This was soo creepy. I always love this author and this book was possibly the best yet. The narration adds to the creepy factor for sure.

Okay, I know I'm late to the game in reading this ARC, and I SO REGRET not reading it sooner!!! I loooooved this book--I can't wait to read Barnes' other published novel and her future one coming next year.

This is a sci-fi (space) thriller/horror novel. Barnes goes into gruesome detail with some of the descriptors in this that left me cringing; my jaw DROPPED a few times while I listened to this over the course of a weekend roadtrip. I think she does an incredible job of setting the scene and bringing the readers into the story!! The atmosphere she creates with her writing is INTENSE, but none of it left me feeling *too* scared since I know that we, collectively as a race, are not going to be advanced enough to physically travel to new planets in my lifetime, at least haha. This was obviously the audiobook version and the narrator was spectacular!!

Our main character is Dr. Ophelia Brays and she's a psychiatrist that specializes in treating ERS, a newly minted condition that primarily effects space exploration teams going out to investigate and learn more about astrological sites. She has a past that she desires to keep hidden at ALL costs. She's working with a team of 5 led by Ethan Severin, none of whom seem particularly excited to have Ophelia on board, especially after they lost one of their own on their last mission. They go to a planet that was studied at some point in the recent past but hadn't been visited in a while. Upon entering the station, the already fractured team finds some things out of place, but nothing that's raises any red flags. As they investigate further, some of them reach their breaking point. Each rupture, revelation, and discovery propels this novel forward and left me on the edge of my seat until the very end.

“𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵.”

Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reader copy and advanced listener copy!

This was a curious one and as a sci-fi fan, I liked it. Some aspects reminded me of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars and The Expanse, so fans of those should give this one a try. Though I received advanced copies of an e-book and audiobook, I opted to only do the audiobook (which I enjoyed as it’s done well). At a few points I got a little confused with characters but overall it was pretty easy to follow. Definitely gets heavy into the sci-fi and psychological and as the premise grows in intensity, some scenes that get described may be a bit too much for some readers. I do wish there was more explanation for the way it ends as it felt abrupt.

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?”

Content and trigger warnings include profanity, mental health, suicide attempt (brief description of aftermath), sci-fi violence and descriptive gore. I give it 3.5 out of 5.

Ophelia is a doctor specializing in treating a disorder caused by extended exposure to space. After a professional scandal, she escapes the incoming public scrutiny and daunting family expectations by joining a team who recently lost someone to this space illness. Her assignment is to keep the team mentally healthy, which proves to be difficult when she’s working through so much of her own baggage. She must win over the surly members of the expedition while they explore a mysterious planet.

I’ve had a hard time articulating my thoughts on this one. On the one hand, I ADORED the narration by Zula Johnson. It’s immersive and engaging, paired well with the author’s worldbuilding, and helped bring to life some of the classic sci-fi archetypes I love. The family drama at the beginning also added unexpected intrigue to the larger mystery. I was hooked from the beginning and flew through this in about a day.

On the other hand, I’m not sure space horror is the right description for this book, and I was left with some unmet expectations. Definitely ominous and unsettling at some points, but this was more of a space mystery slow burn than horror. A lot of the action in this story happens in between long stretches of Ophelia’s backstory which was interesting for the sake of worldbuilding, and I did genuinely enjoy following her character, but it left me feeling like the story didn’t really kick off until well into the book. There’s a pretty big catalyst for the action that is ‘spoiled’ in the blurb as it doesn’t actually happen until about 60% into the story. This was also told entirely from Ophelia’s perspective in a linear timeline, so there just wasn’t the same kind of rising tension that I got from Dead Silence.

Speaking of Dead Silence, there were two things I enjoyed more in this book that I thought I’d note: We got to spend a bit more time getting to know the other characters and their team dynamics which is great because S.A. Barnes writes such interesting characters. Also, the budding romance felt more authentic to me in book. Not a huge plot point in either book, but I appreciated how plausible all the relationships were in Ghost Station.

Overall, my only problem was more of an issue of the blurb setting me up for something different. I loved this just as much as I loved Dead Silence - maybe more so because of the narrator! Anyway, space mystery/horror, my beloved <3 Still recommend you pick this up, especially if you enjoyed Dead Silence.

Many thanks to the publisher for the audiobook ARC!

I thought it would be hard to top the terror and full throttle pace of Barnes's last book, but this one was even better. The narrator did an amazing job bringing each character to life, building the suspense, and bringing us viscerally into the dialogue.

Spooky and atmospheric, but laden with potholes. Ultimately I enjoyed this story, brought to life skilfully by the narrator, but I did think a few more structural edits might have made the central mystery hang together a little more cleanly.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS)—the most famous case of which resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. It's personal to her, and when she's assigned to a small exploration crew who recently suffered the tragic death of a colleague, she wants to help.

Needless to say the crew is not happy with her or her presence. When people start to die no one knows what is causing it.
Is it suicide, the ERS, or something worse?

Very atmospheric and creepy. Nothing like a good space horror novel toake you feel uncomfortable.
If you were/are a fan of the Alien movies then you will enjoy this.
Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

S.A. Barnes has become a must read for me. I usually am not into space thrillers/horror, but the way Barnes writes keeps me thoroughly entertained.
I was intrigued from the beginning. From the moment Ophelia makes it onto the ship, I felt the claustrophobia. The atmosphere builds at a slow pace, but delivers perfectly.

The narration was wonderful with an easy flow. The narrator really brought the characters alive and kept me captivated the whole time.

I want to thank NetGalley, S.A. Barnes and Tor Publishing Group | Tor Nightfire for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

I’m so sorry, SA Barnes. I really really loved Dead Silence. It was one of my favorite books of the year. But I was so bored. So so so bored. I really hope Cold Eternity is better.

"Ghost Station" is the story of a mysterious outbreak amongst a flight crew on a foreign planet.

Ophelia, a psychiatrist, is sent on an assignment to attend to a crews mission and offer her psychiatric expertise after a death in their team. Her past, one she's been trying to distance herself from for so long, slowly encroaches on her during her assignment. After landing on the planet with the team Ophelia begins to find small details that tell her something isn't sitting right.


"Ghost Station" is a 4 star book for me. Barnes writing felt tight and was constructed well. I personally enjoyed the use of dialogue which highlighted the groups dynamic. I knocked off a star because of the pacing. "Ghost Station" is slowly paced, this is totally my preference so take this with a grain of salt. BUT, because of the slow pacing, if you stick with it, you get that build up of suspense which is fun. The narrator does. great job telling the story too. They were consistent and I fell into the story with them.



Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan (Audio) for providing us with this title.

I really wanted to enjoy Ghost Station, but this book fell flat for me. I enjoyed listening to the beginning as we learn what happened to Dr. Ophelia Bray and how the team lost their last team member. I also enjoyed the eerie vibe of the planet as they figure out what happened to the alien civilization that died off as well as what happened to the last research team. However, I felt that the story was slow to progress, and the ending was abrupt. The ending felt like an afterthought and left me with more questions than answers.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to review Ghost Station. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5 Stars. S.A. Barnes has done it again! Ghost Station is a creepy, unsettling space horror that will keep you guessing.

Dr. Ophelia Bray has committed her life to studying/preventing ERS, a condition that can lead to violence and self-harm. Ophelia thinks it’s necessary to help patients on board spacecraft rather than treat then when they return home, so she volunteers to join the crew of Resilience who has just lost a member due to suspected ERS. The crew lands on Lyria 393-C to explore and document any changes to the planet. Immediately, Ophelia feels a sense of wrongness as they set up at the ghost station.

I loved how creepy this book was. Setting was key here and Barnes really created an unsettling environment where it was impossible to feel safe. Whether inside the ghost station or exploring the planet you just don’t get a respite. There was also quite a bit of body horror! It was done well and quite gross, which I am a fan of. One of the things that kept this from being a true 5 star is that I found the plot a bit slow to start. Once the action started picking up I couldn’t put it down.

This is my first audiobook from this narrator and I am a huge fan! She did such a great job of conveying the eeriness and feelings of dread. I was fully engaged the whole way through.

I really liked this author’s first novel, Dead Silence, but I think this one was even better. I’ll definitely read from this author again and can’t wait for their next novel. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a review copy.

When Dr. Ophelia Bray has a chance to travel with a small group of explorers to an abandoned facility that her family used to own, in order to further her study of ERS, she was warned away by her relatives, but couldn't know the true reason that they didn't want her to go.

I appreciated that the characters were so different from one another, and I liked the interactions between them. Especially the potential of a romance between Ophelia and the commanding officer of the crew. I appreciated how, in the course of the book, the relationship between Ophelia and the crew progresses from a us vs them perspective to a more unified understanding of what they were going through together. I found Ophelia frustrating in the beginning of the book however. Her lack of communication with the people who needed the information, and how in all of the years since she changed her name, she was convinced that she would go to jail for it, when it happened when she was a child, was a bit difficult for me to understand.

I really wanted to rate this five stars because the story is really good. However, I have a hard time with the pace of the book, it is definitely on the slow side. This is mainly due to the author exploring / discussing whats going on in the characters head. The story is centered around preventing ERS which is essentially a form of PTSD that causes a phychotic break in the person, causing them to act crazy, kill people, or even go into a chatatonic state.

Overall, the deep dive into mental health while showing us a glimpse at space, exploration, and ancient alien civilizations was fascinating. All that mixed with some human politics/corporations makes for very interesting backstory. I would love to see more in this universe. As I mentioned above, my only complaint was the pace, if the pace would’ve been a little bit faster Would be jumping up and down, and screaming about this book from the rooftops. However, that being said, I definitely still recommend checking this book out. Just go into it knowing that you’re going to read a book with slower pace.

Also, thank you NetGalley for the ALC

I really loved S.A. Barnes Dead Silence so decided to pick this up as well. I really enjoyed the narrator and the world building in this novel but felt the story line was just a little flat. If you enjoy heavy sci-fi with a little horror in it, I'd still suggest giving this a try. The narrator does a fantastic job of keeping me engaged so I would also highly suggest checking out the audiobook version.

This was so creepy & I really enjoyed the narration. Space horror is like an entire genre on its own (it really should be) and I was thoroughly entertained. I thought the character growth was great & the plot and storyline were developed well. This was an exciting, chilling, and atmospheric.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for this ALC!

This is my first S.A. Barnes novel and I am a fan.

In the unspecified future, space exploration is a huge money making endeavor and there are two corporations that basically own the market. ERS is a space base condition that can lead to disaster and is a death sentence for someone's career. There's a famous case that ended with the brutal murders of 29 people and since, it's something that nobody wants to be associated with. Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist that specifically works in the study and prevention of ERS in those that work in the space exploration field. After Ophelia experiences a work-related tragedy she decides to take her expertise on site. She's assigned to a crew that also has had a tragedy among them and soon finds herself in space with a group of people that clearly don't trust her or want her there. As they get to the planet they will be exploring things start to get odd - the previous crew clearly made a hasty exit from the planet. Then a member of the crew is found dead in a gruesome way and things go from odd to a nightmare. The crew must work together to find out what is going on but when everyone has secrets it's hard to know who to trust - especially when you might not even be able to trust yourself.

This book has layers! Set in the future it immediately gets you acclimated to this futuristic world. Though it's futuristic there are a lot of parallels to present day so it's easy to connect to. Dr. Ophelia Bray is the FMC that has layers herself. As you get to know her background, family, and motivations you get more questions surrounding Ophelia. Not only has Ophelia experienced a tragedy, the team she is assigned to has as well. This has left the team on edge and even more reluctant to trust Ophelia since psychologists can end someone's career without even meaning to. Any mention of ERS or symptoms that could lead to ERS can easily put someone out of work in the space exploration field.

ERS itself is interesting. It reminds me of PTSD but stemming more from isolation instead of trauma. Which space would be pretty isolating I would think. How S.A. Barnes creates this whole mental illness into the book was so interesting and gave the book more tension. The motivation behind Ophelia's study of it is also so intriguing, though that's part of the mystery of Ophelia that you learn about as the book goes on. Every character is interesting; there are things that make you like them or hate them but every one of them had me wondering what they're hiding.

Overall the book is a great blending of sci-fi and horror. There's some body horror along with thriller vibes. Also, if you don't trust big corporations and those that run it this book won't make you feel hopeful for the future.

The audiobook edition was easy to listen to but wasn't super entertaining. The narrator did a pretty good job but narrated in a pretty even tone even when scenes were a bit more action packed. I enjoy a good even toned narrator but I think this book deserved a bit more excitement. However, I want to say that I don't think the narrator was boring or hard to listen to. I just found that reading the ebook allowed me to do some scenes more justice rather than listening to the audiobook.

Zura Johnson is one of my absolute favorites and her voice is the perfect choice for this creepy sci-fi horror! Sultry and dripping with honey, I heard “Where are you, Little Bird” in my nightmares. 😱

This is my first S A Barnes book and I immediately ordered Dead Silence when I finished! As a new reader of Science Fiction, I loved the slower pace, atmosphere building, and horror aspects of the story. The science is definitely sciency but the author explained it all so well throughout! Common issues many people deal with daily such as sleep deprivation and PTSD are main plot points which make the problems facing the main characters more realistic.

Dr. Ophelia Bray is a sleep psychologist who dedicates her time to studying and preventing ERS, which previously caused the murder of 29 people. She joins a small crew on their journey to explore an abandoned planet to test some new theories on sleep. The crew continues to find things out of place and realizes something is definitely wrong. When their pilot is gruesomely murdered, they’ve got to figure out if ERS is affecting the crew or if something more sinister is happening.

I was entirely glued to this story and finished the audiobook in a day. If you’re a fan of creepy slow-burn horror, definitely add this one to your list!

The risky thing about loving a debut author’s first work is falling into the pitfall of assuming you’ll love every work after. And unfortunately I cannot say this is true from S.A. Barnes and their second novel Ghost Station. I so completely loved their debut Dead Space that assumed another sci-fi horror novel from them was sure to hit me the same way.

Unfortunately, this second novel tries to tackle a lot of what made the author’s debut so intriguing - a main character with an unknown trauma their background, a ragtag crew trying to piece together a rapidly unraveling situation while they’re stranded in space. But everything felt a bit lackluster or worn out by other books and films in the same genre - particularly the use of some unidentified microorganism potentially causing an illness among the crew. That has been done and DONE. And the overarching corporate big bad - we’ve seen it time and again.

The main character also was a particular painful narrator to have to endure. For being a psychologist, she’d seemed to hyperfocus on herself and how everyone in the crew linked back to her, rather than try and show actual empathy for the people she was tasked to help.

Birch is the only memorable character in the book, at least the only one that felt like he was giving the narrative any stakes or tension just among the cast of characters. But he’s not a major presence for most of the book. And as soon as he leaves the entire story seems to teeter this line between psychological thriller and sci-fi action flick without ever fully committing to both.

It almost makes me look back on the author’s first work and ask - did I like it because of the writing and storytelling or would I have enjoyed any kind of story pitched as “Titanic in space?” I’ll probably never know, but I do think I’ll at least check out the next work from S.A. Barnes - just to confirm which was the fluke: the memorable debut or underwhelming follow up.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan Audio for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

It's been a while since I've read a good horror novel, and Ghost Station was what I needed. It gave me "The Deep" by Nick Cutter vibes, which is one of my favorite horror novels. I've read Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes, and while that one is my favorite of the two, I still really enjoyed Ghost Station. I'll definitely be picking up whatever comes next from S.A. Barnes!