Elska Bee reviewed Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes
Review of 'Dead Silence' on 'Goodreads'
No rating because I DNF'd this 80% of the way in.
I struggle to pinpoint what exactly didn't work for me here, it was lots of little things. I really wanted to like this because I love the movie Ghost Ship with all my heart and this sounded similar. I think my biggest issues were with tropes and pacing and these were things more about my own personal taste than any writing issues. Mainly:
- I don't love the semi-unreliable narrator trope, especially when it's due to mental illness
- I don't like when I'm 80% in and the book can't make up it's mind about whether it's going to paranormal or not (it's just confusingly handled imo)
- I don't like the way dual timeline is done
- the big reveal is a trope I just have no interest in and had no impact on me (also... supremely stupid) …
No rating because I DNF'd this 80% of the way in.
I struggle to pinpoint what exactly didn't work for me here, it was lots of little things. I really wanted to like this because I love the movie Ghost Ship with all my heart and this sounded similar. I think my biggest issues were with tropes and pacing and these were things more about my own personal taste than any writing issues. Mainly:
- I don't love the semi-unreliable narrator trope, especially when it's due to mental illness
- I don't like when I'm 80% in and the book can't make up it's mind about whether it's going to paranormal or not (it's just confusingly handled imo)
- I don't like the way dual timeline is done
- the big reveal is a trope I just have no interest in and had no impact on me (also... supremely stupid)
- I felt very disconnected from the characters. I don't think it helped that the main character should have been in her early to mid 20's not 30's because that's how she read
- the romance was pointless and annoying and felt like it was more related to attachment issues than actual feelings
- The horror felt meh. It read more like a thriller with horror elements, but wasn't really compelling enough to be a good thriller for me
Ultimately I just don't like any aspect of it enough to finish it and with 20% still to go I can feel already that it's gonna get dragged out.