An investigator must solve a brutal murder on a claustrophobic space station in this tense science fiction thriller from the author of Salvation Day.Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She's surprised to hear from an old friend and fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life—and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history and the tragedy that neither of them can leave behind.Before Hester can learn more, her friend is violently murdered at a remote asteroid mine. Hester joins the investigation to find the truth, both about her friend's death and the information he believed he had uncovered. But catching a killer is only the beginning of Hester's worries, and she soon realizes that everything she learns about her friend, his fellow miners, and the outpost they call home brings her closer to revealing secrets that very powerful and very dangerous people would rather keep hidden in the depths of space.
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Dead Space is what I'd probably call a sci-fi thriller with very strong cyberpunk detective vibes. The story follows Hester Marley, who works a mediocre job as a security consultant for a company she hates but to which she is deeply indebted. When a close friend and former colleague is murdered and connections to their past resurface, Marley becomes determined to get to the bottom of it.
This was such a palate cleanser for me after Dead Silence, which I was deeply disappointed by, and I think I'm in the minority opinion but this worked so much better for me. In a lot of ways, Marley reminded me of Murderbot but without the humor. She's dealing with PTSD and depression after the way her life changed after a terrorist attack and the exploration of that trauma was intriguing and sympathetic rather than frustrating.
I also really loved the exploration of robots and AI in this one, there are places that it almost anthropomorphizes elements of the robots and explores the way humans tend to do that and the ways large companies will exploit their employees if given the slightest leeway to do so. This focus on mega corporations vs the individual definitely gave me the strong cyberpunk vibes and I loved that.
Overall, Dead Space gave me exactly what I wanted: a futuristic thriller with hints of horror and a sympathetic but deeply flawed main character. I will warn that it has a very open ending so if that sort of thing bothers you, it might not be for you. I got the resolution I wanted from it so I was left satisfied and definitely willing to try more from Kali Wallace.
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