Dead Silence is a riveting and terrifying journey in the outer reaches of space where the remains of a decades-old luxury cruiser that disappeared with a ship full of passengers is discovered. This was an unpredictable journey featuring an extremely unreliable narrator and cast of characters that made this book an edge-of-your-seat experience. This book did not end up being quite what I expected and I would probably describe it as more of a psychological thriller with hints of horror than a pure horror novel.

In Dead Silence, we follow Claire Kovalik, team lead of a repair crew that ends up shooting off into the outer depths of space after picking up the beacon of a random, unknown distress signal from a ship nearby. After reaching the origin of the distress signal, they discover the long-lost luxury ship Aurora and decide to go on board to bring back proof of its existence. While exploring the Aurora, what they find are unspeakable horrors–horrors that are made even worse by the fact that everyone on board from the repair ship seem to be having varying degrees of hallucinations that only seem to be getting worse.

The story is told via two timelines, both narrated from Claire’s unreliable POV. The first section is told in the present timeline to create a sort of frame story for Claire’s retelling of what happened on the Aurora with her own crew and how she ended up where she currently is, complete with the many hallucinations that make her own memory and experiences exceptionally unreliable. We also get to hear a lot about Claire’s previous experiences on an abandoned ship as a child that has left her with a great deal of present-day trauma and PTSD, and although I really appreciated how well Barnes captured this struggle, I did feel that there was a bit too much time spent on this that took away a bit from the rest of the story. I always enjoy an unreliable narrator, but I will admit that I don’t care as much for the hallucination trope unreliable narrator, and since this book was very much based on that, I didn’t end up loving it quite as much as I’d hoped. Still, Barnes does a great job of using this narrative device and I think it worked perfectly for this story.

One of the best and most successful aspects of Dead Silence was Barnes’ ability to create a truly ominous, unsettling, and creepy atmosphere. The fear and terror of what was on board the Aurora combined with the crew’s own fears and uncertainties were palpable and I found myself completely sucked into this setting. I loved Barnes' ability to create such a tight, tense atmosphere that left me feeling as claustrophobic and unsure of what I could trust as the characters in these pages.

The pacing of Dead Silence was a bit on the slower side overall, but Barnes’s compelling writing was enough to keep me following along with the flow of the story. That being said, I do feel like we spent a lot of time thinking about things and focusing on Claire’s trauma and past to the point where I sort of just wanted to move on at times. I appreciated the author’s interested in developing a complex and multilayered character, but at times it just felt as though it was overtaking the rest of the plot. This isn’t probably a huge issue for a lot of people who enjoy really getting into the minds of characters, but for some reason is just stood out as being overmuch for me at times.

Overall, I've given Dead Silence four stars! Dead Silence is a haunting space horror/thriller that will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat, so be sure to check it out if that sounds like something you think you might like.

Review to come to blog/goodreads/etc. on March 2nd when the tour stops by my blog~

I received this book from the tour organiser/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

This is one of the books I was looking forward to so so so much this year! And so I was totally excited when I got the chance to review it! YAS! And after reading this book I can tell you that it definitely is a book I want to re-read sometime in the future. A bit of a slow start, but when it gets going… it goes. And there is no stopping.

“Water and air collide at the back of my throat, and i Have to work not to cough and spray pills everywhere. She’s one of them.”

Because yes, the opening to the book, the first part before they get to the Aurora… was very slow. It didn’t help that Voller was intolerable, and Claire was willing to commit suicide (suicide is not a topic I can read about). But as soon as they got to the Aurora. When they went on the ship, first Voller and Claire, and then the rest. Then it started. The questions. Why is everyone dead? Why does it seem like a hell happened here? And then slowly scary things happen. Boy, the writer sure knows how to write horror, because I was on the edge of my seat (or curling up very tight in bed).

“So, when my eyes first meet hers – the blank space where hers should be, where that strip of torn white sheet covers them instead- I freeze for that extra second, my brain trying to make sense of what I’m seeing with what I expected to see.”

It also didn’t help that Claire has a past. A quarantine gone wrong. Everyone dead. That Claire can see things. It makes things tricky. Because we are seeing the events through her eyes. Is what she is seeing truth, is she seeing the dead, or is it something else entirely? And that also made the book so good. It was scary as hell, but for a part of the book we just didn’t have a clue what was true and what was not true. As the story continues we do get a more clear grasp on it, especially when the others are also experiencing stuff. But still, is it a trick or not? I love unreliable narrator books~ Love figuring out the details and see what is true or not.

“But what I saw was real,” Lourdes says immediately. “I was there. I saw her.”

I absolutely loved the characters. Well, OK, most of the LINA crew. Voller was just a horrible character. I am sorry, but he was. Constantly ragging Claire. Constantly making remarks. Doing things that are stupid. And more. And of course the Verux guys can all go to hell as well. But I just adored Claire and loved learning more about her, about what makes her tick. I love that despite everything she tries her best for her crew. Lourdes was such a sweetheart! Nysus was so interesting, and I love how many connections he had and how he kept finding the right information for the situation they were in. From maps to small details. Then there is Kane. Ah, Kane. He was so charming and sweet. I loved how he was with Claire, and with that I don’t just mean the romance part but all the parts. He listened, he was there for her.

“Ahead of me, one of Montgomery’s team members jerks hard to the right, the light on the end of his weapon illuminating the darkened doorway. It’s empty, the door still firmly shut.
After a moment, his shoulders go up and down in a shrug. “…thought…. saw something.” His words come through patchy and faint.
One could blame it on nerves.
But I know better.
It’s starting.”

I loved that the book contained a now and a then. In the now we see Claire on Earth, locked up in a mental institution. She escaped the Aurora. But to what cost. In the Then parts she tells us the story of what happened. How they found the Aurora and how things went so horribly wrong. Eventually the Then stops as we get to the point of Claire losing her memories and mysteriously finding an escape pod and we move on with the Now. In which we see Claire (and Verux) going back to the Aurora. For many reasons from very dark and WTF to well that seems logical despite all the freaking danger. I was all with Claire, on the one hand let’s go back because maybe someone is still alive from her crew, on the other hand, fuck nope because that just screams bad idea! Those Now parts got REAL good when we got to the Aurora. Things immediately got spooky. People were getting creeped out. And a lot of other things happened. Things I loved like all the spookiness and scary stuff. Things I am still not sure about, like what actually caused all of the things to happen. I mean it is a pretty ingenious idea (but also very horrifying and WTF).. but I also had expected something much much grander. Something more supernatural.

“”But it lives up here.” He jabs at his temple with his finger. “Eating and chewing and devouring.””

The ending, the epilogue, it was just fab and it made me smile! It was a great conclusion to the book. To everything that happened.

So all in all, I really loved this one! This was spooky and haunting. Scary and OMG NOPE. Sad, but also exciting. There were parts that were a bit too gore-filled for me (I mean, I really don’t need to read some descriptions). I would HIGHLY recommend this awesome book to all. It will scare the wits out of you.

Content warnings : murder, blood, and gore
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Netgalley and Tor Nightfire in exchange for an honest review. This kindness does not affect my opinions of this book, which are wholly my own.
Narrative style: first person | Perspective(s): single (Claire)
Tags: Science Fiction, Derelict Starship

How I Found This Book

I first caught a glimpse of this book’s existence on my Twitter feed but surprisingly wasn’t already following the author. The truth is I’ve been aching for deep space/derelict starship horror for months. Something new and fresh, dark in the creepiest ways, and with a mystery of WTF is happening to these characters. I craved (and still do) an Aliens/Event Horizon mashup.

So when I found Barnes’s book, I scoured every ARC site so I could get a first read and satisfy my craving. Thank you to NetGalley for having it, and Tor for letting me dig my claws in.
First Impressions

The opening chapters threw me off a bit. Instead of opening with characters heading toward a derelict ship, or even out in space somewhere, the story opens on a future timeline where the character has already been to the ship.

That sinking feeling in my stomach was already starting, that maybe readers wouldn’t get to see the ship or the story would go a different direction, but I pressed on crossing my fingers so hard for the thing I wanted – a spacey creepfest.

What I Loved About Dead Silence

This book delivered on the creepfest I so desperately craved. Once Claire and her crew got to the ship, it was a wonderful romp through dark corridors, creepy sensations, and floating apparitions – in sight and just out of sight.


What I Wish I Liked, But Didn't

This is more spoiler information and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. It’s just personal taste, so skip this to 'overall' if you don't want spoilers.

Spoiler #1

This book had two distinct timelines woven throughout the narrative. The story opens on the future timeline which is what threw me off, and halfway through the book they finally resolve into a single path.

Overall, I get why the dual timelines were done. Knowing the story it does make more sense, but here’s why it didn’t work for me.

The story felt jilted doing it this way. One moment I’d be deep in creepfest with the characters trying to figure out why on a lot of unanswered questions, then the narrative would kick me into the future, where the character is still alive, and she’d be explaining what happened instead of readers living the terror.

Spoiler #2

This story also leaned into a silent amnesia narrative to hide some of the information. Claire couldn’t remember how she got out of the ship, then she couldn’t remember her journey home, then couldn’t remember what happened to half her crew. I think the reason it didn’t work for me is the story leaned too hard into some of these things and even as readers got answers, they never get to experience those horrific moments. Almost like sidestepping a minefield when you wanna see shit blow up.

Overall

Although there were a few frustrating bits to the story, overall I loved it. I would recommend this to anyone who loves space horror, derelict starships, or wants a good feel of what it might be like to walk through the Titanic as it sat on the ocean floor.

What a delicious blend of sci-fi, horror, mystery, and suspense! Sci-fi fans already know what is coming the second they read "...a salvage crew..."...or so they think. This book will keep you on the edge, fearfully turning pages to find out WHAT THE HELL is killing everyone.

There were a lot of reasons behind my desperation to read Dead Silence. The cover, the description, the nostalgia (anyone else getting serious Dead Space vibes from both the cover and description?), and even the implied atmosphere. As such, I went into S.A.Barnes' Dead Space with really high expectations. Expectations that were not disappointed.

Claire Kovalik is on her final mission. This is her last taste of freedom and the great unknown of space before she's forced to head back planetside. Planetside is the last place Claire wants to be, and she has good reason for feeling that way.

Luckily for Claire, an emergency beacon calls her and her crew further into space. What they find is totally unexpected, and it puts all of their lives (and sanity) at risk. Yet it is too good a find to turn away from.

"Space travel is boring. As a commweb maintenance team, we are used to it. A boring day is a good day. Boring is what we strive for. When things are exciting, someone is about to die in some new and horrible way."

Guys. Words cannot describe how much I loved Dead Silence. This was a freaking fantastic read, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone even remotely curious about it. It is the perfect blend of science fiction and horror, with an added boost from the unreliable narrator trope.

On that note, I enjoyed delving into Claire's backstory. It was dark and fascinating and worked wonderfully to obscure the potential truths at hand. It is challenging to do unreliable narrators well, but Barnes pulled it off here.

The serious sense of nostalgia I felt while reading Dead Silence is interesting. On the one hand, it had powerful Dead Space vibes (and nothing wrong with that). On the other hand, it reminded me of Futurama's 'A Flight to Remember.' Those are two things I never thought I would see combined, yet here we are.

Despite the heavy science fiction elements, there's something about Dead Silence that feels so very gothic. It's a combination I never knew that I needed, but now I feel like I can't get enough of it. I desperately hope to see S.A. Barnes revisit this aesthetic in the future. If so, you better believe I'll be rushing to read whatever it is!

I genuinely loved this! It could easily have gone down so many familiar roads, taken so many different directions to get to a conclusion that might have been well enough but not as genuinely real and satisfying as the ending we get here. I love the way PTSD is represented here, it's not only true to the experience, it's outright honest about both it's limitations and it's strengths- as a person with CPTSD this meant so much! We also get some great characters, a solid narrative, solid resolution without disrespecting where the characters have been, and an ending that neither sweeps us off to a dream nor puts us in a terrible place for the sake of being dark. I couldn't have been more happy with this book!

Phew! I like to tell people that horror books don't scare me anymore, since they typically don't. I tend not to visualize while reading, and it's the visuals + audio that scare me most (hence why I'm a huge chicken about horror films). However, this one did come closer than most!

The imagery in Dead Silence was SO creepy and the situation full of claustrophobia. Being stuck with a tense crew in close quarters on a space ship where it seems the previous occupants went mad and killed one another...I absolutely loved it! Especially once I realized (early on) that the spaceship referenced the Titanic, which I've learned a lot about since doing research last year about shipwreck diving. The visuals were gorgeously creepy. The atmosphere was truly shudder-worthy. So much to love about the whole setup.

Personally, I would have preferred if the entire story HAD been the crew on the spaceship. Instead, it's told in dual timelines, where the crew salvaging the shipwreck is in the past timeline, and the present timeline consists of the main character explaining her actions to a tribunal of sorts. For me, the present timeline killed a lot of the tension I felt from the past timeline. That being said, the ending did wrap it all up in a way that made it clear why it was being told in two timelines, and I have a lot of respect for any author who can pull off that kind of complicated closure. I enjoyed the mystery element throughout. I won't say what the ending made me think of (since it would be a spoiler), but I found it interesting.

Overall, this is definitely one I'd recommend if you're looking for a creepy, trapped room space horror! Excited to read more from this author. Thank you Tor Nightfire for providing an early copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy scifi, and I enjoy horror, so I figured might as well give a try to a combination of both. I really liked the book, especially the development of the main character, Claire. The premise is fun. A communications repair team on their last trip to space encounters a distress signal that leads them to a large space liner akin to the Titanic. From there a lot of crazy stuff happens. The story jumps back in places before converging to the 'present' timeline. There are a lot of surprises along the way which helped to build the suspense. I was fully engaged in the story. I will say I was hoping for a more claustrophobic feel to the story. I wanted that panic and anxious need to turn the page. It just wasn't there for me. That being said, this would make an the perfect novel to turn into a movie. Overall, I really liked it despite not quite experiencing the creepy feeling I get when reading a really strong horror story. It's definitely worth a read.

This is marketed as the Titanic meets The Shining and those two things are major buzzwords for me. I can honestly say I was not let down. I think those capture perfectly the essence of this book. It has all the glamour of being aboard the Titanic mixed with all the paranoia and spooky factors as The Shining. At the same time this story is completely unique.

I am not a big sci-fi reader, but I think I am discovering that sci-fi horror is something I really enjoy. I think if you enjoy Into the Drowning Deep then you will also enjoy this. This story is separated into "then" and "now." I definitely enjoyed the "then" chapters merger because the pacing was a bit faster and I was so eager to figure out what was happening. However, when the "then" and "now" merge the pace really picks up and does not shy away from the horror. There is multiple on page suicide scenes, so be aware of that.

I love horror stories like this that include something that digs its way inside your brain and makes you super paranoid. I was worried that there would be no reveal about what is actually happening, but that was not a problem at all. The reveal came at the perfect time and it all made perfect sense. I did not guess the cause for everything at all, and I really like how it was done!

A very fun and scary read! I don't read this genre very often but I definitely should.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I'm staring at my screen in slightly stunned silence. How do I even start to describe this book?!

*insert kermit the frog flailing gif here*

From the first moment I read the blurb for Dead Silence I was massively intrigued. Space horror?! A Titanic-esque ship but in outer space?! That's haunted?!?! I feel like this book was written just for my little heart.

I think one of the things S.A. Barnes did magnificently was how she brought the anxiety of our main character, Claire, off the page. At first, while I was reading, I thought, Wow, this character is an anxious mess. And then later on, as my heart began to pound faster and my fingers twitched to flip to the next page, I realized it was making me into an anxious mess. That type of atmospheric writing cannot be forced or faked. It's one of those things that has to happen organically, and Barnes nailed it out of the solar system.

I never knew what was going to happen next, let alone any idea on how this was all going to end. Not until the last chapter. Many times while reading I cursed the world and my real life responsibilities for stopping me from binging this book straight through. Dead Silence is going to consume your thoughts once you start it. Be warned.

Now excuse me while I sit here and impatiently wait for this novel to be turned into a movie. Because I need it!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Tor Nightfire for the eARC copy of Dead Silence in exchange for an honest review

Honestly, I’m a horror fan, but not necessarily a sci-fi fan, and this is the mashup I never knew I needed in my life. Think Ghost Ship in space, and completely amazing.

This gives panicked, claustrophobic vibes and I found myself holding my breath or squeezing my hands into fists while reading. I loved it.

This was exciting, fresh, and just awesome. Horror fans and sci-fi fans need to unite and scoop this up!

4.5 stars rounded to 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I loved it, and am already wishing to read something like it.

**Thanks to #NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.**

**4.5-stars**

Claire Kovalik, and her crew of communication beacon repair specialists, are out at the very edge of the system on their final mission together, when they pick up an odd distress signal coming from outside of 'civilized' space. They're surprised to find that the signal is being sent from the famous luxury liner, Aurora, missing since its maiden voyage more than 20-years ago.

Without much to lose, they collectively decide to investigate. After all, being able to make a salvage claim on such a luxurious and famous ship could literally change all of their lives for the better. Maybe Claire would finally be able to start her own business. She needs this. Admittedly, it's dangerous. A huge risk, but no risk, no reward. Boarding the ship, it quickly becomes evident that something had gone horribly wrong aboard the Aurora.

Trying to piece it all together, while also trying to figure out how best to prove their claim, Claire and her crew struggle. It's hard to determine what is real and what is not. They are hearing things, seeing things; it is disturbing to say the least. Some major decisions need to be made. They need to get out of there, but is the Aurora herself sabotaging them?

Y'all, I had so much fun reading Dead Silence. I definitely recommend it to any SF Horror fans. Barnes dealt up everything that was promised in the publisher's synopsis. We love to see it. The comp to Titanic and The Shining is quite apt.

I especially loved the Titanic influence. The way the ship was described, as well as the composition of the original passengers. I could just picture Jack and Rose gracing the beautiful main ballroom. The wealth and opulence on full display, just a staircase or two away from the working class.

This story definitely got under my skin. It's cold and dark. There are unexplainable things happening. As the characters began to panic, I felt my own heart rate rising as well. It felt claustrophobic, like there was no safe way out. This is the perfect example of why I would never choose to go to space. Decisions there are so final. One wrong move and it is literally the end of your life. There's no second chances.

The end got a little wild, with the action definitely increasing in the second half. At the end of the day though, I can't imagine this story going any other way. It was great. Really well imagined and brought to the page. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Nightfire, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This story is going to stick with me for a long time!!

Disappointing. I'm tired of the Incompetent Female Leader (tm)-- especially when simply the changing the order of information would have given us Damaged But Still Awesome Female Leader (patent pending). "I hallucinate but I go into space, I can hide it from my team" is Incompetent Female Leader; "I maybe see ghosts and I go into space because there are fewer ghosts in space"-- facts dropped in an offhand manner partway through the book-- makes much more sense as reason and rationale. "My coworker is so sexy, space kisses!" is Incompetent Female Leader; "I will manage my emotions and actions as a professional" would be responsible and ethical.

In addition to the disappointingly-framed main character, very little thought went into her extra-sensory visions. It eventually seems like she sees what's best described as ghosts, except they don't follow rules. Some are locked to locations. Some follow other people. Some follow her. Sometimes she can hear them. Sometimes they are silent even though they appear to be speaking. Sometimes the people she sees are definitely dead. Sometimes they may not be.

The salvage mission and the crew's experiences on the ship are pretty gory. It fits with the pacing and tone that make this a good choice for horror readers.

Stronger editing could have rearranged enough to make the lead character less disappointing, and caught the inconsistencies in her experiences.

Although the promotional copy for Dead Silence advertises S.A. Barnes's story as "Titanic meets The Shining," it feels more like a severely watered-down derivative of Aliens and Event Horizon with an unwanted dash of romance tacked on for good measure.

While repairing a communication satellites in deep space, Claire Kovalik picks up a distress signal from the lost luxury cruise ship, the Aurora. Immediately sensing fame and fortune over such a discovery, they chart a course to make their salvage and find way more than they expected. The Aurora, it turns out, is a literal ghost ship and the vacuum-frozen corpses floating throughout the Titanic-inspired vessel show signs of extreme violence. For the ghosts aboard, as well as for the readers, Claire's team represents fresh victims. Yay!

Told in alternating "Then" and "Now" chapters, Barnes builds up an ominous background for Ripley's, I mean, Claire's ordeal aboard the Aurora as she's interrogated by a pair of company-men from Weyland-Yutani Verux, the corporation that owns the lost ship and wants it back. Claire, you see, has amnesia and doesn't recall how she escaped from the haunted vessel or how all of her crew died. But she is certain she can't let this greedy, evil corporation get their hands on it!

Barnes does have some neat ideas and scenes over the course of Dead Silence, even if they don't all play out to their fullest potential. When we first meet Claire in the opening "Now" chapter, we get the impression she's an unreliable narrator thanks to the combination of psychiatric drugs being pumped into her and the hallucinations of her dead crew coming and going and drilling holes in their ghostly noggins. It's fun stuff, but Barnes forgoes giving her central character, or the story Claire relates to us and Verux's investigators, any sort of ambiguity. For a book that is ostensibly about madness, insanity, and psychosis, it's sadly straight-forward, which makes the head-games rather unfulfilling and ultimately as passive as can be.

Better was Barnes's depiction of Claire as a trauma survivor with a decidedly suicidal bent, as well as the commentary on corporate greed via Verux. But, again, this latter point isn't really a fresh or compelling take on bad businesses compared to the Alien flicks that clearly inspired it, and which Barnes liberally borrows from at regular turns throughout the story's plot. About the only element she hasn't cribbed from those movies is Jones the cat, who is sadly missing here. Well, Jones and the xenomorphs, since Barnes is cobbling Event Horizon's ghost ship conceit atop Ripley's story to make it her own.

Sadly, Dead Silence failed to live up to the expectations generated by Tor Nightfire's marketing team, thanks to its lack of originality and any genuine scares, sluggish pacing, and a heavy focus on Claire and Kane's will-they-or-won't-they romance. And, why yes, Kane was a character in the first Alien movie! Ultimately, you can skip Dead Silence and watch Aliens and Event Horizon instead. Those movies are much better than this book, and you can thank me later.

On the end of their final tour before being made redundant and laid off, Claire and her team discover the long lost luxury spaceship Aurora. Hoping to find something that will make up for their imminent job loss, the team explores the ship and finds only horrors. Months later Claire, believing herself the sole survivor, returns with a corporate team and finds that whatever she thought she'd found, the reality is far worse. Creepy and engaging, the tension of the narrative compels the reader through the tightly plotted story. Claire's own tragic past and odd abilities combine with her dubious mental health to create an unreliable narrator seeking reality. My favorite of the space horror stories of the past year.

I am such a fan of Dead Silence that upon finishing it, I added it to my wishlist. I honestly don't know what that says about me as a person, because it's a fairly messed up book, but I can live with that. I want to tell you so much about this book, so you can run out and read it, but then I want to tell you so little, again, so you can run out and read it! I am going to tell you a few things I loved, keep it short and sweet, and then, you know, tell you to go out and read it!

First, you should know it's told in both past and present- so you're seeing glimpses of Claire's current situation, and back when she and her crew initially found the Aurora. The Aurora is this big ol' luxury ship where rich folks decided to vacation, basically. So, Space Titanic meets Kardashians, basically.

►I loved the character dynamics. There was just something about the way the characters interacted with each other that I devoured. Claire was written really well, in that the reader has no idea how reliable she is, but she still seems sympathetic and likable. Interestingly, Claire herself is a bit... curmudgeonly. That doesn't make her any less likable and relatable though, it may even make her more so. And her interactions with her crew especially, but even the rescuers, is extremely entertaining and one of my favorite parts of the story.

►The Aurora is messed up! Remember those Kardashians? I mean, not the actual Kardashians, but some "influencer" family were among the passengers, along with everyone you can think of who could be considered the rich and famous. From athletes to movie stars to tech moguls to reality TV randos, this ship was filled to the brink with them. And not only them, but the secrets they harbored, too. The secrets the ship itself harbored, perhaps more importantly. This is not going to be a happy reunion for Claire's crew and the Aurora, as you can already surmise after decades have passed. But even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined how messed up this ship would be! And as always, I cannot tell you anything else, just. It's bananas in there.

►The stakes are even higher than just Claire and the crew's lives. I really enjoyed that this had stakes outside of just Claire and her crew, or even the entirety of the Aurora's crew and guests. I can't say more for fear of spoilers, but there is so much more at play here.

►It was simply unputdownable. You know the kind of book that you just cannot stop reading? And if you must stop, you literally think about it until you get back to it? Yeah, that was this book for me. I was beyond hooked.

Bottom Line: It's dark, exciting, full of great characters and a deliciously creepy space mystery. You seriously need it in your life.

Trapped


I loved books set in cold environments and I love books where people are trapped, and survival is the only option. I also love all things set in space: Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. So, this was right up my alley. Imagine being on a luxury craft deep in space and you-know-what beings to hit the fan! Something isn't quite right, but you are so far from home, there is nowhere to go and no way out!!!

This really did feel like an homage to The Shining set-in space!

Claire Kovalik and her team pick up a distress signal. Not wanting to go back to Earth, she and her crew decide to investigate. This is their first mistake. What they find is a massive luxury space liner which disappeared twenty years ago. The Aurora, which evokes Titanic vibes, vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system. They board the ship. This is their second mistake.

Goosebumps!

This is where the magic or shall I say chills and thrills begin. There is an underlying sense of unease, dread, and anxiety. They hear things, they see things, words written in blood! This book is atmospheric and dripping with tension. I could feel their fear, their unease, their inner turmoil. What is real and what is not? Are they alone on the ship or is something sinister lurking in the shadows? I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if Sigourney Weaver and an alien would pop out! Don't worry, they don't but.... anything is possible!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable and gripping read. I was glued to the pages, desperately swiping my kindle, wanting/needing to know just what was going to happen next!

Whew! I can't wait to see what these authors come up with next. Fingers crossed that the next book is in the works!

If you are into deep space chills and thrills, this book is for you!

Atmospheric, Chilling, and hard to put down!


Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received an eArc of this sci-fi novel through NetGalley in exchange for me honest musings . . .

I love books about shipwrecks, ghost ships, and ghost stories.  So this was a must read for me.  And it was a lot of fun.  The story follows Claire Kovalik whose crew is on their final mission setting up communication equipment on the far edges of space.  They are about to head out when their ship receives a distress signal.  Nothing should be out here but they investigate and discover a luxury cruise liner, the Aurora, that went missing over 20 years ago with everyone on board long presumed dead.  Why is it so far off course?  The crew wants to claim the ship for salvage and fame.  They don't get what they expect.

I really loved Claire.  She is an unreliable narrator due to past trauma.  Are Claire's ghosts in her head or literal?  I thought the structure of the novel set this up so nicely in that ye start in the present with Claire in hospital, go back into the past, and then get caught back up to the present before moving forward.  I was kept guessing the entire time about both Claire's mental state and if she even understood what the truth was.  It could be frustrating to many readers because not everything is answered.  I, however, thought it keep the tension strung out nicely.

I also thought the horror of the state of the bodies was creepy and fun.  How folks ended up dead was excellent even if the why of it ended up being a minor weak part for me.  That said, I loved the company's attempted cover up and how the plot resolved.  Aye, ye have to suspend disbelief a bit (especially for the final chapters of the book) but it was a fast paced read that I didn't want to put down.  I am so glad to have read this one.

So lastly . . .

Thank ye kindly Tor Nightfire!

This book was awesome! Claire and her team are on a routine mission when they stumble upon a huge unsolved mystery. Spooky things start to haunt them/happen to them as they board the Aurora--are they being haunted or are they losing their minds? I love this genre: spooky space things. I am also really glad that it was "lower" sci-fi and not something I would have to learn a whole culture and language and star system for. I just wanted the spooky space things and this absolutely delivered. The characters were a little bit flat/at times felt like they were there to serve the plot instead of the other way around, but I found myself genuinely caring for them which is hard to get me to do. I think my biggest gripe with the story was that I needed the spookiness to start a little bit earlier and be a bit more prolonged. It feels like we don't really get much spooky happenings, which is what I really wanted out of this book. But the setting and tone was immaculate! I would highly recommend this work!