I thoroughly enjoyed Ghost Station. From the moment we meet Dr. Ophelia Bray as she gets ready to go into cold sleep in preparation to join a new team for a mission I was hooked. At first, I wasn't sure how much I was going to like the team she joined, as they were in mourning for a friend/ colleague that was recently lost, they didn't want her there and made sure she knew it. But as the story progressed and we got to know who they were they all started to grow on me.
I loved the vibe of the abandoned station. It was creepy, and I could feel that something was off about it. Then as the stakes get higher, and the crew begin to act out of character the tension and suspense ramp up and I didn't want to put it down.
Ophelia is a great main character, she draws you in, and the more you discover about her the more you want to know. She doesn't always make the smartest decisions but I think that makes her feel more like a real person. Especially under the circumstances Ophelia and her fellow crewmates found themselves in.
I thought the atmosphere was great! It was creepy and had me on the edge of my seat.


I absolutely loved Ghost Station as well as Barnes's previous novel Dead Silence. She has quickly become an auto-buy author and I can't wait to see what she is going to write next!

3.5 stars

Dr. Ophelia Bray became a mental health professional to 'do good', and to make amends for her notorious family. Ophelia's forbears, the Brays, founded the Pinnacle Company, a research & development enterprise that got extremely wealthy by mining asteroids and extrasolar planets.

Pinnacle "dumped it's employees out there" in dangerous environments, and spent as little money as possible to maintain decent working and living conditions. The situation came to a head when Ophelia's father, Lark Bledsoe - a miner on the Goliath station - contracted a space sickness called Eckhart-Reiser Syndrome (ERS). ERS can cause insanity and violence, and Bledsoe rampaged through Goliath with a wrench and pickax, slaughtering dozens of people.

Now Ophelia is a psychologist at the Montrose Corporation, which also mines asteroids and extrasolar planets. Ophelia counsels Montrose workers, providing medication as needed, to reduce the odds of ERS. Montrose sends Ophelia to a planet called Lyria 393-C, which is being surveyed for ore and other valuable components. One Montrose employee on Lyria, a woman named Ava, contracted ERS and died.....and Ophelia is tasked with counseling the remaining personnel, to prevent the spread of the illness.

When Ophelia arrives on Lyria she meets the survey team, composed of five people: Mission Commander Ethan Severin; Pilot Birch Osgoode; Inventory Specialist Suresh Patel; Engineer Kate Wakefield; and Scientific Coordinater Liana Chong. The entire crew resists counseling, and Suresh and Birch are out-and-out hostile. Ophelia repeatedly tries to get the team to speak to her, and to demonstrate she can be useful, Ophelia joins the crew to do surveys; collect samples; etc. The Montrose team examines artificial structures, studies natural phenomena, takes core samples, makes analyses, etc. It seems Lyria was once home to intelligent beings called Lyrians, who left artifacts behind. In addition, it appears a previous survey team left Lyria in a hurry, abandoning some of their personal possessions.

Before long, some Montrose crew members become aggressive, and Ophelia fears ERS is taking hold. This is followed by shocking discoveries; auditory and visual hallucinations; physical stigmata on the personnel; and a horrible bloody death. It's clear SOMETHING is happening on Lyria, and since this is a horror-science fiction novel, it's something BAD.

The story is interesting and moves along at a brisk pace. My major criticism revolves around the character Ophelia, who's overly obsessed with her past. Ophelia constantly thinks back to terrible events that befell her, to the point she's almost paralyzed with anxiety. I kept thinking, 'Ophelia, you're an adult and a medical professional with important responsibilities. Put the past aside and get on with your life.'

That said, this is an engaging sci-fi story that would probably appeal to fans of the genre.

Thanks to Netgalley, S.A. Barnes, and Tor Publishing Group for a copy of the book.

I wasn't overwhelmed by this book but it wasn't bad, either. Not quite what I was expecting from Sci-fi horror (favorite genre) but there was great world building, character development and plotting. It was a bit of a slow burn which was OK with me but might be a no-go for people who need a fast paced plot.

I really enjoyed this one! It sucked me in and I thought the atmosphere was absolutely perfect. There was a surprise romance-ish? I wasn't expecting it and could've done without but it's so slow build and not on screen enough that I didn't mind. ERS is a terrifying concept. Anything that deals with something taking over the mind and body is horrific to me. Some of the symptoms of this disease are teased and shown just how horrible they would be, but it doesn't actually play that much of a role within the story. It's more something that they use to dangle over reader's heads to keep everyone guessing if that's what is actually going on - but of course it isn't because then the lovely doctor would know how to take care of it.

This book has it all. “Ghost Station” is a deep space adventure with the Reclamation and Exploration team of one of the top research companies in existence. Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist assigned to R and E team 356 to study the possible effects of Eckhart-Reiser Syndrome on research crews working on reclamation planet sites. Wildly strange behavior, suicides, and murders have resulted from those exhibiting ERS. Dr. Bray also has a secret that she is trying to hide, a dark past that she struggles to overcome. Besides being outstanding in her field she is the daughter of the most famous mass murderer in recent memory. She is also the member of the extremely rich and powerful family that owns Pinnacle Corporation, the rival to the one for whom Ophelia works.

At it’s heart this novel is the story of Ophelia Bray struggling to find her identity apart from her murderous father “Bloody Bledsoe” and her extremely controlling grandmother Miranda Bray. The first—and highest—obstacle Ophelia must face is the skepticism, distrust, and even hatred that the crew feels toward her. And when strange things start happening to crew members, Ophelia’s job is to keep them healthy. Their distrust of Ophelia exhibits itself in their luddite rejection of any of the tools that Ophelia might use to protect them.

As crew members one by one slip into bizarre behavior that does not seem to be ERS, it is Ophelia’s job to find out what it is and respond to the threat. Along the way it becomes clear that there is much more about this seemingly barren planet that it seems. Things quickly spiral out of control and Ophelia together with the team leader must face both the unknown outside threat to their lives but the team’s abiding distrust of Ophelia.

I loved this book. It had everything. A deep space adventure, the personal drama of Ophelia, and a psychological terror plot from unseen and unknown enemies. I found the book excellently written. The author is a superb wordsmith, crafting wonderful visual images for the reader. I highly recommend this book.

Ghost Station follows our female main character Ophelia Bray. She is a psychologist on a mission to help a team with their mental health and avoid the ever pressing condition known as ERS. That’s not Bray’s only mission though. She’s also trying to prove to herself that she is not just a name. Bray is one of the wealthiest families and Ophelia is the black sheep. With a trouble past and a tough start to her career, her only goal is to not leave this mission the person everyone expects her to be. The team is sent to an abandoned planet for further exploration and they are doing their best to put the loss of a teammate behind them. Bray being the transplant that she is, along with the career field she represents, doesn’t start off on the right foot with the team. As they continue to disregard her, strange things start to happen and it’s in everyone’s best interest to find out why before there’s no way for them to make it home.

As captivating as my synopsis of this story was, the book wasn’t. All of the characters are flat and have zero growth during the entire book. The FMC is whiny and extremely immature. She’s a doctor but acts like a high school student! She lets every comment bother her and is shocked by her own reactions to things like, “I’ve never acted like this.” *gasp* The “scary” parts of the story are swept away or written off and it’s “all in her head”. I’m not sure if this is a common element in horror, but this very weak, half baked “romance” is just cringy in this book and literally added nothing to the story.

I’m so disappointed right now. This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024 and all I got was a soggy bread story. Even the “plot twist” made me mad. Like, that’s it?? Go back to the 2000s with this regurgitated plot. 2/5 stars.

This was a fun spooky spaces adventure that takes place on an even creepier planet. The book was well written and felt very atmospheric; I really enjoyed the way the planet was described and how vivid it all felt. The characters were pretty flat, but their interactions with one another felt fairly genuine and engaging.

I did find myself wondering why the M.C (who is a therapist? Psychologist?) did some of the things she did, for example being very naive and hiding information from the team, it felt very disingenuous for how she talks about herself (someone who wants to help).
There were a few instances where I was confused as to why some characters made the decisions that they made, but I think it did add to the ‘everyone is going crazy’ ambiance that the book was trying to present.

Overall, I thought this was pretty good. The story was fun to read, had me wondering what the heck is going on, and felt like I was watching a space horror movie.

𝟯.𝟱 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡
Fascinating, but I was also confused for most of it.

I just want to say, right off the bat, that a lot of my enjoyment of this book was robbed because I am sadly a reader who struggles/cannot picture things while reading (aka aphantasia). This book relies so much on atmosphere and setting, which is definitely NOT a bad thing! However, it left me in the dark most of the time. Reflecting back on it, it is also probably the reason why I tend to rarely consume sci-fi novels. I was trying SOOOO hard to conjure up a concrete picture of anything that I quite literally lost the plot a couple of times. I did eventually find my way back, though, right before the twist happened and was completely sucked in from that point on.

This was definitely a case of “it’s not you, it’s me” but I did find the plot overall interesting and the horror elements were eerie and well-paced.

Thank you to NetGalley, S.A. Barnes, and Tor Nightfire for graciously sending me the e-book to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.


DNF @ 60%

I'm so bummed about this, I loved S.A. Barnes previous book Dead Silence and was soooo excited for another space horror.
Unfortunately, this was not great. I didn't understand why the MC was portrayed the way she was, she was so naive and annoying. I suffered thru the main character making the absolute worst decisions over and over again, the plot was so boring, the pacing was bizarre and I just didn't care about the outcome. It was soooo lacking in the horror and overall story.

A complete flip from my reading experience with Dead Silence. I'm so bummed about this. :(

I truly was so excited for this book. I read “Dead Silence” the day it came out. It easily became one of my favorite books and it was my favorite book of 2022. So when I heard about “Ghost Station” I dropped everything to get this ARC. Sadly I was very disappointed, it took me months to finish reading the book. None of the characters really stood out to me. What made it so hard to read for me personally was the main character. She was very unlikable so many things she did or said I would stop and think “A corporation would absolutely not send this lady into space” I'm hoping that S.A. Barnes's next book is amazing like the first one and this is just a fluke.

Dr. Ophelia Bray emerges from cold sleep aboard a spacecraft bound for its mission to explore a distant and desolate planet. Despite her estranged family’s insistence to refuse, she accepts the assignment aiding the troubled exploration crew. Resistant to any help, the Resilience crew is displeased by her arrival. Suspicion and paranoia take hold as the crew investigates the deserted planet. A series of gruesome discoveries compels the crew’s Commander to prioritize survival and forces Ophelia to face her past, lest she be doomed to repeat it.

Ghost Station is what a reader wants from a space horror: Isolation, exploration and fear of the unknown.

The beginning is slow and tends to crawl, though it does build towards the intense moments with a steady feeling of dread. The cast of characters keeps the story moving. While I understand having Ophelia as the main character, adding alternative points of views would have benefited the storytelling; Seeing Liana and Birch’s experiences would have been welcome. Paranoia can be portrayed in many different ways especially with unreliable narrators. Because of this, a reveal and the conclusion did fall flat for me as they felt one dimensional. Storywise, it had potential and was certainly enjoyable at times. In spite of not loving Ghost Station, I’m still interested in the interstellar horrors Barnes will bring readers in the future.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes is going to be a DNF for me. I’m nearly 60% in and nothing is happening! Sci-FI isn’t my usual genre, but I decided to try this one out, but it is not for me. If you like the genre, you might like it better!

Thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Space Horror, you say?

Sign me up.
This is my second book by S.A. Barnes. I previously read Dead Silence.

Ghost Station takes place on an abandoned planet when a small exploration crew begins to take samples from the planet they have landed on. Each crew member is bringing their own baggage. Dr. Bray dedicated her life to researching a condition called ERS that causes people in space to exhibit erratic and manic behavior. The rest of the crew has recently suffered a loss of their own. Together they will need to face and overcome their trauma, and maybe even something darker lingering on the planet.

I had a lot of fun reading Ghost Station. I will admit it started off a bit slow for me. There is a huge emphasis on past/childhood trauma. Some of it is very on the nose. The plot is intriguing and engaging, especially after one of their own dies and as a reader you want to find out what happened.

The end didn't come quite together as I was expected. In the acknowledgements the author writes that this story came together from interconnected dots and you can really feel that. Some parts don't feel as cohesive as others, especially the ending. It felt like S.A. Barnes wanted to stick to the story but didn't know how to end it. It was still a fun ride.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great setting here. The weirdly claustrophobic feeling of space travel always makes me unsettled. I was uneasy through the entire book. Nothing is as it seems and no one is quite who they say they are. A long but satisfying read.

S.A. Barnes is back with another chilling space based horror. In this book, Ophelia, a psychologist joins a research team at a remote, abandoned space station. Quickly things start to go awry.
I was entertained by this novel however, it was not as good as Barnes last book, Dead Silence. The characters were too obnoxious and the plot slow to develop. I absolutely adored Dead Silence and I was disappointed with Ghost Station. Overall I think it was an enjoyable experience but she could have done so much more with the concept.
Thanks to netgalley and libro.fm for providing me advanced reading copies of this book.

I must say, I was really looking forward to this novel and I was not disappointed, even though it isn't as scary as I was hoping. I would say it is more thriller than horror. I love space horror...from my video games to my books. It gave me Dead Space (a video game) vibes, so I automatically wanted to read it. I must say from the start, the author did great in achieving the eerie, uneasy, spooky feeling...you knew something was going to be up sooner or later. The main character Ophelia and the supporting characters were all well written and were multi-dimensional. All of them have feelings, thoughts, and development.

The cons is it is a long story, which isn't bad and it does progress slowly. I found myself trying to just push on because of the slow progression, but even though it was slow progression, especially at the beginning, certain parts did make me laugh or go hmm. I didn't get bored for too long. It also focuses on the main character's research of ERS a lot, tends to repeat itself a lot, but then, it is a main point of the plot and that is indeed what she is passionate about. I would give it if I can 3.5 of 5 stars, but I'll round up.

I loved this book!! It was such good space horror and spooky lost civilization vibes with just the slightest touch of romance

Nothing can convince me that space isn't one of the best landscapes for horror. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist, who specializes in ERS, which is a space condition that led mass murder. We follow Ophelia and the crew as they are assigned to explore an old, abandoned planet. immediately things are not as they seem and Ophelia and the crew must figure out a way to survive while dealing with their own trauma and secrets. The setting of Ghost Station was immensely creepy and Barnes did a good job of setting the atmosphere and having us question the reliability of the characters, especially Ophelia. The way it is written allows for the layers of the characters to be unraveled. While this is a slow burn, I enjoyed exploring the planet with the crew and slow dissent into chaos and possibility insanity. 3.75 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for providing an e-arc of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Ghost Station was an anticipated read for me - I loved Dead Silence, and I was anxious to read the author's next book. I didn't think this book was as strong as that work, but it may depend on your expectations. Ghost Station felt more like a thriller than a horror story to me, and I think those expectations colored my experience.

Although I didn't think Ophelia was a terribly likeable main character, I did enjoy discovering the mystery of her past. The crew were all memorable and I enjoyed their interactions. The setting (an abandoned station on an abandoned planet) was suitably creepy. I just wanted it to be scarier than it ended up being!

I did enjoy the crew and the overall arc of the book. I would definitely read another book by the author. Recommended to fans of thrillers!

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the free ALC and eARC of this book which published today!

My rating 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Ghost Station is a decent sci-fi/horror read. While the premise of exploring a mysterious abandoned planet was intriguing, I found the pacing to be slow, and I struggled to connect with the main character, Dr. Ophelia Bray.

Ophelia is dedicated to studying Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS) but outside of this I didn’t feel much depth to her character. However, the build up of tension and suspense is well done as the crew uncovers secrets of the planet and they face the threat of violence and mental deterioration.

Overall, this is an engaging sci-fi/horror that just fell slightly short in keeping my attention. I listened to the audio version narrated by Zura Johnson and would recommend this format if you are interested in reading this one!