Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to treating ERS - a psychological condition linked to people who live and work within the darkness of space. Being in the darkness and on a different circadian rhythm can mess with people's sleep and, as one infamous tragedy shows, can be deadly.

Ophelia is assigned to work, and head out on a mission, with an exploration crew who just suffered the loss of one of their own. She is eager to make a difference regardless that they have no interest in her help to the point where it's clear the crew is keeping information about their colleague's death from Ophelia.

As they land and begin to make residency it quickly becomes apparent that something unexplainable happened on this planet. And when those inexplicable things begin happening amongst the crew, culminating with one of their deaths, Ophelia begins to question if it is the beginning of ERS or something else entirely. In order to survive they'll have to trust each other, but that trust becomes difficult when it's apparent that they've all been keeping their secrets.

Space is the perfect setting for a mystery because it’s so vast yet also so suffocating. You can’t just go anywhere you are at the mercy of your team and technology. And for Ophelia she can’t trust either. As readers it's put in our heads early on that we also might not be able to trust Ophelia's perspective on things. So there is this tension slowly building and running throughout as we kind of walk side-by-side with Ophelia as everything starts to go sideways. Who do we believe? Can we believe anyone?

I will say that there are quite a few too many feints without much forward momentum early on in the book. Yes, it is a slow build and I was completely captivated in the narration, but I also feel like the pacing could have been stepped up a little more while still maintaining that building tension.

In that regard, however, the narrator has a very haunting quality about her voice and listening to the audiobook lent itself well to keeping this eerie quality running throughout. I think the decisions made as far as tone of voice and pacing of the read was spot on. Even though the story is told from Ophelia's point of view, each character was distinctive on their own. When the dialogue changed I knew who was speaking without cues. Overall, impressive and immersive narration.

I don't typically read a lot of horror. But there was just something about the premise of this on that called to me I guess. If you're not super into the squishy, squicky moments that often pop up in horror, then I think you may like this. Don't get me wrong it certainly has its moments of that, but I personally felt like it was lighter than the other times I've read a true horror book. Maybe it's because it has a futuristic bent to it that lends itself well to not feeling overly gross like some horror tends to be.

I do feel like this is a good book to go into with very little knowledge of, so in order to avoid giving anything more away, I'll leave off here, but do want to say that I like and appreciate the way SA Barnes chose to tie everything up at the conclusion.

I've not read SA Barnes previous book, but reading this certainly gets me interested. Next time I'm in the mood for a thrilling sci-fi mystery/horror, I'll know where to look.

S.A. Barnes does it again! While I really loved the creepy atmosphere of Dead Silence, and was hoping for more of that here, I also really enjoyed the fast-paced thriller style here.

Our main character is dealing with some severe trauma. Now, armed with a degree in psychology, she plans to help those who may be going through similar things. It has been decided that having mental health professionals on site, in the places known to cause people to spiral, is a good thing. She will be the first to be sent out to a team that may need her advice. However, this team will encounter more than they bargained for.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns this book took. I even enjoyed a couple of the red herrings. I could definitely see how the crew would believe some of them.

Another sci-horror to add to the recs list.

Unfortunately, "Ghost Station" didn't quite live up to my expectations.

One of the major issues I encountered was with the pacing, especially in the first 60% of the book, which felt like a tedious journey. I felt like Zura Johnson did a great job narrating the story, however the story was extremely boring for a good portion of the book and the narrator wasn't able to save that (which is fine; that is not part of their job description).

The protagonist, Ophelia, failed to resonate with me; her self-centered and excessively analytical nature became quite off-putting as the story progressed. I feel like this is one story where multiple POVs would have really added a lot of depth. The absence of other perspectives to break up Ophelia's monotonous internal monologue.

The second half of the book did manage to pick up the pace and introduce some elements of horror, however the ending left me with unresolved questions and unfinished plot lines. The repetitive descriptions and themes, such as tingling skin and pervasive feelings of paranoia, grew tiresome over time.

I really struggled to maintain my focus during the sluggish first half of the audiobook, despite the narrator's acceptable performance. While there were some good moments in this book, "Ghost Station" failed to evoke the level of fear/tension that I had anticipated going in.

Overall, "Ghost Station" fell short for me in several aspects. It had some good parts; however, you have to slog through a lot of boring parts to finally get there.

I confess, I'm not a fan of Space settings in stories but I decided to give this one a try anyway- it sounded intriuging. However the pacing on this one was just too slow for me. This is definitely a slow-burn, atmospheric horror and I just felt the build up took too long and I lost interest. By the time things started happening I just wasn't interested. It was a flop for me, but if you like the slow-burn build up in a trapped room kind of setting this one might be for you.

The audio narrator of this one was great! I loved her narration despite not connecting to the story I found the narration engaging and haunting. Would absolutely seek this narrator out in the future.

Mmmm…3.25 stars ⭐️

Imagine you did the unthinkable and your creditability as a doctor is in question…what would you do in order to restore your honor. That’s what Ophelia had to go through in this story. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, I chose this book solely off of the cover and that it was a horror. I listened to it on audio and it was pretty good. Now I wasn’t obsessed with it.

I kept waiting for her to stick up for herself at least once. But every time she went to, they kept talking over her. It was sooooo frustrating and slowly pissed me off. In terms of plot, i thought it was going to be more of a slasher and it really wasn’t that. This story had a more thriller/mystery feel than horror in my opinion. It did get scary sometimes but more in the way the characters were reacting than anything sinister going on. I thought the cause of everything was a little weak in terms of scare factor. And I wish there was more closure in terms of what happened with one of the past.

I did however enjoy the different dynamics with the characters. Each interaction felt unique to the person. I could distinguish who was who towards the end even though I was listening to the story. Which sometimes can be hard to do. Overall it was entertaining enough to finish but idk if I’d recommend to horror lovers. I think I’d recommend it more to thriller/mystery lovers who like a little gore. I wish there were more scenes with the potential romance but overall a solid read.

3.5 stars. I picked up Ghost Station with middling expectations, since my experience with S.A. Barnes' previous novel, Dead Silence, was so mixed. In my review for that book, I said that it wasn't the terrifying, mind-bending deep space horror novel I was looking for -- and ultimately, Ghost Station wasn't quite either, although Barnes definitely got closer with this one.

Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her professional career to studying the effects of ERS, a condition suffered by space explorers that can cause mental deterioration and violence, and which can be contagious. She is invited to join a small crew on an exploratory mission to an abandoned planet, but as the crew begins to establish residency in the ghost station left by their predecessors, it's clear that everyone on the crew is hiding something...and so is the planet itself.

Aside from the deep ocean, there's nothing scarier to me than outer space. The vastness and darkness of it, the fact that it's a giant vacuum, the fact that literally anything could be out there -- I mean, it's totally terrifying. So naturally I'm drawn to space horror, because reading about it is the closest I ever want to get to facing down this particular fear. One of the things Barnes does so well in Ghost Station is set an otherworldly, claustrophobic, hostile atmosphere, both vivid and eerie, that her characters have to navigate. It would be impossible, so far from the planet you call home, in the silence and isolation of outer space, for your mind not to play tricks on you, and Barnes explores this idea so effectively. Are the characters suffering from the effects of ERS, some extraterrestrial force, or just the human mind's uncanny ability to overthink and create nightmare scenarios? We aren't sure, and neither are the characters. It makes for some very unsettling reading.

Barnes gives Ophelia an interesting backstory and family history, which adds a lot of texture to the narrative and allows her to explore the effects of trauma, the role of genetics in behavior and illness, corporate greed, toxic ambition, and the consequences of late-stage capitalism. She integrates all of this into an engrossing narrative that ratchets up the tension insidiously as it gradually descends into madness. I wish there were more truly "scary" moments, and the ending was somewhat lackluster, but Barnes really does make the most of this concept. I listened to the audiobook read by Zura Johnson, who did a fabulous job of maintaining the narrative's sense of pervading unease. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary reading opportunity.

Dead Silence was one of my favorites from last year, and I am also a sucker for space horror in any capacity. When I heard about S.A Barnes' next book I jumped at the chance to read it early. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed it. I won't give away too much because this story is better experienced than written about, but it is definitely tonally different than Dead Silence, with this story focusing heavily on themes of guilt and responsibility. Barnes' writing and world-building are so thorough and compelling that even though this story was a lot different than I was expecting and hoping it to be, I still enjoyed this a good amount.
For the audiobook specifically, I enjoyed the narrator. I don't think this was an instance of the story coming to life more in narrated form than reading it physically. But, I did think that the story lent itself well to being read aloud versus other sci-fi which is too convoluted to really dig into in an audiobook.

Ghost Station is a Horror Science Fiction where a crew is sent to explore an isolated planet and investigate ENS they are quickly met with the terror after a team member is found murdered.

This is my second S.A. Barnes books. Both of her books seem like they should be right up my alley. Unfortunately they both are a let down. The story lacks suspense and we are left with a slow plot line with minimal body horror. Very disappointing.

I was provided both a print and audio ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

The audio narration was great. The narrator did distinctive voices for each character, making it easy for the listener to distinguish between characters. I always appreciate that, especially when there are multiple characters with a good bit of dialogue.

Ophelia is a psychologist assigned to a crew tasked with exploring an abandoned planet and investigate what happened to the previous crew. Ophelia is tasked with keeping them mentally healthy after the loss of one of their crewmates on a previous mission and after a condition called ERS has become more prevalent for those that spend alot of time in space. ERS has been known to make people violent, and Ophelia has dedicated her life to studying and preventing the disease after experiencing it's effects first hand as a child.

Upon landing on the desolate planet and beginning explorations, the crew begins to exhibit strange behaviors that mimic ERS. The crew has not warmed up to Ophelia for many reasons, and no one wants to be diagnosed with ERS. When one of the crew turns up dead, Ophelia has to unearth the skeleton's in her closet and work with the remaining members of the team to figure out if they are sick or if there is something else going on.

This is my first book by the author, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This book was extremely atmospheric. This blurs the lines between sci-fi, horror, and thriller. I definitely got the creepy, desolate vibes the author was going for.

I thought the premise was really interesting and the author did a good job describing the planet and the surroundings. I did find the writing repetitive at times especially when it came to Ophelia's character arc. I feel like had the author stuck with the weird planet plotline or the medical plotline this book would have been a knockout, but there were too many threads of stuff about Ophelia's family, her job, the crew, and the planet going on for it to be a cohesive story. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, as the action starts to build up to something that doesn't ever happen. Honestly, I expected a little more death and destruction from a space horror, but this is more of a mystery/thriller. There is some gore and the descriptions are good, but I wanted a little more suspense and scare factor. I felt like finally when we got to the good part when the action was picking up and the horror elements were really taking off, it ended in what I feel was an unsatisfying way.

Overall, I thought this was entertaining but the conclusion was underwhelming.

S.A. Barnes is an excellent modern sci-fi horror author and I cannot wait to see what else they write. I truly loved Dead Silence and I was hoping I'd feel the same about Ghost Station, but unfortunately the book fell a little flat for me. The characters felt a little too one note and I really wasn't a huge fan of the main character. That being said the horror elements within this book were excellent and incredibly haunting.

"And then, the screaming starts....."

Wow. Just wow. That is all I can say for Ghost Station! I absolutely loved S.A. Barnes' novel 'Dead Silence' when I stumbled across it in one of the many horror book groups I'm in and recommend it to anyone and everyone that loves sci-fi and horror. Ghost Station did not disappoint. I think I'm experiencing what they call a "book hangover" And can we take just a second to Zura Johnson on her amazing narrating! The true panic she made me feel bringing the characters to life *chefs kiss*
Dr. Ophelia Bray is the black sheep of the well known Bray family and daughter of a known cult leader that was responsible for 29 brutal murders. She has dedicated her life to help people, to study and prevent ERS - the space based condition her father once suffered. She takes an assignment with a small crew after they've lost one of their team members, hoping she can help them as they travel to a long abandoned planet. But the crew is hiding something, just like Ophelia.
They start seeing things...hearing voices. Violence breaks out. The ships captain is found dead! Was it suicide - or murder? Is the deterioration of the crew and herself due to ERS -or something much, much sinister?

10/10 🌟 Check it out April 9th! Thank you Tor Nightfire, Netgalley, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC audio copy! And thank you, thank you again to S. A. Barnes!

I was very excited about this one. I had really enjoyed the author’s debut, Dead Silence and I love a good space horror, there are so many elements to add to the scariness of situations like the isolation or the unknown. While this novel did have the space elements, at its core it was less horror and more a slow burn mystery. It did succeed at creating an unsettling atmosphere and some tension. I did however find myself questioning the main character's decisions a bit too much to fully appreciate her. I think this could have made a great novella but overall felt too long for the payoff for me.

As for the audio, I really loved Zura Johnson’s narration, it definitely contributed to me getting to the finish line. Despite the sci-fi elements the story is easy to follow as an audiobook.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one.

Thank you to - Macmillan Audio - and NetGalley for the audiobook ARC.

*Netgalley requires a star rating to be given so for their sake - 1 star

No star rating given on Goodreads because I didn't finish. I did find the narrator to be monotone however.

First, this book was a DNF because there’s a verbally abusive* familial relationship and emotionally manipulative friendship depicted within the first chapter and frequent use of coarse language. *(F*ck, B*tch) The audiobook method of consumption enhanced how uncomfortable I felt.

The following critiques are drawn from the little I read:
We’re dropped straight into the character’s head and she’s actively avoiding a situation that has had world-wide implications. The thing is: she never mentions what it is even though we’re in her head. Aside from the mention of technology that’s augmented to the main character and this “hidden past”, there’s nothing to orient yourself to the world as it is in 2199.

Additionally, the character undergoes what’s supposed to be a stressful event within the first couple of chapters and it lacked the necessary tension.

The main character is a psychologist and she uses her expertise to explain a person’s motivations instead of letting the reader infer why they made those choices, and I don’t like that.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel to read in exchange for an honest review.

Ghost Station was a great read. I enjoyed it from start to finish. The book is the perfect balance of science fiction and horror that fans of both genres could find entertaining. But on top of that it's also just a very well-written book that tells a good story, two things that don't always go hand-in-hand in the horror genre. I was pulled into the story right away, and kept immersed throughout by the rich details the author used to weave into the world. From the rich history belonging to the main character to the clear motivators driving supporting characters, it felt well thought out. You could tell that this was a world the author crafted with care.

I haven't previously read this author's work, but just based on how much I enjoyed this book I'm going to go back and read her other novel, Dead Silence. I will absolutely be looking forward to this author's future work.

Additionally, the audiobook was great to listen to!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ALC 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.

I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was everything I wanted Dead Silence to be. And yet, I liked Dead Silence more? How to explain...

So we open with Ophelia, who is getting ready to be put into cryo for a mission. But she has a secret past that she's keeping from the readers and trying not to think about, and wow, doesn't that sound familiar?? Probably because Dead Silence opened up in a similar fashion with the MC not revealing what they know. And the similarities for the first third of th book aren't lost on me. I found that a little disappointing in a lot of ways.

But as the story progresses, the differences in novels comes out, and I was so happy to see the body horror and the psychological horror come together in a crazier way. I loved the fact that we got some moments where I was like freaking out, hanging on to every word to find out what was happening. So then, why did I not love this as much as I felt like I should have?

My issue was the way everything ended. It wrapped up a little too neatly, in my opinion. The action was resolved too fast, and the epilogue felt like it was meant to just put a pretty bow on everything. That's not to say I don't appreciate a happy ending, but I expected this to end in a not so ideal way and I would've been content with that ending. But I feel like ending it the way that it did cheapened everything that they fought for.

He audiobook itself was great. The narrator was clear and did a fantastic job bringing the book to life.

Okay so I just finished this audiobook and I wanted to drop my thoughts right off first off there's a lot of creeping dread I kind of got the feeling like I was in a dangerous place so the World building was good but when it came to the characters I just really didn't enjoy any of them they were all kind of stale and just overall I didn't like it, I will give it three stars because of the creepiness of the world and some good action throughout, this is the second book that I've tried from this author and I don't think I'll be trying another one,Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC for an unbiased and Honest review

S. A. Barnes' story starts with a thrill in the opening chapter of this new novel. I was hooked trying to figure out what was going on, and who knew what and when. The narrator did a fantastic job, pacing matched the action as the characters struggled to survive, not knowing who or what was the danger. As a novice in space opera-thriller-type stories, I found this an easy entry into the genre and once my heart rate returns to normal I'll be adding more of Barnes' work to my TBR.

This book was fine. I had heard a lot of good things about the author’s other book so I went in with pretty high expectations that I can’t say were quite met. Maybe it was a me issue but I just felt like the story moved a little too slow.

Our main character Ophelia, is a psychologist who due to some unfortunate circumstances finds herself joining a short term space mission. The crew is dealing with some unfortunate circumstances of their own as they just lost a colleague. Ophelia is keeping secrets, the crew are keeping secrets, and they just landed on a super creepy planet... What could possibly go wrong? Where this book excelled is when it kept its readers guessing between psychological horror and body horror. Where it fell a bit flat was overall plot cohesiveness. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't excited about it.