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Dead Silence

The sci-fi haunted house story from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Death's Daughter

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Dead Silence

By: S.A. Barnes
Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
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Brought to you by Penguin.

A GHOST SHIP. A SALVAGE CREW. UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.

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.

'Truly un-put-downable in its purest sense' Chloe Gong, bestselling author of These Violent Delights

'At the intersection of science fiction and horror, Dead Silence is the ultimate haunted house story, in space' Alma Katsu, author of The Deep and The Hunger

'This story slides and slithers from creepy and atmospheric to skin-crawling, edge-of-your-seat terror' T. Kingfisher, author of The Hollow Places

© S.A. Barnes 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Ghosts Horror Science Fiction Space Exploration Haunted Scary
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Critic reviews

I ate this book in one sitting because I was in the mood to be freaked out and it delivered tremendously. Truly un-put-downable in its purest sense. (Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS)
Stomach-turning, sinister space horror perfect for fans of Alien and Event Horizon. (Kendare Blake)
At the intersection of science fiction and horror, Dead Silence is the ultimate haunted house story, in space. (Alma Katsu)
This story slides and slithers from creepy and atmospheric to skin-crawling, edge-of-your-seat terror (T. Kingfisher)
Dead Silence gives you the suffocating claustrophobia of 2001: A Space Odyssey mixed with the horrors of Alien. I couldn't stop reading (Mur Lafferty)
The richly realized world that S.A. Barnes creates draws us in, and the relatable characters charm us. The dread mounts to a powerful conclusion (David Wellington)
All stars
Most relevant
Did this book have elements of Aliens, Event Horizon and Odd Thomas?
Yes.
Does this mean it's great?
No, sorry.
Aside from the large plot hole, annoying as hell narration and derivative plot.... nope... I've got nothing.
Don't waste a credit.
(Thankfully, I don't have any books in my TBR pile with this narrator, small blessings

Sigh......

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The story was derivative, borrowing heavily from Aliens among other films and was generally unoriginal and lacked surprises. The first person narration style got really boring. It felt like a chore to finish this book. I hate leaving a bad review, and I really thought I would love this book but perhaps I can save someone else their credit.

Not the best.

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great story but let down by the narrator. Dramatic emphasis on every other word was too much and took me out of the story

great story, bad narration

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This is the most derivative nothingburger of a book I have ever read. Everything that happens is an element the author borrowed from a movie, but at no point does the author bother to add their own touch to make things interesting. The characters are cardboard cutouts who never get more interesting than when they first appear, not even when the horrors start. The horrors themselves are repetitive hallucinations from the main character, descriptions of dead passengers we have no reason to care about, and identical freakouts from every single side character. The best example of this book's failures are when we hit the Aliens 2 part of the story; the author doesn't even bother to characterize the marines before they all die horribly. Offscreen, of course, because why bother showing even more of the same at that point? The icing on the cardboard cake is a twist that renders the horrors even more meaningless than they already were. I'm genuinely baffled the author managed to do so little with such an interesting premise. Don't bother with this book, just watch Event Horizon, or Aliens 2, or Ghost Ship, or Terminator 2, or Titanic, or Magnetic Rose.

10+ hours of meaningless jump scares

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I took a risk on this title, having never heard of the author before. But I was pleasantly surprised. Sure it borrows elements of the Alien franchise, Dead Space & Event Horizon but it moulds them into an entertaining story. The narration is a bit iffy at times but generally solid. I'd recommend if you're partial to a sci-fi horror.

Decent Sci-Fi Horror

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