Read this book. Just do it. Whether it’s kindle or paper or audio, I don’t care. Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes is fan-freaking-tastic, a true escape from whatever is going on in your world.
I feel like I should be up front about this: S.A. Barnes is a Facebook friend of mine, and has been for many years. For that matter, she’s been a friend to Cannonball Read. She’s been so kind as to contribute signed copies of her books* to CBR in the past as part of the prizes available for Bingo. I bought this book mostly to support her without any thought to actually read it – it’s way out of my usual wheelhouse. All of that said, this is one crazy ride and I am so glad I decided to go ahead and read it.
I’ve seen other reviews that equate it to a mashup of The Shining and Titanic. And, that’s not wrong, but it’s also so much more than that. Gloriously atmospheric with a very unreliable narrator, it’s a bottle story about a repair crew on the last days of their last mission fixing communications satellites at the farthest edge of travelled space. In addition to the space and horror stuff, there’s some romance, a critique of the giant corporations taking over the world, some elements of The Terminator franchise with computers and robots taking over everything. I wasn’t sure how she’d be able to weave all of this into a coherent story, but Barnes did, and it’s uh-mahzing.
I’m not going to go into any details about the actual plot – I want you to enjoy it for yourself like I got to. If you have any people in your life that like sci-fi and/or horror, I hope you’ll do them a favor and send them a copy of this fantastic book.
*under nom de plume Stacey Kade
