🌌 Actually Scary: Full disclosure I am a huge wimp - especially when it comes to horror movies (Horror video games seem to be another thing however, I love a zombie game). Still, this book terrified me. It became a daytime only read  because Barnes' descriptions were so vivid I could practically see and hear the excavation throughout the Aurora.  As everything quickly goes to shit I felt my own heart racing and  I couldn’t stop racing through the pages because I had to know what happened.   

🌌Tension. There is so much tension bleeding through the pages.  The atmosphere is stunningly creepy. Barnes nails the decaying opulence of the ship, making it come alive with an eerie sense of abandonment.  I'd almost say its apocalyptic core (except its in space).

Plus the blending the supernatural with a plausible scientific backdrop, which makes the horror elements seem even more unsettling. 

🌌One of the really compelling plot points (not sure what this says about my world view), was the

Corporate Horror cover ups. In this not so distant future,  where interstellar travel and space exploration are controlled by mega-corporations, it’s easy to imagine how human lives and morality take a backseat to profits and public relations. Dead Silence really explores some of the finer aspects of the dark underbelly of corporate greed and manipulation .  The mysterious disappearance of the Aurora decades earlier isn’t just a ghost story—it’s an expertly buried scandal. When Claire and her team uncover the ship, they realize the tragedy wasn’t just a tragic accident but potentially a catastrophic failure or experiment swept under the rug. The corporate response wasn't remorse, but cold calculation.

🌌Unreliable narrator.  Unreliable narrators aren’t usually my thing, I have found they frustrate me more often than now - but S.A Barnes nails it with Claire. Her perspective is a rollercoaster of doubt with additional layer from her 'lone survivor' backstory are fascinating. Claire is haunted by her history,

The screaming ghost/omen of her dead mother

and plagued by guilt. It is an absolute thrill trying to excavate the truth from Claire's slippery heap of memories distorted by hallucination, damage, amnesia, lies, self-preservation, and trauma. At time, helped by the setting you can't be sure what you're dealing with

Ghosts? Hallucinations? A Bio virus? Aliens? the list was endless

.
The way Barnes weaves in themes of exploitation and dehumanization feels all too real. Claire, with her troubled history, becomes a perfect scapegoat—disposable, undervalued, and easily discredited. 

 
🌌 Fans of: Titanic In space, Bioshock, Fallout vaults, Alien

⚰️No Notes