Dead Silence

August 30, 2021
Finders have a hard time being keepers in Barnes’s adult debut, a horror-inflected space opera that details the last mission of a communications repair crew. Claire Kovalik, sole survivor of a Mars colony disaster, and her crew are wrapping up a final tour of the outskirts of the Solar system before their jobs are taken over by machines when they pick up a distress call. The ship signaling them is the Aurora, a super-luxury liner that disappeared 20 years ago on its maiden voyage with all its celebrity passengers. Expecting a wealth of salvage, Claire and crew are eager to detour. But shocking carnage awaits them onboard and solving the mystery of whatever killed the Aurora’s crew could mean madness and death for Claire and company. And their employer, the Verux Corporation, seems less than pleased to have the sordid past brought to light. Barnes, who writes YA as Stacey Kade (the Project Paper Doll series), plays nicely on human fears of both madness and of ghosts, carefully blurring the line between science fiction and horror, though readers may realize the truth behind the ship’s haunting before Claire tracks down the answer. Those with a taste for blending genres will enjoy this combo. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary.

January 1, 2022

DEBUT Clarie Kovalik leads a crew on the farthest outpost in space; her troubled history means isolation suits her perfectly. Hours away from returning to Earth, Kovalik and her crew pick up on an emergency beacon from a long-lost luxury ship. When the crew boards the dead ship, they find clues that are immediately troubling, obviously violent, and scientifically inexplicable. Even worse, whatever destroyed those passengers might still be lying in wait. With a compelling haunted-house-in-space frame, excellent worldbuilding, vivid imagery, biting social commentary, sustained tension, and a storytelling style that seamlessly moves between the mortal danger of the present and Kovalik's unsettling past, this sf-horror blend will resonate loudly with readers. VERDICT The Titanic and Sixth Sense vibes will pique interest, but it's the engaging, traumatized narrator Kovalik whom readers will root for, even when they don't always trust her, and who will keep them turning the pages. For fans of both space horror like The Luminous Dead, by Caitlin Starling, or Hematophages, by Stephen Koziniewski, and ghost stories linked to family trauma like The Good House, by Tananarive Due.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2022
Barnes' first novel for adults takes place 128 years in the future, when mankind has reached the stars but is dominated by competing megacorporations. Claire Kovalik, captain of a maintenance ship in a remote sector of space, is facing a future in free fall after completing her last mission. The discovery of a rescue signal from the long-lost space ""cruise ship"" the Aurora changes all that as Claire and her four crew members decide to salvage the valuable remains of the ship. The story is told through Claire narrating the events of the salvaging trip to skeptical corporate interrogators; Barnes' narrative follows Claire as she struggles not only with her own traumatic past as the sole survivor of a plague-ridden Mars colony but also with whatever drove the inhabitants of the Aurora, and now possibly her own crew, mad. 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.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.