerable. Life is complicated especially when you see murderous visions in space.

The ending was a bit lacklustre but in all, I surprisingly loved this read. It went by much faster than I anticipated and I was hooked the moment they boarded the Aurora. The visual of the woman under the bed still haunts me. I could even see a second instalment of this as I think Claire's ability could span visiting older or historic sights to determine what happened. Probably not because that is a traumatising job but I just want to visit this world again. I am truly glad I decided to read this because I am not a big fan of books set in space and this one knocked it out of the park.