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A review by ljcarey011
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
5.0
I loved S.A. Barnes' science fiction horror debut, "Dead Silence." As soon as I finished it, I ran to check for other books in the genre by her. No such luck, so when her follow-up SFH arrived on the scene I snatched it up, then hesitated to read it. Dead Silence was SO good, and second books often tend to be a little weaker.
I was so, so wrong. Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. In the early pages, I found Ghost Station's protagonist a little bit less of my cup of tea, but I quickly saw the error of my ways. Barnes' style is very smooth and sucks you in. Her characters feel fleshed out. She's also excellent at tension. (I did find Dead Silence "scarier," but Ghost Station does it's own thing very well.)
The story slowly reveals itself to be a locked room mystery. The characters have descended to an alien planet. Those aliens are long dead and the planet is under regular onslaught from dangerous storms that make lift off essentially impossible. The site was abandoned by the last human team that took it on for research and reclamation, but the reason isn't clear, despite the weather. The characters are about to find out exactly why the last team quit the job. The main character is a therapist who just witnessed the gruesome suicide of a client. Her incredibly wealthy family treats her as the black sheep, the daughter of a man who went mad due to the psychological effects of space life and butchered his fellow spacefarers. She wants to prove herself and get away to work on the sort of stressors that causes such psychological breaks, and a team who just lost a team member and plans to take on a hostile planet seems a perfect match. Bloody deaths await. Great stuff!
If you loved Dead Silence, I think you'll like Ghost Station, and if Ghost Station was your first Barnes book, I recommend treating yourself to Dead Silence ASAP.
I was so, so wrong. Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. In the early pages, I found Ghost Station's protagonist a little bit less of my cup of tea, but I quickly saw the error of my ways. Barnes' style is very smooth and sucks you in. Her characters feel fleshed out. She's also excellent at tension. (I did find Dead Silence "scarier," but Ghost Station does it's own thing very well.)
The story slowly reveals itself to be a locked room mystery. The characters have descended to an alien planet. Those aliens are long dead and the planet is under regular onslaught from dangerous storms that make lift off essentially impossible. The site was abandoned by the last human team that took it on for research and reclamation, but the reason isn't clear, despite the weather. The characters are about to find out exactly why the last team quit the job. The main character is a therapist who just witnessed the gruesome suicide of a client. Her incredibly wealthy family treats her as the black sheep, the daughter of a man who went mad due to the psychological effects of space life and butchered his fellow spacefarers. She wants to prove herself and get away to work on the sort of stressors that causes such psychological breaks, and a team who just lost a team member and plans to take on a hostile planet seems a perfect match. Bloody deaths await. Great stuff!
If you loved Dead Silence, I think you'll like Ghost Station, and if Ghost Station was your first Barnes book, I recommend treating yourself to Dead Silence ASAP.