I really enjoyed this slow burn, tense sci fi novel until the very end, which left me deeply unsatisfied. But overall, the characters, concepts, and world-building were well done and kept my attention throughout.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions below are my own.

I love a good space thriller. A fun locked room mystery on a planetary colony adds a little spice to a well worn genre. Ophelia is a psychologist responsible for monitoring other space travellers for a mental deterioration that has previously led to violence. The crew she is with abhors her presence and makes it pretty clear from the start. She feels uncomfortable but also begins to wonder whether the crew could be hiding something from her.

I liked the more scientific parts in the beginning of this story. I think overall I wanted a little more space nerdery than traditional horror vibes. This one sagged in the middle for me a bit but the action finally picked up in the end.

Read this one if you liked Andy Weir's Artemis.

Ghost Station was slow to get going, and it kept a lot of things hidden at first. It picks up quite a bit about halfway in, and from there it was a thrilling science fiction/horror/adventure story. It combines a lot of good horror elements — an abandoned, icy planet (with eerie howling wind), horrific nightmares, disturbing physical ailments, and crew members who turn on each other. S.A. Barnes is the author of one other novel, Dead Silence.

Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist joining a space mission to help the crew cope with the death of one of their team. She specializes in ERS, a sort of post-traumatic stress disorder that has been known to cause people to commit murder. At the same time, she’s fleeing Earth from some kind of trauma herself. The crew, including its captain, don’t want her there, partly because she comes from an evil corporate family and she’s not one of them. Also because she’s there to assess their mental well-being. She wants to help, but in fact a diagnosis of ERS would be the end of their employment.

Of course, in space they all have to rely on each other to survive. Particularly when one of the crew starts suffering from delusions and they all start experiencing strange things.

I liked the interplay of psychology and horror in this book. Ophelia is dealing with some serious trauma, and I like stories where you aren’t sure what’s internal and what’s external. Although I did think it a little bit cliché, the therapist who seriously needs therapy.

It’s a good story, and very atmospheric, with vivid descriptions of the station and planet. I found Ophelia very sympathetic, once I understood her backstory, and I also liked that the crew was mostly hostile to her, which felt realistic. I appreciated that the author didn’t tell this story from multiple perspectives. The character felt thoughtfully developed even if we didn’t get as much insight about the other crew members.

By far the clunkiest part of the story is Ophelia’s attraction to her captain, which was obvious from the first moment he speaks to her – though I did appreciate that she clearly understands how unprofessional any involvement would be. Ultimately it’s handled well, but could have been written better (as in, they are facing mortal peril and she’s looking at his muscles).

The second half of this novel was great – a real page turner – but the first half had problems with slow pacing, particularly of the key reveals in the story. If it hadn’t been an ARC I might not have pushed through. But this also isn’t a genre I read a lot of, so I’m not sure what to compare it to. I’d say if you love outer-space horror and creepy atmospheric science fiction, give this one a try.

Note: I received an advanced review copy from NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group. This book was published April 9, 2024.

I am pretty new to reading SiFi but Ghost Station was an amazing book! I felt my heart racing throughout the book and finished it in one sitting.

[First, I’d like to say, thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to review this ARC with honesty.]

So I’ve been sitting on this review for a bit, trying to find the right words for it and am still kind of at a loss. I’ve read Dead Silence and loved the atmosphere of it and the chill it gave with each page. This story did have me entertained enough and I did fly through the read, I feel it still fell - flat compared to the previous novel. That being said, I did still enjoy the story but the characters were not that complex. That’s not to say they had to be but it was very hard for me to care too much about the main character when all she did was go back and forth. The commander - Ethan - also didn’t give off much of anything. It was just a bit lackluster.

Regardless, I would very much still like to read from this author. This story was still enjoyable.


My Rating: 3 Stars

This is a solid book with an interesting premise, one that from the start really leans into the psychological aspects of long term space travel and how that can impact travelers. This basis was pretty clever in helping to obscure whether or not aliens would be involved or a problem at all. Where I feel the book went wrong was taking far too long to get to the point, most of the book is lead up with only the last third or so really having the action/horror impacts front and center. The lead up also didn't really set up much suspense or guess work, focusing instead on the main character's isolation from the other crew members. The main character is not very interesting, she has a chip on her shoulder and does very little self-reflection or development throughout the book. The other crew members are also pretty lackluster and are more notable for not trusting or being outright antagonistic towards the mc. Overall, a decent story, but lacking in the thriller/horror aspects I was expecting.

As a huge fan of Barnes’ Dead Silence, I was eagerly awaiting their next Science Fiction novel. Ghost Station is it and here we are!

Dr. Ophelia Bray’s latest assignment is as a sort of Ship’s Counselor,” (a la Deanna Troi), to a crew traveling to an abandoned planet to “take samples.” Ophelia wants to get away from her family, (LOTS of background there), and welcomes a chance to prove her usefulness aboard ship and on the planet. Her task is to be sure that everyone remains in good mental health. Unfortunately, the crew view her, (or any psychologist), as the enemy- any hint of mental illness might render them a risk and therefore unemployable. Upon said crew’s arrival on the planet, it soon becomes obvious that something strange has happened there. Why were they sent to this particular planet? What are their bosses hoping to find in this crew’s samples? What will Ophelia discover? You’ll have to read this to find out!

I find myself struggling to put into words how I felt about this novel and here’s why. The first half of the book is almost all taking place in Ophelia’s head. There’s an abundance of family secrets she’s dealing with, as well as what she sees as a major failure in regards to her work as a psychiatrist. I believe she’s dealing with PTSD from more than one incident in her life. Frankly, she’s a bit of a mess. I enjoyed the arc of her character but I also had issues with the length of time it took to relate all of the above. Seriously, it takes up the first half of the book. Yes, a lot of the information came into play later in the book and was eventually important, it just seemed like an extended period of time before any action began.

Once it did, there was a lot of Ophelia questioning herself, is this real, or in my mind? Once Ghost Station’s secret is revealed, the action takes over from there on out and for me, that was where this story lived. The last quarter of this novel hummed right by, with all becoming clear and the reader rooting for the crew to escape the horror. I just wish we had gotten there a bit sooner.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this. The narrative was intriguing and exciting, I just felt it got bogged down in the first half. I definitely enjoyed it just the same and will eagerly await the next novel down the line.

*ARC from pulisher.*

I don't know what I expected from Ghost Station, but it certainly wasn't what I got. The novel is categorized as Sci Fi/Horror. It's not even close to being a horror novel.

Based on the novel's description, I thought I would enjoy the novel and anticipated an adrenaline filled story. Instead, I got a disappointing, slow placed narrative that almost put me to sleep.

There are a number of acronyms used in the novel. And unlike other readers that can simply gloss over them, I got bogged down with trying to remember what each letter stood for. It's times like those that a glossary at either the beginning or ending of a novel would be an immense help for me.

As far as the characters are concerned, I didn't care for any of them. And those juvenile pranks conducted by the main character's peers didn't help.

By 34%, I decided to move on and gave up trying to force myself to finish. An unfortunate one star DNF.

I received a DRC from Tor Nightfire through NetGalley. This review is completely my own and reflects my honest thoughts and opinions.

Sad I didn't enjoy this more since I really loved Dead Silence. It was fine but it's not a story that I feel is particularly memorable. It's very slow for a horror/thriller novel and I didn't feel any sense of dread or suspense until halfway through.

I found the protagonist to be frustrating and the other characters felt one-dimensional so my emotional involvement in the story was minimal - if this were a multiple POV story it might be more compelling. There was enough in the plot to keep me interested in reading until the end but ultimately I did not care all that much about the fate of any of these characters.

This is an entertaining dark sci fi read. Readers who enjoyed Dead Silence will probably like this even more!

Everyone has secrets, but withholding information can get confusing very quickly. This is an interesting story but I had trouble understanding what exactly was going on for way too long. Then it all just ends. It's many years later and it's all fine. Ok then. It doesn't feel like a setup for a sequel and it would have to be a whole new story anyway. (Sorry if I ruined the ending for you.)

This is definitely a slower expedition than last book, but more richly written! Loved this extension to Ophelia’s story! Very immersive & interesting! Flew through this one, can’t wait to see what she writes next!

I adore SciFi horror, and already loved Dead Silence by SA Barnes as well, so I was thrilled for Ghost Station - and it did not disappoint.

With an estranged psychologist who's just had a patient commit suicide right after a session with her and set in a corporate ruled world, this already had the perfect setup. Add said psychologist to a crew that also just lost a member, sent to recover an abandoned station on a planet with an extinct alien civilisation, and you have an even better start for your plot. Add in the claustrophobic feel of the abandoned station, a big mystery around why its abandoned, and a healthy dose of mistrust between the limited cast of characters, and you have a perfect SciFi horror.

Ghost Station shines with its atmosphere and feelings of paranoia and oppression. Phe, the main character, could never feel safe, could never rely on anyone to help her, and couldn't even trust herself due to her own secrets.

I loved the various mysteries and secrets that help appearing. Some had mundane answers, others horrifying ones, and yet others... well, I guess that's my biggest gripe with the book. Some of the mysteries, the whys and hows and what even really is happening, aren't explained.

While the ending felt nice, there was no sense of satisfaction because some really important questions were unanswered. That was a bit of a bummer, but I still really enjoyed the book, and I'm happy for all additions to the subgenre.

The book starts with Dr. Ophelia Bray going into cold sleep to travel to an abandoned space station to assist a survey crew. Her job is to counsel this crew on the death of one of their members, Ava. It’s thought that Ava had ERS, a syndrome where people see things and can become violent. However, the crew is not happy to have Ophelia with them; and strange things start to happen. In addition, Ophelia is still overcoming her own family issues. This book was tagged as space horror, but there is very little horror to this book. I thought the pacing was terribly slow because nothing happened until 50-60%. However, I did like the ending. I would say the last 10% was the best part of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Who doesn’t love a good space horror? It was a bit of a slow burn but still eventful and kept you engaged. It gave you that sense of dread and isolation that the characters were feeling. This was a fun and crazy book that kept me on my toes trying to guess what would happen next.

WOW. I loved DEAD SILENCE - I am still thinking about a few of those scenes. So when I tell you my hopes for GHOST STATION were through the roof, I really mean it. I could not wait for this book.

To start, this book does not wait for the reader. I honestly love when any form of media accepts its audience is smart and they will figure it out. Ghost Station did that so well. This is SPACE, this is SCI-FI, this is a whole realm of living that we need to be caught up on but I'd so much rather do that through reading between the lines of what information we are given. But by the time we are meeting the whole cast of characters and the story begins, we have a good grasp on the foundational work and everything else was held back for *reasons* that we get to slowly learn about.

The hardest part once we got to the heart of the story was to not compare it to DEAD SILENCE. There are actually quite different but the pairing of space, similar writing styles, female narrators (who aren't entirely dissimilar at their core) made it difficult to not fall into that mindset.

Once they started exploring the new planet - I had SO MANY questions! We got had so many mysteries in this: what happened on this planet/what happened to the last crew there and what is Ophelia's backstory/what is Ophelia hiding, what happened to Ava on this crews last mission/what are they hiding??? Everyone and everything feels SO SUSPICIOUS. And Ophelia knows very little and we, the reader, know even less. It really amps up the tension and unsettled feeling.

The story is fairly slow paced. Barnes sets up a lot of backstory and groundwork in the first 60% of the story. Not to say it was slow/boring but just you're constantly waiting for the shoe to drop and THEN WHEN IT DOES. The last 40% of this book I read in a single sitting because I could not fathom stopping or if I did, all I was going to do was think about what was happening. I wish I could talk about the ending but I don't want to spoil it for anything sooo what I will say: I had specific hopes and dreams for DEAD SILENCE that didn't pan out so was especially excited to see it come true here AND Barnes really, truly, deeply excelled at giving us enough without ever requiring suspended disbelief which I felt was incredible skill when we are dealing with Sci-Fi/Space Horror!

For some reason, I had a hard time getting through this book. I couldn't connect to the main character (or any of the characters) and the pacing wasn't my favorite. This book was also more like a thriller than a horror. Which isn't bad, but when I'm expecting a book to be something and it isn't, it affects my enjoyment because I'm anticpating something that will never happen.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is my second book by S.A. Barnes and I’m really happy to have found this author. I enjoy her writing style and use it horror elements. Her books are not outwardly scary, but instead apply a more psychological approach. This book, like Dead Silence, you see the main character’s mental battles with herself and the environment.
I love that her stories have an attraction element between the FMC and the MMC but it’s not overdone. The book stays predominantly Sci-fi. But humans do see others as attractive, so I feel like it’s realistic.
Overall, I really liked this book and will definitely be picking up more S.A. Barnes books in the future.

Okay my rating technically may be closer to 3.5 but I had to round this up because once I got into the story, I could not put this down. I do think it had a slow start, honestly maybe even a slow first half. But then I became so intrigued as to what was going to happen next, and I love when that’s the feeling I end a book with.

It’s hard to not compare this to Dead Silence (which I adored), considering it’s another space horror by this author with pretty similar themes and cast of characters. But there were still differences, and I enjoyed this a lot. This seemed more horror to me, but I know the everyone has different things that scare them. I didn’t love the audiobook as much as I did for Dead Silence though, this narrator seemed to pause more often as she spoke than I prefer.

I’m not going to go as far as saying there’s a romance in this, but I’m also not going to say that I wasn’t kicking my little feet just from reading about Ethan helping Ophelia with her envirosuit. Soo that also definitely helped me get even more sucked in. I couldn’t get enough of their interactions.

I would definitely recommend this, and I can see myself rereading it! Plus that cover? Stunning. I need a physical copy for my shelves.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book! I voluntarily read this book, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5/5

I really enjoyed this book! It had a great atmospheric vibe, a creepy abandoned station that slowly turns into a nightmare for the small crew. It was definitely a slower paced book but I think that worked very well as it slowly built up the tension and the questions of what was truly real and what was not.

There were many secrets and twists that were interwoven throughout the story that worked well and really enhanced the setting. I think it was well paced and even though some parts were a bit expected it certainly did not detract from the overall story.

The characters were also very fun and interesting. There were quite a few of them right from the start but they were certain distinct. I enjoyed the various relationships they had and the roles they played in their small group dynamic. I also enjoyed Ophelia, the main character, very much as she tried to keep her cool in increasingly tougher situations and then occasionally breaking through when things got too much. She felt very real and well fleshed out.

Overall I really enjoyed it and loved the creepy atmospheric sci-fi vibes!