I was so excited to get and ARC copy of Ghost Station because Dead Silence was such an amazing story. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as I did her debut. The horror aspect was fine, I like the isolated setting of space in horror.

My only issue was the MC but because the whole book is from her perspective she ruined all my enjoyment. I hated reading from her perspective. Her inner monologue grated on me to the point I couldn't enjoy the story. She is self centered, always caring what other people think about her and prone to saying things that make her more unlikable. She's a therapist, a shit therapist, she needs to deal with her own trauma and get a new job.

It took me forever to get through the first half so I switched to the audio book. I don't recommend the audio book only because part of the horror is hallucinations and its very hard to tell when they're happening in the audio book.

I will definitely read whatever S.A Barnes puts out next, and I don't think this book will bother most readers like it did me.

This was kind of a letdown after how phenomenal Dead Silence was. The romance subplot seemed to come out of nowhere and really just took away from the tension and development of the other characters. I liked the plot threads separately, but I don't think they were tied together satisfactorily. I did love the alien design, though.

I received a ARC copy of this book through NetGally.

S.A. Barnes is one of my favorite authors. She is able to captivate a reader by placing them in space and provide the dread and emptiness that space must actually feel like. With that, she also is very good at making you feel the emotions that her main characters feel.

Her most recent book, Ghost Station, was just as phenomenal as Dead Silence, her first novel with space as a main theme. The main character, Ophelia, had quite the backstory when we meet her and it was interesting to find out more about why she was so keen on leaving earth and going on a mission in space.

The plot was great, the writing flowed well, and I enjoyed the ending.

Space novels are always hit or miss for me, but I enjoyed this one a lot.

Do you like creepy space horror? Did you like Barnes's first book, Dead Silence? Then you're really going to like her newest book, Ghost Station.

Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist specializing in ERS, a space induced psychosis that can turn anyone into a raving murderer. She joins a small band of explorers on a mission to study a planet with alien ruins, hoping to help them avoid ERS. Despite her good intentions the crew resents her and her ties to her megacorp, ultra rich family. Amid the tensions she begins to notice that things don't quite seem right on this supposedly lifeless planet. What happened to the crew that was here before them? What secrets are the crew keeping, and can she hide her own? Is there really something going on, or is it all in her head?

This book was a fast read for me, because I couldn't put it down. It's very atmospheric; we have the backdrop of a universe filled with planets with alien ruins, but no aliens. What happened to them all? Points for mentions of the Great Filter and the Fermi Paradox! We have an eerie, storm lashed planet, isolated from any chance of help or escape. And a tight knit team that is clearly hiding something from Ophelia. The story builds tension and pacing to an explosive finale.

Ophelia is a mixed bag. She's here out of a sincere desire to help these people, but she's also assuaging her own guilt at the excesses and actions of her family. She tries to remain calm and patient, but also has to fight the urge (sometimes unsuccessfully) to pop off whenever the team smartass makes a cutting remark. She comes across very young and a touch naive, quite vulnerable, but sincere. She feels more like a grad student than a full doctor; does she really have enough experience to be out here in space on her own yet? She mentions previous patients so we know she's been practicing for a while, but some of her decisions and reactions feel like a much more inexperienced doctor.

We get some flashback action, alternating between the horrors of the current dilemma and the past in a way that gives us a greater insight into her character. Poor Ophelia, she's had a rough time of it. We get nail biting suspense, the fear of not being alone in the house, body horror, alien horror, space horror.

Part of me wishes this was a series instead of a standalone, so we could explore this universe more, learn more about the dead civilizations, really delve into that wider world... but I also recognize that's not what this story is about. It's about this woman, and this team, and this planet. The tight focus really keeps the narrative moving and keeps us focused on what matters.

I loved how Ghost Station dropped small creepy things here and there. A tooth all by itself. How random! Wait, what are those long scratch marks there? I'm sure that's fine. Who moved my shoe in the middle of the night away from my bed? Ok, that's weird... Building up the horror drip by drip. I really enjoyed this book, and I think it will appeal to anyone looking for a creepy, one-off space thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

If The Happening and Contagion had a baby it would be this.

We follow Ophelia a psychologist who is assigned to a team that is heading out to a newly acquired planet. Upon arrival they are met with basically a ghost town (station). From there the story takes a bit to get moving. I would say the pacing is a little rough as it is quite slow in the beginning and pretty rushed in the ending. This is a little disheartening as this is the really good part.

Would I class this as a horror? Probably not. Mystery/thriller, probably. However, space (and the ocean) scare the heck out of me. I wasn't scared while reading this book but I was trying to solve the issue at hand: WHAT IS GOING ON?! I kept picturing Jenova from FF7 Advent Children.

I appreciate the spotlight on mental health issues and the stigma that comes along with them. The idea of ERS is terrifying in itself. The play on the inability to trust your senses is also very well thought out. The depiction of corrupt greedy companies and how citizens must risk it all to make ends meet sometimes, does well in mimicking real life. "Some of us are broken enough that we don't get to be fixed."

I enjoyed it overall but it wasn't as "horror" as expected.




Thank you to Tor Publishing Group, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC of this novel.

I think I am going to settle on a 3.5 for this one. It took a little bit for me to get into it, but once I did, it was a fun time. I love thrillers/horror novels set in space. This one kind of made me think of that movie Life. There was a lot of action. I loved the creepy, claustrophobic vibes. Just the thought of having to survive on an abandoned planet is terrifying to me. I really enjoyed this book for the most part. I did think the main character, Ophelia, was pretty annoying. I don't know that I completely understood what was going on with her. At times, this novel got a little disorienting, but that was probably intentional. Overall, I thought this was a pretty solid space horror/thriller and I had a fun time reading it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and SA Barnes for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Ghost Station coming out April 9, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I was excited to get it because it seemed like a fun sci-fi mystery. I thought the first half of the book was really fun. It was dark and claustrophobic. The mystery of space is definitely fascinating. The book never felt scary to me though. I was thinking there would be a little more horror based on the title and description. I think Ophelia had a complicated relationship with her father. I wonder if this book was somewhat based on Hamlet. There was a ton about Ophelia and all her decisions and thought process, but there was hardly anything about other characters. I think Ophelia got slightly annoying by the end with all of her obsessions. I would’ve liked to see more from other characters and more horror.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sci-fi mysteries.

Barnes remains a skillful architect of atmospheric horror. she is so exceptional at building suspense, at providing little glimpses of atrocities that you're not sure you've read right. sci-fi horror naturally lends itself to the overwhelming fear of being alone; S.A. Barnes makes you think that maybe that would be preferable, over the ghosts slinking by in the background.

"So many corners, so many shadows. Where are you hiding, little bird?"

our mc is Ophelia, "Phe" to her little sister and inner voice. Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist who probably should have stayed out of the psych field and definitely found some better support for her own immense trauma. unfortunately, she is instead going into space to join a research team, so she can help them tackle their trauma over the terrible death of a squad mate. Ophelia is expecting some pushback from the team; she is not expecting what she gets, which is arguably a lot worse than just being disliked.


I knocked a star off for a few reasons. I fully believe that a very rich family could buy anybody's silence, especially if they're not above some careful assassinations or dumping people on hillbilly planets where they can't access a comm. I do not fully believe that anybody could possibly be as naïve as Dr. Ophelia Bray.

also, I hate ill-timed romances, and I dead-ass was foaming at the mouth when Ophelia and Ethan started making eyes at each other.

that being said, I did like this book even more than the author's previous one, and I'm such a sucker for unreliable narrators and questionable hallucinations, so I'm happy about giving it a four star rating. I think this is a solid sci-fi horror, so long as the reader isn't too picky about their protagonists lol.


queer rep - side sapphic character
thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc ✨

This book was a SciFi thriller along the lines of Event Horizon or perhaps Alien … in that it was a very slow build up and more creepy and psychological than scary (so not really a good fit into the horror genre even with some of those elements). The premise has been done before … abandoned planetary station with some mystery about why it was abandoned and a small survey crew that has its own ghosts to deal with. In this case, the known boogieman is a psychological syndrome known as ERS that drives some spacers to violence/suicide (trigger warning here). The crew consists of an outsider psych doc who is responsible for helping the rest of the crew avoid any problems with ERS after losing a member on a prior mission. The “Doc” has her own issues to deal with and quite frankly it took me some time to not dislike the character because of this … and her introduction appears to be the source of crew friction that primarily serve to provide cover to everybody being jerks the whole time. As we discover more about each of the crew, this becomes more understandable, but doesn’t make the book any more enjoyable (but is the reason I will cut the characters some slack despite not really connecting to any of them). While the bulk of the story rests upon the interactions of the crew, there is a backdrop of Homefront politics (competing corporations in an apparent space race) and a mysterious alien race that has suddenly disappeared long ago … both of which drive some of the mystery and thriller tension (why did one of the corps abandon the planet and what happened to the alien civilization on this ice ball of a planet). So … while not particularly unique in any way, it was a short, easy read suitable for some quick entertainment.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#GhostStation #NetGalley

I was really looking forward to this but unfortunately it just couldn't keep my attention.

This takes place in a dark, massive but empty space station. The main character is trying to fit in with the small group, but she just doesn't feel welcome. What the author did really well in this book is create a feeling of isolation and tension.

I'd say, if this story sounds interesting, then I think you should give it a go!

Out April 9, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

My thanks to NetGalley and Nightfire/Tor Publishing for the ARC of "Ghost Station" in exchange for an honest review.
As a lifelong fan of sci-fi/horror, I couldn't wait to dive into this one. And it did not disappoint in checking all the boxes for a book or film that blends space exploration with gut wrenching fear of the unknown and mysterious, grisly deaths.
As expected, we're in a bleak future where space exploration is controlled by rapacious corporations for their own monetary benefit. And these greedy oligarchs depend on the overworked, underpaid crews who put their lives on the line travelling to remote barren planets to collect valuable samples......and possibly alien artifacts, if they find any.
Joining such a crew is psychologist Olivia Bray and she brings with her a background steeped in horrific childhood trauma and a lifelong toxic relationship with her family.......the family that owns and runs one of those corporations that sends out the exploration crews.
She's seeking a measure of redemption for herself by hoping to diagnose and prevent any outbreak of a syndrome that drives crew members mad to the point of making them dangerous to themselves and others.
But this particular crew, knowing the family she comes from, resent and despise her from day one, despite all her futile efforts to win their trust. The planet they're exploring puts them all on edge even more.......a storm-wracked inhospitable world, dominated by the crumbling structures of a long extinct alien civilization.
Or maybe, as a series of unsettling, nightmarish incidents start to pile up, one after the other, there's something else on this planet with them........something that might explain why the previous exploration team fled the planet in an awful big hurry.....
I wouldn't dare explain anything further, but as you can expect, the elements are all in place here for a scary good time. Fear, loathing, paranoia and increasing terror run rampant. And Libby, who's already weighed down with enough previous miseries to fuel her own separate novel, is forced to cope with way more than her own personal demons.
I realize many readers may find "Ghost Station" repetitive and redundant, given that its basic storyline has been done in literally dozens of familiar films and books. And I did find the final chapters rushed into a quick abrupt wrap-up.....(which may work well for a film version but you always expect more from the book) But I loved that author S.A. Barnes was truly committed to delivering a full fledged, full-speed-ahead edition of this well worn genre.
Sure, I'm familiar tales of a space crew beset by who knows what.......but that didn't stop me from turning the pages at light speed. For fans who can't get enough of sci-fi-horror mashups, here's your cup of dread right here.

S.A Barnes had a hit book release a couple years ago called Dead Silence that I really enjoyed so I was looking forward to this new release. This is another scary scifi story about an abandoned crew who must try to survive on an old planet. Fans of this authors storytelling we are in for another creepy claustrophobic feeling story that will definitly scare the pants off you so maybe have an extra pair on hand if you read this.

Officially throwing in the towel on this one at 17%. I've tried my hardest but I can't seem to bring myself to care enough about the characters or the plot setup to go on.

This has a promising premise: our main character Ophelia is a psychologist specializing in ERS, which is a space-based condition that can cause people to go mad and possibly murder their fellow crew. Ophelia is assigned to a ship that just lost a crew member in an attempt to help them process and hopefully prevent ERS. The ship docks somewhere and I presume that horror ensues from there. I didn't get far enough to even get to the horror bits, which is a shame.

The main roadblock for me here was the characters and the plot setup. Ophelia is part of a billionaire corporate family, and she's escaping some sort of big dust up that her family is involved in when she accepts the assignment. The crew on the ship don't appreciate her coming into their space while they're mourning, and the tension from the outset just feels so...contrived. It feels stupid. It made me absolutely dislike every single person in this book, especially Ophelia.

I love the idea of space horror, and I want more of it. I just wish I could have gone on longer with this one, but I just couldn't.

Many thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes is a thrilling and intense science fiction horror novel. Ghost Station is the second novel from S.A. Barnes whose first was Dead Silence. I liked Dead Silence the book had a lot of great moments and promises, Ghost Station I loved it took everything I liked from Dead Silence the intensity, the plot twists, the slight humor, and the horror and turned it up while cutting out most of what I disliked out. Ghost Station was a cross between the movie Life and Helix the SYFY network TV show (more people should watch this show it is fantastic). The pace of this book moves a little slow at the beginning, but when the horror starts at 40% the book is pretty nonstop. I liked the mystery aspect of the story what is happening are they experiencing ERS (space madness) or something else? The book has a lot of twists and turns, no earth-shattering ones but a lot of fun character reveals that lead to twists. There's a minimal amount of characters so you get to know them pretty well I liked Suresh, the jokester, the best. Ophelia the main character took a while to warm up to she really is the worst person to be a psychiatrist. This book makes use of the trapped setting making the reader feel the claustrophobia. The ending was very satisfying and had a good twist with it. I read this advanced reader's copy for free thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire. Ghost Station will be published on April 9, 2024.

Plot Summary: Ophelia is a fill-in psychiatrist for a space mission to explore an abandoned planet that another corporation sold the rights to. Ophelia is filling in because the last crew member Ava died on mission. Ophelia has to be the new crew member, the outsider, and get the crew to talk about themselves. She has developed a new sleep study where a device puts you in a place where you're comfortable like your old childhood bedroom. The sleep device has problems as some start sleepwalking and seeing ghosts. Ophelia would like to think the crew is going through ERS space madness, but she starts hearing and seeing ghosts. The mission is to study this newly abandoned planet, but the crew starts finding evidence that it wasn't abandoned and that maybe the first crew never left. This is intense science fiction horror at its best.

What I Liked: The intensity of the novel is throughout. You can feel an unnerving presence lurking in the shadows. I liked how all the characters had very different voices, I never lost who was talking or being talked to. I liked the ending and how edge-of-your-seat it was. The novel did a great job of providing the flashbacks to make you feel like you were there. I thought what was haunting the crew members was interesting and terrifying. The mystery of what happened to the crew before them was really interesting.

What I Disliked: Ophelia was a horrible psychiatrist she had more secrets than anyone, and just kept making the dumbest choices not to help anyone's psyche. ERS, space madness, was a big thing in Dead Silence I was a little annoyed that it was a thing in this book, in the end, this was a way different book than Dead Silence but I was worried it was going to be the same story in a different setting. ERS at the beginning was brought up so much I was like is this connected to Dead Silence but it was not.

Recommendations: Ghost Station is a great science fiction horror novel that I think you need to check out. It is atmospheric horror at its best, you feel the doom of being trapped where you can't trust the people you are staying with. I like this novel over Dead Silence, which I rated 3 stars and saw a lot of potential. This novel has that potential and it was great to read.

Rating: I rated Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes 4.3 out of 5 stars. I look forward to reading more S.A. Barnes in the future.

Thank you to the publisher for the eArc.

I had a great time reading Dead Silence by this author and was excited to give this next one a go. It was still an interesting read but unfortunately didn’t hook me as much and felt a bit like a chore to get through at times.

I think that part of this issue is due to the synopsis seemingly spoiling the book. It describes the pilot dying but that doesn’t actually happen until over 200 pages in the book if I’m not mistaken. So the whole time before that feels like reading an extended beginning of the story.

The writing was still as good as Dead Silence so I am still likely to read their future works. I would also still recommend this to anyone that likes space horror, just with the caveat of going in blind/not reading the whole synopsis.

After reading Dead Silence two years ago, I was excited to find out that the same author was coming out with a new book this year. I enjoyed my time with Dead Silence, but Ghost Station was honestly hard to get through. I love space horror, but this book (in my opinion) isn't really that close to horror at all. I'd consider this more of a 'thriller that just happens to be on a different planet', since, besides some seemingly forced body horror, there wasn't anything too terrifying about this. (I am a big horror reader though, so this might be scarier for someone who doesn't read in that genre a lot).

One of my biggest issues with this book is that it took such a long time to get me interested in the story. I received an ARC originally of this book, and during the first 50-60% of reading this, I was trying to convince myself to not DNF it. It takes a while to get anywhere, with the first half mostly going in circles about the main character's past and how much she has gone through in her privileged life, which she considers to not be privileged. (I could honestly write a whole other review just talking about that.) I've read many books with unlikeable characters, but I don't know if that was even the author's intention with the character or if she kind of just ended up like that. Ophelia, the main character, also has this instant attraction to the captain and feels the need to be approved by him. Maybe this isn't a huge deal for people, but the captain was rude to her at the beginning and I just felt like the 'romance' was unnecessary.

And finally, the ending. I looked at some Goodreads reviews while reading the book and it spoiled the ending for me, which I've never been more thankful for. If I didn't know what to expect and then got that ending, I might've rated this close to 1.5 stars. All the setup for it to not even be explained at all was a bit frustrating, to be honest.

As you may be able to tell, I wasn't a fan of this book. I really wanted to like it, and the synopsis sounded super interesting, but the execution didn't work for me. In my mind, this is a 2.5-star read. Most of the stars though are because I'm a sucker for reading any space-themed 'horror' or 'thriller' book.

I know a lot of people enjoyed this book though, so maybe I'm alone in feeling this way. If you want to read one of the author's books though, I'd highly recommend trying dead silence.

Big thank you to Tor and Netgalley for providing me with this advanced copy!

Outer Space Is No Place For Things To Go Wrong

SA Barnes has given us another volume of excellent, horrifying, and character-driven sci-fi. A quick read despite its length, the story grabbed me from the beginning and the action and suspense carried me to the end before I knew it.

The plot is well-balanced between the universal human issues we may encounter one day and the individual backgrounds of the characters. I appreciated that where there is drama, the revealed character motivations naturally move the story along.

I enjoyed meeting the central character, Dr. Ophelia Bray. She's gone through a lot, but has survived and grown steel in her spine. She's not another two-dimensional female kick-*ss either, she's driven by conscience and compassion.

Ghost Station was a great read for me because the descriptions didn't overwhelm suspense-building, and even more importantly, the science was plausible. The author illustrated how tech will change in the future, but human nature’s basic instincts aren't likely to change too much. The ethics of corporations aren't likely to change much in the future either, when business will be flung far and wide in Space. Barnes's vision feels frightening and desolate, but crystal-clear.

Thank you to the author, S.A. Barnes, Tor Nightfire, and NetGalley for the free advance reader's copy of the book. I'm under no obligation to them to color my review positively. Like her previous book, Dead Silence, I recommend Ghost Station to sci-fi fans because I loved it.

3.5 Rounding Up

I really enjoyed the setup here - disgraced daughter of an influential family joins a space mission to collect samples from a planet her family sold to the competitor. There is a lot of intriguing backstory that keeps the story feeling more personal than action-packed. I always appreciate a more character-driven SciFi. That’s not to say there wasn’t action though, there are ominous findings, creepy skin conditions, dead bodies, faulty machinery and potentially alien life??

I have no complaints or critiques of the story or writing, I just feel like we were missing something somewhere that would have made this more special. I enjoyed my time 100% when I was reading, but didn’t have a problem setting this down or feel that pull to pick it up when I wasn’t. I am excited to have been introduced to this author because I like what they’re doing in bringing horror and SciFi together!

Thank you to S.A. Barnes, Tor Publishing, and NetGalley for the eArc of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me everything I wanted, creepy atmosphere, interesting sci-fi elements, and even a little bit of romance. I loved the main character, Ophelia, and found her very compelling and sympathetic. I thought her backstory was interesting and liked that she approached everything from a psychologist POV. It was unique and helped explain certain things in the story, such as the space sickness she’s concerned about, in a natural way. I also liked the fast-paced plot, the description of the alien planet and architecture, and the supporting cast of characters.
Overall, I thought it was a great read! My only wish would be that the plot covered a longer expanse of time. I think this would allow for increased connections between the characters and more time learning about this sci-fi future. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes sci-fi and horror!

I enjoyed Dead Silence but found it a little shaky - this is more self-assured and I liked it very much (even though the ending was a bit rushed.) Truly alien problems that are never explained, which seems right and proper.