How Does Barnes Use Multiple Viewpoints In Dead Silence

Dead Silence," a mystery novel, by S.A. Barnes follows the tragic story of Claire

Kovalik, a space crew leader who wishes to be isolated and her crew, as they discover the mysterious murderous result of space luxury, and eventually the deaths of their own team members. The novel explores both the timeline of Claire’s story, as well as her amnesia state after the series of deaths. Through the utilization of techniques such as multiple viewpoints, suspense, and story pacing, “Dead Silence” explores a tone of discomfort.

One of the key ways in which Barnes creates a sense of unease is through the use of multiple viewpoints. The author uses multiple viewpoints to assist the reader in following the discomfort theme by giving the reader pieces

In chapter 19, Kovalik is experiencing a delusional state, unsure of reality, the author to assist the reader’s comprehension of her state cuts the chapter from her crew mates helping her, to all of the sudden one of them is dead without an explanation, the book goes the character Lourdes confused, because of hallucinations on which one of the two Claire’s she sees are real “Well, are you sure this is even the right Claire?” (Barnes 193). Lourdes ask,” to Claire also experiencing double vision of Lourdes to ultimately discover her death “Only one Lourdes. The one on the floor next to me. Silent. Empty. Dead.” The cause of Lourdes death is not revealed, by making the reader wait to uncover the next aspect of the story, the author makes them think about what they already know and have read, causing them to make assumptions and second guess the knowledge they have, adding to the uneasy tone. In the plot line, Kovalik is taken back to the ship to help uncover her memories and is locked in a room on the ship by one of the men who was interviewing her, at the end of this specific chapter she states “A portion of a cover story that will make the whole thing that much more believable” (Barnes 266), which concludes the chapter. There was no other explanation in the chapter as to what she meant by a cover story, this exclusion makes the reader want to continue because of

The story moves fairly slowly, which along with the suspense written into the plot, causes the reader to jump to conclusions. The novel's slow beginnings that still hold mystery are what lead the reader to interpret the uneasy tone. When readers make assumptions about a story, it is based on information that they already had access to, the author's pacing in “Dead Silence” made sure that the story did not progress too quickly and left the reader feeling wary. To build upon the reader's unease and confusion, the author drew out an explanation using pacing to have the reader relate with a character. Upon the crew's discovery of the Aurora, the teams “green” member is left in a state of confusion where her team fails on several occasions to give her proper information, “No. No way…The Cassiopeia…That’s it. They decommissioned it, after… But it was destroyed. Blown up!” (Barnes 24), were all remarks made by the crew of the LINA ship, which received a repeated response by confused team member Lourdes of “What are you guys talking about.” Without making the story drag out, the slow story pace of the plot's development created both a false sense of temporary security and ultimately discomfort. Another time