Whisper House Press

Spoiler-free review.

Once a year or so, I read a book that grabs me outside of reading sessions. I’ll find myself thinking about it while I’m driving home, while I’m grading papers, or while I’m cooking dinner. I read this one electronically, and if it were an audiobook I’d have been done in two days instead of twenty, so strong was the call to continue. That I finished this book in such a short time during Sundance Film Festival (for me: 14 feature length and 10 short films in ten days, taking precedence over all other creative inputs) would be a shocker with most books.

All that is just to say that I read this book because I *needed* to read it. After I finished S.A. Barnes’ last novel, Dead Silence, I immediately (and frequently) wondered, “When’s the next one coming out?” And after I began Ghost Station, I wanted to know, “What’s coming in the next scene?” It was like that from beginning to end, for this reader.

Barnes’ tension-building skillset is top notch and teaches me as I read. She does characterization like the pro she is, and her characters’ choices are always informed by their prior experiences in ways that, if not clear immediately, are not clear for good reason (and will be revealed later in the story, as pacing demands). I took note while reading of places where Barnes had her characters thinking something but doing something else, being overtaken by fears in believable ways, and dealing with interpersonal conflict in ways that made the fantasy of the story disappear into character-based realism (this is a good thing).

I read an ARC through NetGalley, and I’m glad I got that opportunity. I will read whatever S.A. Barnes puts out next, as well. I’m already wondering what it’ll be!