Title: The Paradox Hotel

Author: Rob Hart

Publisher: Ballantine Books 2022

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 336

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spring TBR

January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.

Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights” to the past.

Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.

None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.

On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.

January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents” that start stalking their bidders.

There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.

But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.

Such a twisty, head-turner of a novel. Right away I had hoped that this book would be great based on the hotel as a character aspect. I do so love it when the setting becomes it’s own character within the novel. This one does not disappoint. From the beginning I knew bad things were going to happen but understanding the how’s, why’s, and who's. was the big draw for me. We’re thrown into an unknown situation with a narrator who may or may not be unreliable. From there, we follow January as she tries to unravel the mysteries within the Paradox Hotel and what exactly is going to be the sequence of future events. This science fiction book involves some science but never gets bogged down in the technical talk. We get enough to attempt to understand what is happening within the hotel. But the more immediate mystery is a murder that only January can see. All of the characters kept me guessing as to their motivations and endgames. January was a treat to follow even if I didn’t quite love her ending. I ended up really enjoying this time travel adventure.

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