I requested a copy of the ARC from the publisher, Tor Nightfire, on NetGalley and was approved in exchange for consideration of a review. All opinions discussed are my own and are subjective to myself as a reader.

After seeing so much hype surrounding DEAD SILENCE, the previous release by S. A. Barnes, I jumped at the opportunity to get eyes on this one as soon as I discovered it listed on NetGalley!

The premise for GHOST STATION in a nutshell is that humans are not built for working and living in space. We're not - but the trying is what makes books like these so doggone exciting!

Sadly, for me the premise was the only exciting part about this book. I did not like any of the characters - granted, I believe readers are set up to not trust the crew that our main character, Ophelia is sent to treat. Ophelia herself - I wanted to like her, and I think I would have - except she's a therapist who clearly is in no way fit to treat patients.

There was no intrigue or suspense. This book took me 7 days to get through and I normally devour this size book in 2 days, tops. I was so bored. I wish more time had been spent on exploration of the hab and the planet the crew from Resilience was there to investigate. The atmosphere was the one shining glory about this book for me.

There was an uptick in pacing and excitement in the last 30-35% of the book, but after one big thing is left unexplained and a convenient easy way out inserted, it left me deflated.

Even though this one didn't work for me, I am still excited to read the first book Barnes wrote, DEAD SILENCE. I saw a lot of potential in the atmosphere and writing style of S. A. Barnes, so this isn't an author I'd consider one and done.

In the book Ghost Station by SA Barnes we meet Ophelia Bray. She is a member of the renowned Bray clan but unlike the impression the name gives she is definitely the black sheep of the family. Not only do to the circumstances of her birth but because she wants to work instead of living off of the wealth the family has. And the fact she works for the families competitor does not make relations anymore cozier. This book is set way in the future and when we meet Dr. Bray she joins a research team going to the planet whose original inhabitants has gone extinct the aim is to get samples from the planet she is mainly there because they recently lost one of their crewmembers Ava. The official record is that she died from a E.R.C A disease that causes rage hallucinations and many more strange behaviors. Although she is supposed to be there to emotionally support the fellow crewmembers Ophelia has PTSD of her own put that on top of the chaos her family causes and other secrets that could be devastating for the crew to know and add that to the fact most of her coworkers don’t like her. All this before they even land on the planet and what happens on the planet needs a review all it’s own. This book was so good and so OMG I can’t believe this is happening type good in the ending is even better. To write a horror story set in space on another planet and not to have one alien in the book is a testament to this author‘s talent especially when the book is so good the main character is so complex this was just an awesome awesome read! I want to thank Tour Nightfire publishing for the free arc via Net Galley all opinions are definitely my own and the mistake so please forgive them I am blind and dictate my review.

This follows an exploration crew being sent to an abandoned planet along with ERS expert Dr. Ophelia Bray. She is there to evaluate the crew after the death of a teammate from a previous job. To say the crew is not very welcoming to her is an understatement. Putting that aside, right from the start Ophelia feels something is off in the hab. Talk about suspenseful.. it was all that and more. I felt a strong sense of foreboding I couldn’t shake.. and for good reason.. as Ophelia’s intuition is right. She does discover a bone chilling sight inside her office. So how does that fit into what’s going on? There seems to be a contagion affecting everyone that Ophelia is trying to get figured out. Or is it something other worldly.. are there extraterrestrial behind what’s happening? I had to find out more to the story, and if Ophelia and the crew would survive. The author kept my interest peaked by slowly revealing more intense details the further I read. I felt very much at unease as the eerie and disturbing scenario unfolded. I don’t read a lot in this genre but after finishing this book I plan on looking for more. — Pub. 4/9/24

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Cinematic is the first thing I will say about Ghost Station. The next thing I will say is that I will never accept a doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist on merit alone. I will never look at a doctor again in the same way. Also Capitalism is bad. The lyrics to “ I’m Every Woman” started revolving in my mind in the middle of reading this. Iykyk. It’s all in me. ARC was provided by Tor Nightfire via NetGalley. I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5/5: A psychologist out in space? What could go wrong? This was a really fun read. Unpopular opinion: this space horror is better than Dead Silence. While reading this, I could not shake the sense of dread. Every page turn increased the butterflies in my stomach. There was a certain eeriness throughout the entire novel. We also get to follow a psychologist who starts to lose her mind, along with the entire space crew. It’s great! We don’t know what’s real, which really added to the spookiness. As someone who’s deeply terrified of space, reading this at night was dangerous!

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Will be posting my review on goodreads and later today on my TikTok @resurrectedbookworm.

When I read the summary for Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes, I was immediately excited. Space-based horror is one of my favorite sub-genres and Ghost Station does not disappoint.

Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS-a space based condition made famous following a case that lead to the murder of twenty-nine people.

She joins a small exploration crew in their journey to an isolated planet, spending time in a company facility situated near the ruins of an extinct alien society.

The atmosphere is delightfully unsettling, the tension growing as the characters try to determine whether the situation they’re dealing with is the result of a deadly space-based condition or an outside source of danger.

Ophelia is an engrossing and relatable main character, the conflicting natures of her families’ dual backgrounds leading her to reject genuine vulnerability, while constantly seeking an unobtainable absolution. The focus upon the extent by which genetics may influence personal choices and the difference between accepting personal accountability and claiming responsibility to escape guilt or further punish oneself are also interesting themes that are explored.

The consequences of rampant capitalism and the desperate choices made by those caught up in it help to make members of the exploratory crew more sympathetic, though I do wish certain members had received slightly more development before things went so very wrong.

Nevertheless, Ghost Station was truly everything that I had hoped for. Thank you very much NetGalley, Tor Nightfire and S. A. Barnes for allowing me to read such an incredible eARC.

Ghost Station is an attention grabbing read with a questionably unreliable narrator and a cast of characters with secrets to hide. Right away, the reader knows these characters are keeping things from each other. This tension kept me engaged with the story as I wanted to find out more about those secrets and how they would impact the outcome of the story. The setting is vividly described and I felt like I could easily picture where the characters were and what they were experiencing. The characters go between feelings of safety to questioning whether the environment and/or each other can be trusted. These elements all came together to create a story that definitely entertained this science fiction horror fan. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes is a skin-crawling space horror that delves into the psychological effects of trauma, grief, survivor's guilt, corporate greed, and the unknowable. Ophelia is a psychologist, trained to treat space exploration teams for psychological conditions.

This book has a great blend of science, alien horror, and a creepy, cold isolated setting. Ophelia is wracked with guilt, still carrying trauma from her past, and determined to help this team who absolutely don't want her help.

There are parallels with Barnes's first book, Dead Silence - the isolated setting, the critique of corporate capitalism, the use of auditory and visual hallucinations paired with internal conflicts, the hint of romance. But this book shows that Barnes excels at what she does. I felt Ophelia's fear, paranoia, and her intense longing to help. I understood the team dynamics and what motivated each character. My skin crawled at the whole alien part of it. The worldbuilding felt full while not relying on info dumps.

There are some thing I wish had been expanded on, particularly at the end. The epilogue ends rather abruptly, just to tie up the story, but we don't really get to see the fallout or return to some of the side characters we met at the beginning.

I also wanted a bit more from the team. Obviously, some characters, like Ethan and Birch, are more prominent due to their roles in the story, but the action kicks off rather quickly, so there's not a lot of time to get to know each character before the plot is happening.

Perhaps part of it is that I wanted more answers. I have so many questions about details. I suppose some are unknowable, but I wanted a little more space for the characters to breathe at the end.

This is the second Space Horror book I’ve read this week and I’m loving the vibes. This story had an immersive, atmospheric vibe with incredibly complex characters. While the story did have a slow start, once it took off, it was go go go! I wasn’t as scared as I had expected to be, but I mean, how scared can you make me about a setting in space? 😂 I did thoroughly enjoy the characters slow descend into madness, so that definitely made up for the lack of scaries. I really hope s.a.barnes sticks with space horror, because I’m loving these books she’s writing!

This is, I suppose, a perfectly fine book. It suffers from an ostensibly main character who is more of a glorified exposition dump (and not necessarily like-able at that), and an author who simply does not trust the audience to get it. Ophelia, the main POV, is a psychologist who is running from a Dark and Bullied Past (which we know because of irritatingly frequent flashbacks (spoiler alert: you will read the name "Anberlynn" more than once)) who signs up for a field trip with the Rugged and Blue Collar people who explore and claim distant planets. There is a lurking concern about space psychosis, competing megacorporations, and at least two Mysterious Events in the Past.

There is so much happening, and so many interruptions to the main storyline, that it is difficult to get the actual plot underway. And by then, if you're moderately genre-aware, you have probably long since figured out at least one "big twist." There is something underneath, but it is a lot of effort to get there.

Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist running from her dark past. She's been working with patients suffering from ERS, a violent illness caused by space travel, and joins an expedition to an abandoned planet to watch the crew for signs of it. Not long after waking from Cold Sleep on the planet Lyria 393-C, Ophelia and her five crewmates realize something very strange is going on. When the crew discovers the body of their pilot, Ophelia is terrified that she has failed to prevent ERS from spreading amongst her team. Will the crew complete their mission, or has something far more sinister been set into motion?

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2024. I absolutely loved Dead Silence and was very excited to dive back into space horror with S.A. Barnes. From the minute the cast of characters arrived at their desolate destination, I could feel the tension, and got lost in the creepy atmosphere. The characters are very real and flawed, but you still want to root for them. I had goosebumps nearly the entire time I was reading, and I can't wait to return to space again with Barnes' next book. (Fingers crossed!) Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the gifted copy.

Overall Impressions: Very creepy, with a building sense of ominous dread as the story goes on. I actually liked Ophelia quite a bit, even though she’s meant to be a flawed character, and was satisfied with the ending even if it didn’t answer every possible question. I particularly liked Ophelia’s backstory and her realizations as the book went on.

Worldbuilding: Fairly standard sci-fi capitalist space nightmare, without a ton of additional details. There was enough there to frame the story but I would have liked a little more about the main threat in the end.

Plot: Several red herrings, twists, and turns which left me wondering what was even happening at a few points. I generally enjoyed it.

Pacing/prose: A little rushed at the end but otherwise I thought the pacing was good and the prose was excellent.

Recommend/Read More? Absolutely.

I was excited to explore this sci-fi horror novel because it’s not a genre I typically read. Dr. Ophelia Bray, a psychologist, is assigned to an exploration crew that has suffered a loss possibly related to the syndrome she has dedicated her life to studying. It soon becomes clear that they are keeping secrets, and Dr. Ophelia Bray is being haunted by her own tragic and dark past.

There were elements to this novel that I felt could have really worked. There is a sense of isolation I felt with Ophelia, an outsider to this small exploration crew. And the slow burn lent itself to creating this ominous atmosphere as the things begin to unravel. Ultimately, I felt that there were TOO many ideas that weren’t fully fleshed out. The motivations for Ophelia didn’t seem to match or make sense with her inner dialogue or her actions, which confused me. After taking a while to really build up, the ending unfortunately didn’t land for me. But this is just my opinion, and I’d say if sci-fi horror is up your alley, you should check this out and see if you like it!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC!

Dr Ophelia Bray is wracked by the guilt of belonging to one of the universe's richest families, which lead her to a career in psychology. After a horrifying incident at her job, Ophelia signs up for a mission to a far away planet, one that was abandoned by the company that her family owns and is now owned by the company she works for. The crew, fresh off the death of a cherished member, reguards her with suspicion and doubt, especially since she comes bearing fresh technology to be tested out to stave off the space madness they call ERS. The longer they stay on the remote planet, the more doubts and fears surface, and Ophelia learns that more than one of her fellow crewmates is harboring dangerous secrets....including herself.

I absolutely was obsessed with Dead Silence, so I was super excited to read this one! It doesn't quite grab ahold of you like Dead Silence, probably because its unlikable characters are a smidge *too* unlikeable, whereas Dead Silence's characters were more endearing. I still really enjoyed this book, and it kept taking me places I didn't expect as I read. Even though it was spring when I read this book, I could almost feel the bone chilling cold that Ophelia and her team must have experienced any time the needed to be outdoors. I also couldn't help but imagine the Lyrians as elongated, sentient sloths, so I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't one or two lingering long beyond the rests of their race so we could see what they were actually like.
There was also a really weird romance subplot that honestly never really went anywhere so I'm not sure why it didn't get edited out. If you want to show some sort of trust between a man and a woman...there are ways to do that without trying to force two characters that probably wouldn't have any chemistry with a radium watch let alone another human being into a weird subplot. I'm sure the mission commander was a silver fox hottie, but that whole thing was just confusing and meh.
The story itself is enough to keep you reading--I had to know what was going on on this planet, and why Ophelia was so squirrely about her family and background when on the surface she's just appears to be the pampered princess of a wealthy family that grew up and wanted to right her family's wrongs. It was a very compelling book despite its flaws, and I cannot wait to read more from SA Barnes.

I really enjoyed Ghost Station. This book follows Ophelia, a psychologist, on a trip with a space exploration group to document a planet once inhabited by an alien civilization. I have not read a science-fiction book where the main character was a psychologist before, and I found this choice to add a unique perspective to the story. I loved Ophelia's attempts to help her teammates who had a traumatic and disastrous past mission. However, probably my favorite aspect of this book is seeing her reveal and work through a terrible event from her childhood. There are some beautiful lines regarding making your own path in life and not feeling responsible for horrible events that were outside of your control. While I was expecting this book to be chilling and engaging (which it was), what made it truly special was learning about the characters' pasts and seeing how that impacts their responses to problems during their mission.

The author did a great job of blending space exploration, horror, and diverse characters in a way that felt meaningful and heart pounding at times. My two (albeit minor) complaints is that I found the ending a little rushed and the first ~50 pages hard to get into. However, I was soon invested and read the rest in one sitting. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who wants a scary survival story with an added dose of introspectiveness.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

After reading Barnes' Dead Silence, I was highly anticipating her sophomore attempt and had high expectations. Dead Silence was so delightfully creepy with great atmosphere, that it easily made my list of top books for 2022.

I'm happy to say that I liked Ghost Station just as much, if not even a bit more than it's predecessor! First, here's what I would have liked to see adjusted:

- It's hard not to compare books by the same author. Due to that, and my love for the atmosphere in Dead Silence, it was hard not to look and hope for that in this book. While there were some tense and creepy moments, it didn't quite compare with Dead Silence. Dead Silence had a scene or two that still haunt me at times. I would have loved to see a bit more of that in Ghost Station.
- I thought that the ending felt a bit rushed. I would have loved to see a bit more of the end tension. I would have also loved to see more from when they returned to Earth
- I felt the book wrapped up a little too neatly. It felt like everything ended on a relatively happy note. I would have loved if the end made the reader question if they had really gotten all the bugs. Maybe the last line was Ophelia hearing "Hey Little Bird," or out of the corner of her eye she thinks she sees her dad.

What I loved:

- I loved the execution of this book. I loved the mystery and the explanation for what was happening. I felt like it embraced the weird, which is really all I want from a sci fi horror!
- That Liana scene!
- Ophelia's secret was a great addition to the mystery and created an awesome red herring
- The setting. While not quite as creepy as Dead Silence, it was still unique, well described, and chilling

Overall, this was a fun and hauntin read. I recommend it for fans of sci fi and horror reads. This was a 4.5 rounded up for me!

Ophelia Bray is a psychologist specializing in the study and prevention of ERS, a space-based condition, similar to PTSD, that can lead to mental deterioration and violence. Dr. Bray is assigned to join a small exploration crew as they journey to an ancient, abandoned planet. Unfortunately, it doesn't take Ophelia long to realize that the new crew isn't exactly excited to have her aboard. They've never needed a Head Doc before, why now?

Ophelia is confident in her purpose though, so she just tries to do her best to fit in and help them to understand the reasons for her attendance. She knows better than most just how imperative her skills may become. The rest of the crew have worked together before and feel more like a family than a team. Ophelia, as the only outsider, has a long way to go to endear herself to the group.

As they begin to establish themselves on the abandoned planet, they start discovering disturbing signs left behind by the previous colonizers, who apparently departed with haste. It presents a real mystery for the crew. They have no idea what happened to the previous inhabitants, but signs are pointing to the fact that they didn't live happily ever after. The longer Ophelia and the crew remain on the planet, the more unnerving things become, until Ophelia's worst nightmare starts to come to life.

Ghost Station is the latest from S.A. Barnes, author of Dead Silence, which I read and really enjoyed. I've been anxiously anticipating more from Barnes ever since. I loved the SF Horror vibes she delivered in Dead Silence and definitely believe she succeeded on that front here as well. For me, Ghost Station is way more of a slow burn than Dead Silence, but the content and MC, Ophelia, are so interesting, I didn't mind that one bit. I enjoyed getting to know Ophelia and learning of her past and motivations, while watching her try to find a place within this new crew. I also feel like you can see a maturation of Barnes writing in this one, which is lovely to see. We love to watch an author progress over the course of their career.

I really enjoyed the dangerous feel of the atmosphere that was created on the planet they were exploring. There was a sense of foreboding over every page that kept it compelling and also kept my pulse slightly elevated. The audiobook for this was fantastically narrated by Zura Johnson. I highly recommend that as a format choice if you have the option available to you. The narration style was very soothing to me, in spite of this being an intense story. I really felt myself relaxing into it.

I was extremely satisfied with how Barnes wrapped this up. The conclusion surprised me in the direction it ultimately took. I wasn't expecting it and I was happy with that.I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys SF Horror, or darker SF in general. As far as Science Fiction goes, I would consider this light, with concepts that are easily understandable to a wide audience. You aren't going to get bogged down in scientific jargon in this one, if maybe that is a concern for you.

This is an easily understandable, compelling story, with chills and thrills, as well as great characters throughout. Additionally, I think this could translate really well to film.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.
As mentioned above, I was anxiously awaiting this one and it didn't disappoint. I look forward to seeing what Barnes comes up with next!

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review S.A. Barnes' new book, Ghost Station. All opinions are my own. The tags for this novel are Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror.

I read Dead Silence last year so when I saw a new novel from this author, I knew I needed to read it. The main character Dr. Bray comes with a good background story and a lot of baggage. Let's just say she has a history and doesn't want her crew to know it. She studies and treats patients with ERS, a mental disorder that seems to afflict people working in the space industry. The crew is of course not happy with her being added to their assignment and has no trouble telling her about it. Things go from bad to worse very quickly once landing on this planet.

Pros: Creepy setting with close quarters, a little bit of body horror, good plot, good characters (although some of them you will not like), survival story. The story kept me interested and I really wanted to know who would live and what was actually causing all the problems.

Cons: I would have liked more explanation about the plot, especially what was the end game for the "villain" in the story. What did they want? What was the goal? Also, towards the end of the book the pacing picked up too fast considering the buildup for most of the book. Very quick resolution.

Overall, Ghost Station did entertain me, and I give it 3.5 stars. This comes out tomorrow, April 9th. Happy Reading!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Having loved Barnes's debut, Dead Silence, I was highly anticipating this book. However, it was a let down for me. It was a serviceable book, but not anything I loved.

The characters felt like a recycling of the characters from Dead Silence, and not in a good way. They felt pretty bland to me here. I also did not feel that Ophelia's weird infatuation with the captain, Ethan, lent anything to the story. The pace of the novel was also pretty slow, and instead of creating suspense, it just ended up feeling a bit boring and repetitive.

I will read more from S.A. Barnes, because of how much I loved Dead Silence. Hopefully her third novel will be more to my liking than this sophomore one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
#NetGalley #TorPublishingGroup #S.A.Barnes #GhostStation

Title: Ghost Station
Author: S.A. Barnes
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Publication Date: April 9, 2024

Themes: Paranormal, space horror, mystery, thriller, slow burn
Trigger Warnings: PTSD (ish), mental health,

This is the second book that I’ve read by this author. The first was Dead Silence. I felt similarly about this book. It was a slow burn that was a bit hard to get into. I did feel that it was less horror than sci-fi/thriller. There were some horrific events but the whole vibe felt more like a thriller.

Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist who has been assigned to a small crew in order to help prevent a type of PTSD that results in horrendous violence. ERS is the result of space exploration. The crew doesn’t trust or respect her however and she should really not trust them. Obviously, bad things happen.

The author’s first book was a similar slow burn. It was similar in many ways but I thought the pacing was better in Dead Silence. This book felt choppy to me. It was slow for a long while and suddenly a bunch of things started happening at once. Literary whiplash at its best!

The characters needed to be more established. They were all two-dimensional and difficult to like. I think I could have dealt with the add pacing if I could have found a character that I liked a lot and could emotionally invest in.

All in all, I can tell Ms. Barnes is a talented author with a lot to say. Her ideas are clever and I love the space horror idea. I even love the slow burn. It’s really difficult to maintain tension and interest while slowly unraveling the story. I’m interested to see how S.A. Barnes’ writing improves as she publishes more.