Paradox Hotel - Rob Hart

Sci-Fi

Rating: 9/10

An ingenious genre mash-up with hints of futuristic sci-fi and crime noir that result in a phenomenal read.

January is head of security at the Paradox Hotel, a luxury locale where trillionaires stay when travelling to and from different time periods. A place where one day she might be thwarting assassination attempts on Lincoln and the next chasing down dinosaurs run amok.

With a big summit planned to determine the new owner of the hotel, she struggles to keep herself in the here and now juggling a maelstrom of complications that arise. Much easier said than done as it turns out.

One such complication is that the system the hotel runs on is failing. It’s been losing bits and pieces of events for days. Suddenly there are big holes in history, as if it’s dissolving.

If things weren’t bad enough, January is unstuck. She is a little like Alice in Wonderland; in a world where up is down, backwards is forwards and the future is remembered.

Neither of which compares to the problem of the corpse she discovers in a room that doesn’t actually exist. A corpse only she can see. She will have to hang on tight to her grip on reality to find the truth.

P.S. The “relationship” between January and her AI device provided delightful moments of hilarity. Allow me to share an example…

“You are a flying toaster, save the commentary. It doesn’t respond. I hope I hurt its feelings. Does it have feelings? Should I program some feelings so I can hurt them? …A project for another day.”

Book Pairing(s):A Dead Silence by S.A Barnes, Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey, Here And Now And Then by Mike Chen