The present study investigates the deviatoric response of dense particle suspensions consisting of silicon carbide suspended in ethylene glycol using piezoresistive stress gages as a means of experimentally measuring the dynamic strength of materials. The validity of the method is first shown in a pure liquid environment, recovering the hydrodynamic behavior of the liquid. The deviatoric response of the dense suspension is indicative of a shock-induced stiffening within the mixture, whereby the stress state is largely influenced by the suspended particles. A mesh-free numerical approach (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) is used to investigate the shock-induced mesostructural deformation of the suspension. The measured deviatoric response of the suspensions is discussed in terms of the formation of inter-particle contact networks, force chains, which result from the shock-induced mesostructural changes in the suspensions.