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  • Dead Silence

  • By: S.A. Barnes
  • Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
  • Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (164 ratings)

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Dead Silence cover art

Dead Silence

By: S.A. Barnes
Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
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Summary

"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

©2022 S.A. Barnes (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"This story slides and slithers from creepy and atmospheric to skin-crawling, edge-of-your-seat terror." —T. Kingfisher, author of The Hollow Places

"Barnes ably conjures the kind of haunting setting and atmosphere required for this Event Horizon-esque novel, providing an effective sense of immediacy to Claire's frequently shifting and at times tenuous grip on reality. Recommended for fans of claustrophobic space horror." —Booklist

“Dead Silence mixes horror, mystery and sci-fi into a thrill ride sure to shock you out of your reading rut. ...a claustrophobic race against time as the ship’s horrors begin to affect the crew one by one. Dread slowly builds as small, frightening moments inside the Aurora multiply, showcasing Barnes’ patient plotting and steady pacing. This is one of those time-warp books—the ones where you look away from the clock, then look back and it’s suddenly way past your bedtime.” —BookPage, Starred Review

What listeners say about Dead Silence

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

After all the buildup...

I pre-ordered this months ago, as soon as it came out for pre-order. I'd read reviews raving about this book, so couldn't wait for it, having seen it compared to "ghost ship," "the shining," and "Titanic." But I have to say, I agree with one of my fellow reviewers. Claire was owned by her past and didn't seem strong enough to move on, yet she was hurt by someone saying she wouldn't be a good captain? I thought her story dominated the horror, which was the part I personally was looking forward to most. At the time of writing this I haven't actually finished the book yet and fully intend to, but I can't see my opinion changing. I don't like Claire much I'm afraid. I find her annoying and frustrating. I much prefer Kyle and Lordess.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!

very satisfying story and beautifully narrated! the twist is scientifically sound and plausible. Claire was a nice protagonist!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Stunning story and perfect narrator

I can’t understate how much I loved Dead Silence. A brilliantly written story that fans of Aliens will thoroughly enjoy, though the plot, theme, and characters stand on their own merit. The narrator was perfect and made it almost impossible to put down. Five stars!

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Bloody awful.

A waste of a credit! I have never felt the need to leave such a negative review before. Descriptive poor so that I could not seat my imagination in the storey. Jo

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A bit of a drag

The main chart was a bit pathetic and I really was sick of her by the end of the story

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

The narrator kills it

An enjoyable story with the most atrocious narration I have ever came across. She ruins the entire book.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Deas Silence reminds me of Event Horizon

Okay just wow. The spooky atmosphere and mystery in this was wonderful and this book is definitely a new favorite. Someone needs to turn this into a movie because I need it ASAP!

This hit everything I love in a good space horror. The building tension of what Claire's team will find on board mixed with the horrors they are finding that keeps the story spooky and mysterious 10/10

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Genre busting SF

Structure of the story steadily ratchets up the tension with a satisfactory, but unexpected, explanation for the mysteries. The luxury spaceship liner where the main action takes place provides a wonderful setting. Also very well narrated, to give the perspective of someone who is often on the edge of reason. Overall, this is genre-busting, not just great SF, but a wonderful story that is skillfully told.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Gripping from start to finish, very well written and Lauren Ezzo performs this narration with real emotion.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • MG
  • 19-06-23

A Horrific Thrillride

There are generally 2 ways to do Horror in Space - 1 leans heavily into Alien/Aliens Territory, the other, Event Horizon. Dead Silence does the latter, but does it will finesse. Barnes has written a great story here, and Im honestly surprised this is her first jump into the genre.

Lauren Ezzo is a powerhouse of a narrator - will be checking out more of her narrations in future.

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  • Donald Klaczko
  • 12-03-22

Couldn’t finish

Like others, I really wanted to like this book. It seemed to have all the pieces of a horror story I would love. Unfortunately, there’s not a single likable character, and the main character is so loathsome it ruins any chance of this being a good story for me.

In short, the vast majority of this book is self-deprecating internal monologues by a character that hates herself so much you as a reader can’t possibly help but feel the same. I’m typically an empathetic reader, but I just wanted her to shut up so we could get to the actual plot/mystery. In the end, never having to hear her utter another whoa is me diatribe was more worth it to me than resolving the mystery at the crux of this book. Thank goodness for audibles generous return policy.

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13 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 17-02-22

worst narration ever

the narration goes two speeds whining ,and yelling...couldn't finish it....horrid.....absolutely ...I mean absolutely horrible.

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9 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • samuraisam
  • 05-03-22

Slow pacing, slower narrator

It's not a slow burn if nothing ever burns. I had to up the narration speed just to be able to pay attention. Boring start, boring middle, boring end. 10/10 would not recommend.

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Moses
  • 23-02-22

Pleasantly surprised

For author's I don't recognize I try not to hold them to the same standard I would a renowned writer. I'm this case you can throw that out the window. The masterful and artistic way the story is told, events described and twist unfolds keeps you listening and paying attention for clues. Despite the predictable nature of the story, which come on it's a ghost ship story, you will enjoy every gruesome heart-wrenching second of it! 100% recommend!

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Shane Sullivan
  • 24-03-22

Harlequin Romance in spaaaaaacccceee!!!!

Mind you, I have never read a Harlequin novel, but if a cheesy romance in space sounds good to you, party on. I had to tap out with 4hr 41 min remaining. I could not listen to one more hug me but don't touch me moment by this bi-polar main character. I really wanted Ghost ship in space. This is not Ghost ship in space....well to be fair, I tapped out before ghost may or may not have show up. The main Character Claire is so poorly written, I had to check to see if a dude wrote this. This extreme bi-polar captain was such a broken character, the love story was so painful to listen to, I just couldn't take it anymore.

I really think the reader was left with such a whiny convoluted mess that she did not have a chance for a great performance. She is a talented reader, but this story....man, it had to be rough being ready to cry with every sentence, but not being allowed to because the main character can overcome anything except when she couldn't, but really she's tough as nails, wipes tear, because she can't handle anything...now act like a teenage girl, then woman up be brave, conquer all, until she needs a hug, but don't touch her, unless she wants you too, but run away once you do......exhausted just writing this. Can't imagine what the next four hours and forty one minutes had in store for me.

Generic characters, unlikable main hero and the poor reader ready to cry with every sentence made this a book I just couldn't finish. The writer obviously has chops as the few scenes of carnage were well written and had me wanting more. She just needs to work on characters. I didn't like one of them, well except the dead ones, they were fine. if this book was free I wouldn't have said a thing, but I paid full price and didn't finish. so yeah, my two cents, move along nothing to see here unless Harlequin in Spppppaaaaccceeeee! is your thing.

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6 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • KJH
  • 21-02-22

Event Horizon/Aliens/Sixth Sense mash up

I have to agree with many of the other reviews. I wanted to like this book but the annoying lead character, semi-annoying narrator and other issues blocked my enjoyment of this sci-fi movie mash up.

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6 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Aaron
  • 25-01-23

so much potential. main character was too whiny.

struggled to finish. the narrator of the story has a great voice, but when she tries to do male voices, or emotional ones or just pronounce hard 'P's like in the word 'up' I just got annoyed.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Natalie 🧂
  • 28-02-22

Cain's chest was a problem

The story was an incredible and unique premise but MY GOODNESS the repeated mentions of a male characters chest every couple of minutes had me wanting to tear my hair out. The narrator was lovely!

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Jacob Greenough
  • 15-01-23

Annoying main character

Struggled to finish main character was very annoying. other female character acted like a child. wasn't scary at all. listen to most my books while driving and it did the job of entertaining me. wouldnt recommend to anyone

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Colleen A. Houtz
  • 06-05-22

Obviously Haunted Spaceship is Obviously Haunted

Struggled to finish this one. At first I was really invested in the mystery, but with the timeline jumping around and characters being so poorly fleshed out, I just lost interest. It feels like this book wanted to be a mash-up of Event Horizon and The Haunting of Hill House, but ended up being more like Disney's Haunted Mansion in space. And there's a desperate attempt at a romance crammed in there sideways like it would somehow compensate for the lack of character development.

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