Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
Ghost Station, by S.A. Barnes (2024), is a mix of haunted-house and The-killer-is-among- us horror, with a generous ladling of body horror to round it out. The standout of this space-horror novel is the setting, a deserted habitat on a dead and snowy planet, where psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray is supposed to be observing the Reclamation and Exploration Team who had a team member die mysteriously on an earlier assignment. Bray’s specialty is Eckhart-Reisner Syndrome (ERS), a condition that comes on during extended stays off earth. In one notorious case, ERS led to the murders of twenty-nine people on a mining colony.
Ophelia, or Phe, has her own issues. Her family is the second-richest on earth and made most of their wealth from inventions and space exploration. When it comes to ERS, Phe considers them part of the problem. However, there are even darker chapters in Phe’s past, and the deserted “hab” on Lyria 393-C brings many of them back into her consciousness. The team distrusts her. Even their commander, who requested a therapist, only did it as a paperwork dodge; he doesn’t want her there either. At least one of the team has a personal reason to hate Phe if they knew who she really was. Almost as soon as they enter the vast empty hab they find indications that things went very wrong for the team who was there before them.
Barnes is a master of atmosphere, whether it’s the empty and echoing inner space of the hab or the exterior environment, filled with snow and the constant screaming of the wind. The planet does not have sufficient oxygen for humans, and requires enviro-suits, an excellent tool for limiting peripheral vision in a horror story. Very soon, Phe is having trouble telling whether things around her are pranks, nightmares, accidents… or something else. And she’s not alone with that confusion.
S.A. Barnes
As I said, I loved the atmosphere in this book, and I appreciated the explanation for the increasing horror. The set-up and the protagonist character in Ghost Station is very similar to Barnes’s 2022 book Dead Silence, but Phe seems to do a lot more dithering, and that didn’t resonate as well for me. The R&E team felt less like people and a bit more like types. I also thought the book got off to a slow start, as Phe prepares for “cold sleep” to go into space, and her family pulls out all the stops to keep that from happening. Still, if you want a chills-down-your-spine, look-over-your-shoulder space horror book, this is a good place to look. The book is a creepfest, and I mean that in the best way.
I’ve been debating whether I want to try this author as someone who likes Sci-Fi and wants to try horror a bit but I think Dead Silence is calling to me more than this one. I found your review quite helpful so thank you!
As you can tell from my respective ratings, I REALLY liked DEAD SILENCE. I think it’s all about the main characters for me. This is still a great space-horror read–I just liked the other book more.
I’m about halfway through this it, and I find it difficult to believe that a person like Ophelia, who is so much inside her own head, and who treats every detail of interpersonal interaction as a status contest or power struggle, could legitimately be any kind of psychotherapist. But, looking at the real world, maybe that isn’t so far-fetched.
That’s a really good observation, Paul. I think that’s one of the things that makes Ophelia harder for me to relate to.