The sun is shining and it finally feels like spring!
Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review
GHOST STATION – S.A. Barnes (Released April 9th, 2024)
Book Description:
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.
My Thoughts: 2.5/5 stars
Space is the perfect kind of backdrop for horror – and a subgenre I’d love to read more of (please give any recommendations!). Aliens and Life are two phenomenally creepy and intense horror movies in Space, and we need more like them. Anyway, on to the book!
Space exploration, even with a crew, can be as isolating as it is suffocating, sharing such a confined space. So when Dr. Ophelia Bray is given the chance to join an exploration crew of an abandoned planet, she jumps at the opportunity. While she’s focused on trying to study ERS – a condition entirely space-based that resulted in the gruesome murders of 29 people – and hopefully find a way to prevent it in the future. Her new crew members are far more focused on the abandoned planet they found themselves on.
This book is slow moving. I think that’s very important to know before you start. Personally, I always like knowing that so I can adjust expectations accordingly and get in the right mindset. There was a lot of being in Ophelia’s head for the book, not a ton of action, the pieces were mounting together, and I wasn’t expecting it to end the way it did, but I wasn’t exactly wowed by it either.
If you’re in the mood for something with a slow build and some eerie paranoia filled tension, then you should give this a read!
Jessicamap Reviews 