Dead Silence

Written by S.A. Barnes

Narrated by Lauren Ezzo

"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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Feb 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781250841346

S.A. Barnes

S.A. BARNES works in a high school library by day, recommending reads, talking with students, and removing the occasional forgotten cheese-stick-as-bookmark. The author has published numerous novels across different genres, but Dead Silence is the first published as S. A. Barnes. Barnes lives in Illinois with more dogs and books than is advisable and a very patient spouse.

Reviews for Dead Silence

[MC Chronister · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was amazing. SA Barnes wrote a gripping masterpiece that will keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing the entire time. Fear gripped me as the final few scenes played out and I was rooting for the main characters to just make it.

[Szabó Anna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dead Silence is one of the best books I’ve read this year.
I didn’ particulary like the characters, beside Kane but the story was creepy and exciting.

The audiobook version is great.

[ShaTonya Wooley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was okay. I would definitely read more from this author.

[Sarah Blomquist · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Story might be good but I couldn't get past the bad narrator. Her different character voices/acting are difficult to listen to and it distracts from the story.

[Cody C. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Legit an awesome read. Did this as a book club with some friends for a spooky sci-fi read, and we all loved it.

It is a bit of a slow burn at the start, but wow, does it pick up.

[Black N White Cookie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not too bad but not great either. Definitely enjoyable enough to listen to while working.

[Jenneci · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful horror with sci fi, think Ghostship the movie meets space, then times it by ten. Loved the descriptions, felt and related to the characters, and the audiobook version is one of my favorite readings now, highly recommend listening to it!

[Trevor Sheedy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's fine, a mishmash of Event Horizon, Ghost Ship and Titanic. The narrator made the protagonist seem much weaker/hysterical than I think she was intended to be, and getting through the end was a task and a half. Interesting and fun premise for absolute certain. Drags in spots.

[Julia Shaw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I couldn’t stop listening. The story and the narrator were both excellent.

[Heidi Sheehan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The first half of the book was the best part, the middle part was good, the reveal of what was going on was kind of lacking, but the ending was okay. At least for me.

[Anton Kusal · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Overall the premise of the story is great, and I thought the voice actor did a good job with the character, but unfortunately I just didn't find it gripping or interesting. The author decided to reveal too much information too soon, and it took away from the overall suspense. Also, it is quite evident that the author's bread and butter is YA Romance, and despite trying to branch out into the Horror and Science Fiction genres, I could still see the skeleton of YA Romance underneath the new skin. I think this author has a lot of potential, but this one missed the mark for me.

[Rob Saunders · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's a good story with a good premise but has a big plot hole at the end.

[scott · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Event Horizon meets the Titanic. Does nothing you wouldn't expect going in.

[Rachel Bowers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

the narrator was fantastic. So much emotion in their voice made the story seem so real.

The writing was amazing. It was so atmospheric and scary. It was interesting to not know if the narrator was reliable or not.
The reveals and the ending was perfect!
I just enjoyed it so much!

[Xiomy Santiago · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an epic sci-fi, horror novel one that I will definitely be rereading. The unreliable narrator trying to piece the shattered fragment of a mission gone wrong. I have to admit my jaw dropped a few times and I was scared at times while reading certain parts. This book was never read at night, lol! Yes, I'm a yellow-belly coward who likes to delve rarely in horror books, but I enjoy a great sci-fi story.

[gabypd44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it! This book is a wild ride. A sci-fi masterpiece! I was on the edge since the first pages.

[Jennifer Hutcheson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narration is amazingggg. I felt every emotion and was throughly sucked in. I will say first off Sci-Fi is normally my jam. But this really surprised me. The atmosphere and emotions sucked me in and held me throughout the book. I was throughly creeped out at some scenes and frustrated at some of the horrible situations our main character goes through. I will say I think I was more open to this story because it kept the science talk to a minimum. Which is a relief since I am not big on scientific talk. If S.A. Barnes makes more books like this sign me the heck up.

[Jake McFadden · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall, a fun time, even if it wasn't totally amazing. The author did a great job building the mood they were going for. A bit of a lackluster ending in my opinion, but it was still a decent time listening and it helped scratch my itch for something different and a bit spooky.

[Micheal Beers · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There was a really great book somewhere in there. I wanted to love this book. Take out all the strange non sequiturs, time jumps, and repeated statements and I think I would have. Worth the listen/read if you care more about character and world building than story and pacing.

Aside from the book itself, the voice actor made some choices that made the main character seem like she was always on the verge of a mental breakdown (which I'm guessing was intentional). The fact that the actor always sounded on the cusp of tears got a little grating. She gave it her all, and I don't think she did a terrible job, just made a very intense choice that may not be to everybody's liking.

[Seth · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

First off warning the reader gets loud and almost yells which is very annoying so if you are using headphones be warned. Now we for the book I did not finish. The main character is so annoying and badly written. The story altered between her last trauma and the present which was done very poorly and I just didn't care about the MC enough to want to hear about her past trauma. It did add anything to the story. All the other characters were bland as well and very stereotypical and predictable.