The Paradox Hotel

By Rob Hart

Adult Fiction

Reviewed by Linda from the Winkler Branch

    Welcome to the Paradox Hotel, where the richest of the rich stay before and after their time travel vacations.  The Paradox is January Cole's domain; she's head of security for the hotel.  that means the dead body that appears in on of the rooms, the one that no one else can see, is January's problem.  So is providing security for the ultra-rich, ultra-important people who are competing to buy the the time travel industry from the US Government.  And so are the electrical malfunctions and...dinosaurs?  Those can't be dinosaurs, can they?  But those are work problems.  January has personal problems too.  Her former job exposed her to enough time radiation that she is now seriously in danger of becoming third-level Unstuck, separated from linear time.  It's getting harder and harder to tell if what she's seeing is because she's Unstuck or because something bigger and more sinister is going on.  She's going to hide her condition as long as possible, partly because she feels responsible for the Paradox, but mostly because as long as she's in the hotel (and not quite tethered to time) she can catch glimpses of her beloved Mena.  Mena died in the Paradox, and losing that last connection to her might kill January as well.

    The Paradox Hotel is simultaneously science fiction, mystery, and a picture of how grief rips through your life, and somehow manages to do all three of them brilliantly.  Each thread of the plot could stand on its own, but they end up intertwining into the only possible solution, and a truly satisfying ending.  Even if you're only here for the mystery (or sci-fi), the other elements will win you over, as will January herself.

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