Ghost Station (Hardcover)
Staff Reviews
Dr. Ophelia Bray has a specific reason for dedicating her life to preventing ERS, a condition associated with space travel that can result in mass murder, and she'd rather not talk about it. At the first opportunity to study the condition and avoid controversy at home, she runs - straight to a crew that's suspicious of her motives, cagey about the death of a team member, and uninterested in her attempts at therapy. As the crew's mission to establish residency on an abandoned planet is imperiled by another death and devolves into horror and distrust, Ophelia and team have to work together to get the hell off the planet in one piece. The choice to place a psychologist in the middle of a psychological horror is just brilliant - watching Ophelia talk herself past fear was a treat. Take the cosmic horror of Leviathan Wakes and the claustrophobic helplessness of Doctor Who's "The Waters of Mars" and you have a book that will keep you guessing and quaking in your space boots all the way through.
— Rachel CopelandDescription
A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence.
Space exploration can be lonely and isolating.
Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS—a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she's assigned to a small exploration crew, she's eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something.
While Ophelia focuses on her new role, her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer's hasty departure than opening up to her.
That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something more sinister?
Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by…and the crew isn’t the only one keeping secrets.
About the Author
S.A. BARNES works in a high school library by day, recommending reads, talking with students, and removing the occasional forgotten cheese-stick-as-bookmark. The author has published numerous novels across different genres, but Dead Silence is the first published as S. A. Barnes. Barnes lives in Illinois with more dogs and books than is advisable and a very patient spouse.
Praise For…
“Perfectly unsettling. Ghost Station scratches the itch for space horror just right—and doesn’t shrink from the grisly consequences of exploring the unknown.” —Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights
“Ghost Station is everything I could want in a horror story and more. Barnes became one of my favorite authors with Dead Silence and this is a stunning follow-up. Highly recommended.” –Darcy Coates, USA Today bestselling author of Dead of Winter
“A skin-crawling, delicious tale of exploration, exploitation, and electrifying horror. I loved (and screeched through) every moment of it.” —Yume Kitasei, author of The Deep Sky
“A taut, twisting thriller that subverts every trope and expectation in all the best—and most terrifying—ways imaginable.” —Philip Fracassi, author of Boys in the Valley
“A hostile planet, mysterious alien ruins, and a distrustful crew of traumatized people—it’s a potent combination that makes for a tense, gripping, and delightfully creepy thriller.” —Kali Wallace, author of Dead Space
“Barnes leads us step by step up a mounting staircase of dread, through horrors both real and suggestive.” —David Wellington, author of Paradise-1
“Fans of exploration horror will go wild for this creepy, pacey, and captivating novel…. Ghost Station will infect you.” —Ally Wilkes, author of All the White Spaces
"The best space horror since Alien.” —Gretchen McNeil, author of Ten and #murdertrending
Praise for Dead Silence
A Best Book of 2022 by the New York Public Library • One of the Best SFF Books of 2022 (Gizmodo) • One of the Best SF Mysteries of 2022 (CrimeReads) • A GoodReads Choice Award finalist for Best Science Fiction!
“I ate this book in one sitting because I was in the mood to be freaked out and it delivered tremendously. Truly un-put-downable in its purest sense.” —Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights
"Stomach-turning, sinister space horror perfect for fans of Alien and Event Horizon." —Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"At the intersection of science fiction and horror, Dead Silence is the ultimate haunted house story, in space." —Alma Katsu, author of The Deep and The Hunger
“This is great, immersive, atmospheric space horror that shows Barnes is a talented storyteller and proves that, despite rumors to the contrary, horror belongs in space.” —Locus
“Dead Silence mixes horror, mystery and sci-fi into a thrill ride sure to shock you out of your reading rut. This is one of those time-warp books—the ones where you look away from the clock, then look back and it’s suddenly way past your bedtime.” —BookPage, Starred Review
“With a compelling haunted-house-in-space frame, excellent worldbuilding, vivid imagery, biting social commentary, sustained tension, and a storytelling style that seamlessly moves between the mortal danger of the present and Kovalik's unsettling past, this sf-horror blend will resonate loudly with readers.” —Library Journal
“Barnes is giving you Titanic but make it scary, she’s giving you Event Horizon, she’s giving you Ghost Ship; for real, this book will make your skin crawl.” —BookRiot
"This story slides and slithers from creepy and atmospheric to skin-crawling, edge-of-your-seat terror." —T. Kingfisher, author of What Moves the Dead
“Dead Silence gives you the suffocating claustrophobia of 2001: A Space Odyssey mixed with the horrors of Alien. I couldn't stop reading.” —Mur Lafferty, Hugo Award-Winning author of Six Wakes
"Barnes ably conjures the kind of haunting setting and atmosphere required for this Event Horizon-esque novel... Recommended for fans of claustrophobic space horror." —Booklist
“Barnes plays nicely on human fears of both madness and of ghosts, carefully blurring the line between science fiction and horror... Those with a taste for blending genres will enjoy this combo.” —Publishers Weekly
"Creepy and satisfying; I'll be checking under my bed tonight." —Sarah Pinsker, author of the Nebula Award winning A Song For A New Day
