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Dead Silence

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What to expect

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

Critics Review

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
Author S.A. Barnes
Narrator Lauren Ezzo
Duration 13 hours and 9 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529974058
Format Audiobook
Publisher Transworld
Genre Contemporary horror and ghost stories, Crime and mystery fiction, Ghosts and poltergeists, Narrative theme: Interior life, Science fiction: space exploration
Availability AU, GB, IE

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