First, as always, thanks to Flame Tree Press, NetGalley, and John Palisano for the opportunity to read, and review, this novel in exchange for an honest review.

And honest it will be. Let’s start with a little background. I wasn’t familiar with John’s work until one of his stories came across my desk for consideration when I was putting together Dark Tides. I obviously liked his style since I included it. Since then, I have only read a bunch of short stories by John (and one novella with Lisa Morton), and not a full length novel. REQUIEM was my first – and won’t be my last.

REQUIEM is a space horror – no, not like “Jason X”, or “Alien”. More along the likes of “2001: A Space Odyssey” – only, it’s not the computer that’s the protagonist. In fact, throughout most of the book, you are never sure if what is going on is actually happening, or if it is, why?

The premise is this – there’s a gigantic cemetery (close to planet size) where the dead is interred in special clear caskets preserved for ever. Their relatives can view them from Earth with special telescopes that are zoned in on their specific loved one. An interesting concept, but a logistical nightmare. A crew is sent to make sure Eden (the name of this place), can be back up and running after an accident.

What occurs after will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering (sometimes out loud), “What the hell?!”

OK, so you’re saying, “Yeah, that kind of thing has been done before”, and you’d be right. In fact, as I was reading it on the treadmill at the gym, my random playlist started playing The Blue Danube started playing – and all I could picture was Kubrick’s movie, done to John’s writing. But that shouldn’t distract you from reading it.

John has a knack for character development that many writers can’t touch. He fleshes them out, and makes them flawed, but strong when needed. You actually feel for them. On top of that, his descriptive writing will make you feel claustrophobic at times – even if you’re not in real life.

Lastly, John knows humor. You’ll see a touch of it in the Epilogue – which also ties the entire story up nicely, but not gratuitously.

*Huge thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for a digital ARC of this one!*

Space horror. Science fiction themes merged with terrifying elements. When done well, it’s a subgenre that easily whisks away the reader and keeps them hooked no matter one. And one big key to that is the total isolation aspect. On solid ground, here on earth, if something horrible happens, a character can run away or get in a car and drive as far away as possible.

But in space…

Well, you’re stuck. Sure, maybe you have an escape pod, but then what? Or maybe there’s a rescue ship coming? Well, that ship isn’t just around the block and you’ve certainly not used Uber to call it.

It’s that claustrophobic aspect of going where so few humans have gone before that always draws me in and makes for an unsettling read.

Now, with Palisano at the helm, I knew I’d be getting a lush, but ultimately unnerving experience. If you’ve not read any of John’s work before, you absolutely need to get on that. I suggest you start with his novella ‘Glass House’ which is haunting and heartbreaking, or dive into his dust-filled western ‘Dust of the Dead.’ Really, you can’t go wrong with John’s work, which made this one so enticing to me because – and as I just said – it’s in space.

What I liked: Set in the future, Ava is a space ship captain who has recently returned to earth, dealing with with PTSD from her last mission. She’s been assured she’ll not return to space for some time, but that’s thrown out the window when a huge corporation contacts her – and a group of scientists and a musician – for an important job. A moon-sized cemetery known as Eden has experienced some significant malfunctions and they need to head up, repair it and make sure it never happens again.

From here, John gives us a haunting look at isolation, madness, connecting with the dead and loss. It’s billed as a gothic story, but that is buried beneath the sheen of the sci-fi/horror surface. It’s only revealed as the story goes along and we see the true reality of what’s happening on Eden and how those who are managing to survive deal with it.

The story ebbs and flows, we get some jolting, intense moments bookended by some slow, visceral revelations and it’s within that scope that the mastery of what Palisano has done truly can be appreciated. It’s subtle, at times tough to put your finger on, but its there, pulsing throughout the whispered textures of each chapter.

The ending wraps things up ‘nicely’ and once you get there, you’ll know what I mean, and I appreciated the tongue-in-cheek-ness of the ‘epilogue’ portion.

What I didn’t like: The story is solid, the writing is solid and the characters are great, but – as with many sci-fi/horror novels – if you go in thinking that this won’t have a lot of familiar plot points and story aspects, you’ll be sorely frustrated. John doesn’t reinvent the plot here, but I also don’t believe that was ever his intention.

Why you should buy this: Palisano is one of the nicest guys in the horror world but also one of the most criminally under read writers out there. ‘Requiem’ just might be the book that finally tips those scales and gets his books all over IG and Tik Tok – at least I hope so – because what he’s done here is a powerful, philosophical look at death, what happens after and how the human race continues to push forward with technological elements without considering the long-term ramifications.

This was really well done.

The Setting - Eden, a cemetery in space
‘A burial among the stars.’
Year 2112

Thousands of people interred on the satellite. Each special casket facing out through windows - earth, the stars and sun. A mausoleum in space.

A crew has been sent to Eden to correct a mishap. Rebuild areas, write a new requiem music, a theme song, new musical branding for Eden to bring back confidence.

There was a nice, slow build. A tense pacing. I found it creepy, Something is listening, watching… what’s just around the corner? At times I felt the action scenes (painful sounds in their heads) were repetitive.

Overall I liked this novel. Very unique. But also a bit vague on what the crew’s actual tasks were. What would each do or fix? Why it would take six months? This was distracting to me. I would have liked more detail early in the novel on Eden, its purpose, more description of the satellite, how the structure was built, etc. The ending Wikipedia section would be great as the first pages of the story.

A great mix of technology, gore, suspense…

A visual story, the author really paints the scene with color, sound and action - and emotion! Painful human reactions.

Favorite quote:
“There are sounds inside the requiem… Sounds that aren’t supposed to be there.”

“The requiem plays, and all of the living, and all of the dead, listen.”

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC of Requiem.

About the author - John Palisano is a Bram Stoker Award winning author.

I will post reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, etc closer to the publication date.