I stumbled upon 'Derelict' while digging through indie sci-fi novels, and it hooked me instantly. The story follows a crew of scavengers who discover a massive abandoned spaceship drifting in deep space. At first, it seems like a jackpot—salvage rights to a derelict vessel could make them rich. But as they explore, they realize the ship isn't just empty; it's hiding something sinister. The walls whisper, the systems react on their own, and crew members start vanishing. The protagonist, a cynical engineer with a haunted past, becomes obsessed with uncovering the ship's origins, leading to a chilling revelation about an extinct
Alien civilization and the horrors they left behind.
What really got me was the atmosphere—claustrophobic, eerie, with this creeping dread that the ship is alive in some twisted way. The plot twists aren't just about jump scares; they dig into themes of greed, curiosity, and the cost of uncovering truths better left buried. By the end, I was questioning whether any of the crew deserved to make it out alive.