SA Barnes does it again with this atmospheric sci-fi horror. This time Dr. Ophelia Bray, running from her family name, is assigned to a small exploration crew sent to an abandoned planet, Ophelia is quick to realize that she can depend on no one but herself and that she is surrounded by secrets.
Soon a gruesome murder takes place and Ophelia's fears the worst and together with the crew they work together what is happening.
It was a little slow to start but built in tension quickly. Barnes does a great job of building that tension and creepy vibe that you need with a sci-fi horror and managed to keep my attention the entire time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the eARC.

As I patiently waited for my Libby book of Dead Silence to become available, I saw the opportunity to review the new S.A. Barnes book on Netgalley. I was most definitely not disappointed and could not put this book down. We meet Dr. Ophelia Bray, as she accepts a job with a small expedition crew, in an attempt to make a difference, as well as escape her family name. When landing on an abandoned planet, things go from not great to even worse as Ophelia realizes the only person she can rely on is herself. She slowly begins to unravel the secrets that those around her have been hiding in the hopes of making it home. I am looking forward to publishing day to get a physical copy for my bookshelf!

Wow! SA Barnes first book, Dead Silence, is one of my favorite books and a favorite at my library. I wondered if she could do it again or maybe Dead Silence was a one-off. Oh, she did it again. Ghost Station is killer. Although I didn't particularly like the main character, the main character isn't particularly likeable. That usually has me not finishing the book. I couldn't put Ghost Station down. It sucked me in and kept me up late. SA Barnes has proven that she can write fantastic science fiction and I look forward to reading whatever she publishes in the future.

This atmospheric sci-fi horror novel had me from the beginning. Ophelia Bray, estranged from her rich powerful family, is trying to make up for the harm her family has caused by dedicating her life to helping people suffering with mental health conditions from deep space travel. After losing a patient to suicide she volunteers for a deep space mission as mental health specialist. That part seemed a bit strange to me. A bare bones recon crew would not have the space and resources for a psychiatric professional. But as a fan of sci fi I’m always willing to suspend my disbelief!
This novel was good and creepy and characters were likable. I loved the concept of ‘cold sleep’ technology for long trips!

S.A. Barnes is back at it again with another fun space-horror. The first half was a bit slow but it really picked up for me part way through. The tension and creepy feelings were consistent throughout. There was A LOT of baggage with the main character that I know was necessary to the story but it felt like it took up more of plot than was needed- I just wanted a bit more action, a bit more history of the planet and more explanation about the “alien forces” and their motives.

Well this was another interesting space “horror.”
While not the most thrilling book to read I did like the idea behind the concept.

I struggled to get into this one. Which I felt the same with the last book by this author and I feel like it has to do with the characters (mostly the protagonists) and the pacing. To me this was not as creepy or thrilling as I expected it to be. I feel like there is too much build up with not enough tension for the conclusion we get. But the story did keep me interested.

Overall it was an ok book that I think most sci fi lovers will enjoy.

Title: Ghost Station
By: S.A. Barnes
☆☆☆☆
Release date: April 9, 2024.

Dead Silence was the first book Ive read from author S.A. Barnes and I really liked it. Others have come after and they didnt hit the spot.

Now we get Ghost Station, it was a slow burn and very atmospheric. I liked it. I think space horror will be my new thing. Dr. Ophelia Bray is working for her families rival space exploration company. Things seem off and then all the weird stuff begins.

Couldn't put it down. Lots of little hidden things that are easily missed (that seriously up the creepy factor once noticed!), but also the suspense running through it all was some of the best I've read in a while. Very well structured and crafted, even if it took A WHOLE 200 PAGES to get to any substantial horror. It also hit a nice spot of suspenseful horror without being gory or overly violent, and it didn't fall into the trap of Scooby-Dooing the boogeyman. In fact, most questions are left unanswered which is always a nice touch in suspense/horror novels.

However, I did not actually like the writing style. So many commas! And there were far too many clunky internal monologues. The info they gave was important, but I often had to jump back a whole page to follow the dialogue bookending them - they could probably be edited down a lot. The protag was also just a terrible and unbelievable therapist - incredibly ill-adjusted person who's extremely reactive (all of her emotions are dialed up to 100, always) who somehow manages to address every single one of her lifelong traumas and character flaws during the course of this book, mostly with the unwitting help of the mysterious and forbidden love interest.

There was a lot of eye rolling, but I still blasted through it and enjoyed the plot, and I'd be interested in more stories exploring this universe, the characters, or even a prequel about the planet or Ava!

Once again, this would be great in a visual format - the helmet HUD in particular is begging to be a visual novel game or similar.

Oh my gosh, this book was so fun and intriguing! Who doesn’t love a good space book, but then add in elements of horror and psychological thriller, and you have a beautiful masterpiece.

This was my first book by SA Barnes but I will definitely be picking up Dead Silence next 🙌

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC

This cover is stunning. It is everything. I would buy a million copies of the book just for this cover. (Not really, I’m not that rich…)

The prose reads easily. It’s third person present, which is a really hard tense for me. That said, I enjoyed chapter 1, and plan to come back to this one later in the week.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. It was creepy, and you never knew what was a misdirection and what was the "monster". I wanted to learn more about the ancient civilization, but felt the threat that the team faced was slightly undercooked, especially at the end of the book. The characters were a bit one note, except for Ophelia,

The tension grows as character details emerge, the author skillfully weaves together a compelling story with feelings of suspense, unease and curiosity in a slow satisfying build. The space and technology stage a fascinating backdrop for the revelations on the abandoned planet and human introspection.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced readers copy.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars--

Another exciting, suspenseful space horror read from S. A. Barnes. Dr. Ophelia Bray has a mysterious past and ties to one of the richest families on Earth. And she has *very* complicated feelings about it all. To make amends for her fore bearers, she has devoted her life to helping people struggling with mental illness, especially those who have returned from space voyages with symptoms of psychosis. Ophelia is sent to accompany a team exploring an abandoned planet formerly owned by her family's corporation. The team recently lost a crew member in mysterious circumstances, and Ophelia is determined to help them manage their grief and hold symptoms of psychosis at bay. However, when strange things begin to happen on planet, Ophelia must face her own past trauma.

Ghost Station was an undeniably fun and thrilling read, but I will say that it had a few too many similarities to Ghost Station, Barnes's last book (e.g. characters not being able to trust their own mind and perception, paranoia in a survival situation, being out of control and stranded, class consciousness in a future capitalist space age).

I especially enjoyed the slow unraveling of Ophelia's dark history, and I wished for more epilogue after her return to Earth.

Many thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Primarily this is a psychological thriller. But the book is also an exploration of trauma, self-doubt, family secrets, and corporate greed. Set on an extinct alien planet, a simple survey expedition turns into a nightmare. The reader and protagonist spend most of the book trying to figure out what’s real or what is a psychological symptom; either way the dangers outside and inside are just as present. I enjoyed this book, if you like space drama and psychological thrillers you might like it too.

Please note, I received an ARC copy of this book for review from NetGalley, but that never influences my honest reviews of books or authors.

I sometimes DNF books like this because they can't keep me entertained but S.A. Barnes had no trouble keeping me involved in this one!

I loved this even more the dead silence. The space horror genre really interests me and I love S.A. Barnes writing. I hope she writes more in this genre in the future.

What an incredibly exhilarating story from start to finish! After reading Dead Silence in 2022 I knew I found an author who mastered space horror and S. A Barnes proved me right once again with Ghost Station. Ghost Station is a story about a crew on a job to an old planet to collect samples but then everything goes really really wrong. It was a slow burn of a story but never boring, it played out like a movie and the characters were well developed and the setting chillingly claustrophobic. Go into this as blind as possible it makes it more fun! But if you love aliens then you’ll really enjoy this one!

“Ghost Station” by S.A. Barnes is a “spacefaring” tale of horror and adventure. It’s also something of a psychological thriller. While I enjoyed much of it, I also found some of it derivative, or not as original as it might have been.

The year is 2199. Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist who has been assigned by her employer, the Montrose Corporation, to travel with and monitor a team of five tasked with exploring a distant planet previously inhabited by an extinct alien race. Specifically, it is her job to prevent any of the crew from falling prey to a form of space psychosis. Ophelia is also the daughter of the rich and powerful family that owns the Pinnacle Corporation, Montrose’s competitor. She is neither liked nor trusted by the crew, especially its commander. And she harbors a secret that, if discovered, would ruin her career, the most important aspect of her life.

So, there’s lots of opportunity for conflict, both with her crewmates and within herself. Those conflicts begin immediately upon her awakening from “cold sleep” as the spacecraft approaches the planet, and continue on the eerie, ice-and-snow-bound surface and inside the large but creepy, deserted habitation built by Pinnacle before abandoning the planet. Are there ghosts there? Do monstrous aliens lurk within the ancient structures towering over the landing sight? Will the crew fall prey to this new form of psychosis that’s barely understood?

On the plus side, author S.A. Barnes excels at world-building. The future she imagines is well-realized and very specific. She is particularly adept at identifying some of the problems that may be caused by the technological developments we’re just beginning to see. And in her vision of the future, corporate greed and corruption, and the concerns of workers, are still very much with us.

Her characters are well-drawn and interesting, although not necessarily likable all the time. There are no real heroes or villains amongst the crew—only characters who are human and believable and who develop and grow relationships.

On the minus side, some of the plotting, as well as some of the devices Ms. Barnes chose to employ, lack originality. More than once, I found myself asking: Where have I seen this before? “The X-Files?” “Alien?” “Prometheus?” “Star Trek?”

Also, the storytelling was, at times, digressive. Ms. Barnes wrote large amounts of “backstory” to flesh out Ophelia’s character and add emotional conflict. However, Ophelia’s excessive—indeed obsessive—internal ruminations over those events, at times, caused the story to lose tension and drag.

But, back on the plus side, the last third of the novel is filled with suspense and delivers an ending that is both satisfying and possibly indicative of a sequel. Were such a sequel to be published, I would probably buy it.

All in all, 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

My thanks to NetGalley, author S.A. Barnes, and publisher Tor Publishing Group for providing me with a complimentary ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

Ghost Station is a book almost reminiscent of late 90s/early 00s movies. The fast paced plot brings us straight into an eerie worked leaving me wanting more from the start. While the world building feels a little simple, it gives a certain atmosphere to the tale that really made it feel as if I were wasting a movie.

While the narrative benefited from the fast pace, it also ultimately failed the end. Though again that part made me think of watching an old movie. Everything wraps up too nicely.

Our main character is the most interesting as we dive into her past to better understand the decisions she makes while also building horror into every inch of the narrative.

I can't wait for this book to come out to talk to more people. It's a fun an engaging read that I'll be recommending nonstop.

I wasn't 100% sure about reading this book because sci fi stories set in space are kind of hit or miss with me, but I"m really glad I decided to give it a try, because this one was definitely a hit. I've heard it described as "claustrophobic" and I got that impression, too. You can feel the walls of the station closing in on you when crew members start acting odd, and then one of them turns up murdered. Who did it, why did they do it, and who will be next? You find yourself asking those questions right along with the remaining crew members, and then are unable to put the book down until you get your answers!

This is a well written book full of great characters, a setting that is described perfectly, and enough action to keep things tense and keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and am giving it an enthusiastic 5/5 stars.

*** I want to thank NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, and S.A. Barnes for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.