halfway through dead silence which i began feeling somewhat apprehensive about and gradually fell into the story, specifically the characters. it's a old trope, a long haul with a washed up crew about to return home pick up a distress signal. the signal comes from a long lost luxury ship akin to the titanic that mysteriously vanished. the captain makes the decision to claim salvage and the crew board her, only to find something terrible awaits them.

this is a classic horror novel but set in space, what makes it good is the characters whom are sympathetic and interesting. i must admit there's some great visuals attached, descriptions that are ripe for the feature film, but it's nothing new, just well done. so far the 'mystery' has yet to be revealed but the reader finds out very early on, the captain is the only survivor.

i finished 'psalms for the end of the world' a week ago,  and was shocked to discover that the story ended up being similar to my own novel on a few points. however 'psalms' was far more complex and covered more ground. early on i picked out the 'bowie' references which later are littered through the whole narrative. in the writers acknowledgements he does mention bowie, and i must admit that was quite satisfying. i'm not sure if the whole novel worked, it was similar to 'ghostwritten' but lacked the dynamics, choosing a more intricate plot line. parts were excellent, and some parts just to messy, but all in all an excellent idea. again, a film in the making.