Time moves differently in the Paradox Hotel, and for January, a seasoned stream agent who is in the second stage of basically losing her mind from time traveling so much, it’s never just a normal day at the office.

I would recommend this one if you enjoy mystery more than some of the sci-fi elements with time travel, time streams, etc. Not that it lacks those elements, but to me it felt more like a mystery novel with an “unlikeable detective” who you find yourself rooting for anyway. There’s a queer MC, so extra points, and her name is January, so also points, but overall this one was just okay for me.

If it sounds like your jam, it’s out now wherever you get your books.

Time travel is possible, and your next great adventure through time is calling. As long as you adhere to the "look, don't touch" guidelines you'll have a grand time! For those who try to bend or blatantly break the rules, there is the TEA. A team of individuals who make sure the past stays as it should be, lead by January Cole. The real problem is that January is Unstuck; the way your brain copes if it spends too much time traveling the time stream. You hallucinate, see things that aren't there, even slip back in your mind while your physical body stays in the present. January begins seeing dead bodies that aren't really there and having premonition-like glimpses into the future. Will she solve the mystery of the maybe there corpse? Or can she stop it all and set things right before her own mind unravels completely?

There is alot going on in this story, but I am HERE FOR IT. Dinosaurs, and assassination attempt on Lincoln, someone trying to warn Hitler of what's to come; January has her hands full as head of security even without the effects of being Unstuck. What a terrible and yet wonderful disease. I devoured every morsel of January and her illness. In the beginning it was a little confusing to slip back with her, but once I knew the cast it was simple to figure out when she slipped away. The supporting characters do such a great job weaving in and out of the story without pulling primary focus. I enjoyed the reveals, though some of them were hinted at so they weren't total shockers. You can really tell that the author gave every detail thought and shaped a world I easily found myself believing could exist.

Four stars for The Paradox Hotel. While it was a great read, the reread value isn't there for me costing it that fifth star. If you love time travel, murder mysteries, and watching a wounded(for lack of a better term) heroine this story will be right up your alley. Recommend for ages 14+ due to some adult themes and violence.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Paradox Hotel has an interesting premise but it failed to really grip me. The Paradox Hotel is the waiting room for wealthy time travelers and our main character is the head of security for the hotel. There is a lot going on and sometimes it was a bit hard to follow. Overall, great story and premise. The writing was nice and I bet it would make a fun movie.

Representation: Lesbian MC, multiple queer and BIPOC supporting characters.

January Cole has her hands full with running security at a hotel. This isn't your ordinary hotel though. Walk through at any time and you might see Romans, people dressed for a safari into the jungle, or Renaissance finery. This is the Paradox Hotel, where ultra-rich tourists come to visit different time periods in the past, and where time sometimes slips, causing the clocks to run backwards or ghosts wandering the halls. These aren't Cole's main concerns though. Right now, there are some high-profile guests that just arrived to start bidding on time-travel because it's becoming privatized, and there's a corpse only she can see in one of the rooms. She's sure that this isn't a coincidence, and she's also seeing things happen to these guests that she's able to stop. Cole is Unstuck, which means she experiences time slips. This is a handy ability to have, but it could eventually destroy her grip on reality and herself.

Rating: 4/5 I really enjoyed reading this, with all of its timey-wimey happenings! January is definitely quite the character. She can be very abrasive and pushes people away, and she’s not entirely likable. However, you can see that she really cares about her job, about the people she works with and their safety. Cole really does not care for the rich snobs that come through the hotel, but will do her job, give them the respect they deserve (which isn’t very much most of the time). I mentioned her being called Unstuck. This is a side effect of being a time travel agent, riding the flow repeatedly and causing her mind to perceive time differently. Sometimes, she’ll relive past memories as if she was experiencing them in the present. Sometimes, she’ll hear snippets of conversations in empty rooms, either ones that haven’t happened yet or already happened. She occasionally sees flashes of future events, like someone pulling a gun out on her and shooting to kill. We also see her struggling with the fairly recent loss of her love, and that bleeds into her work and treatment of others. Cole is lesbian, there’s a nonbinary person of color on staff and I love them so much. There is a LOT that happens in this story because of all the slippery time, and a mystery woven into this, on top of political posturing, on top of a whole bunch of other things. I enjoyed this, but it’s certainly not for everyone.

Totally not my typical read, but I have enjoyed Rob Hart prior so gave it a try. I actually enjoyed it once I fully grasped some of the time hopping, and I know that time travel is a "trend" in books and film it seems.
A hotel for the uber rich offers time hopping experiences and the head of security is "unstuck". Her perception of time is out of sync and slowly affecting her brain. There were several parallel plot lines that at first made it challenging to follow, but I settled in and found it satisfying. I can see this novel becoming a movie!
Thankful for the ARC!

If we ever managed to figure out time travel, who would control it? How would we prevent time tourists from messing with the past—and would that warp the present, as in the grandfather paradox? In Rob Hart’s latest novel, The Paradox Hotel, the US government has been policing time tourism and historical research expeditions, only now they’ve run out of funds and the franchise is about to go to auction.

January Cole works security at the Paradox Hotel, which hosts time travelers awaiting their scheduled “flights to the past” at the nearby Einstein Institute. She’s a seasoned time traveler herself, having made many trips as part of the policing agency. As a result of spending too much time in the past, she’s become Unstuck, with the result that she often sees events and people from prior times. The best of these incidents allow her to be with her sweet, loving girlfriend, now dead. But January’s condition is worsening, and she’s not only seeing the past but the future. That future includes a corpse in Room 526.

With trillionaires arriving for the auction, baby velociraptors on the loose, and January’s grip on the present moment growing ever less reliable, it’s inevitable that more things will go wrong…starting with a series of “accidents” befalling the powerful, ultra-wealthy bidders. Clocks run backward, time seems to stutter, the treatment for being Unstuck no longer works, and January’s running out of time to stop the murder.

I loved the convolutions of time, January’s wrestling with grief and guilt, the dips into the past, and of course, the baby velociraptors that grow much too fast, all with the fast pacing of a thriller. In short, Hart’s time-twisting murder mystery satisfies on many counts.

I really had mixed feelings about this book. I love the concept, but the implementation was not great. It gets rather political and sadly, that doesn't seem to fit in with the actual story. I like the main character Ruby for the most part, but overall, the book is rather plodding. and I found it somewhat hard to follow.. I reached a point that I didn't really care who killed who. The ending could have been much stronger.

Bob Hart https://robwhart.com is the author of eight novels. The novel The Paradox Hotel was published in February of this year.

I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of delivering a fair and honest review. Due to violence and mature language, I categorize this book/novel as R January Cole is the primary character of this novel. She is head of security at the Paradox Hotel.

Hotel security is never easy, especially when most clients are among the most powerful and wealthiest people. All at the hotel for their excursions back in time. Being located near the only working time portal has introduced its own set of weird problems.

The days ahead look particularly stressful for Cole. The US government owns the time portal, but it is about to put the facility up for sale. If that was not enough, Cole saw a corpse in room 526. But only she has seen the body. Her earlier work with the Time Enforcement Agency has caused her to become Unstuck in time, an affliction that will eventually prove fatal. She knows she is getting worse, but is unwilling to leave the hotel. At least being there she can experience flashbacks of her deceased girlfriend.

Then things get worse. Something goes wrong at the time portal, causing pending trips to be canceled. The master clock in the hotel atrium begins to malfunction. There are deaths in the hotel. Cole has to get to the bottom of the mystery while she can still function.

I enjoyed the 9.5+ hours I spent reading this 321-page science fiction novel. This novel was a little weird. Unlike most novels I have read, I didn’t really like the main character in this one. Previously I read The Warehouse, one of Hart’s earlier novels. I liked it, but I think that this one was more enjoyable. There is a touch of LGBTQ in the story, but it is not the main part of the plot. I give this novel a rating of 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

If your looking for a wonderful Sci-Fi mystery #The Paradox Hotel is the one.One of the most anticipated books of 2022-Crimereads
Description:
January Cole runs the security at the Paradox. Nothing's easy at a hotel for the wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods. All waiting for their flights to the past. The timeport makes the clocks run backwards on occasion. And a rumor ghosts stroll the halls.....
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, #Rob Hart, and #Random House-Ballantine 💜🐾🐾

A book about privatizing time travel in a hotel on a very important evening when what should not go wrong does....Dinosaurs in the lobby!

This is such a hard one to rate, because for premise, writing quality, and characters, I could happily give this something in the B+ to A range. But for plot execution, this is more like a C+, because there are so many threads that don't really come together as successfully as I hoped. By the end, it felt kind of jumbled but still somewhat satisfying, which creates a headscratcher in terms of how to review! In general, I appreciate an ambitious project even if it is not wholly successful, so I would still encourage people interested in this to give it a try.

Thanks, NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity.

I love the premise of this book. It makes for such an interesting read and the author did such a good job. The story was well-written. Would definitely recommend.

The Paradox Hotel is a must read for any sci-fi fan. A hotel that is basically a portal to time travel, however the government wants to privatize it . On the eve of a bidding war, the system experiences a glitch and all time travel is halted. Things go down hill after that ... quickly. Clocks are running backwards, dinosaurs are on the loose, and a dead body that only a time travel detective , who is also glitching, can see. And not everyone can be trusted. This was an action packed ride, riddled with snarck and a fantastic sci-fi experience

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and NetGalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Paradox Hotel is one part mystery, one part science fiction, mixed with a healthy dose of comedy. Without spoiling anything, it will completely bake your noodle, but in a really good way. Oh and there's dinosaurs.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended reading.

Oh my God, what did I just read? This book is AMAZING!!! It was a quirky, laugh-out-loud, mind-scattering, mystery that had me so entranced yet so confused at the same time. January Cole is the head of security at the Paradox Hotel. The Paradox is not an ordinary hotel, no. It is the hotel all the wealthiest of the wealthy come to when they are waiting to catch their flights to the past. Time travel is in full swing, but with what effects on our current timeline? When the hotel is up for sale, things get a little messy and things start happening that should be even in this wacky hotel. It is up to January to figure out what is going on. Que ghosts, dinosaurs, an AI flying sidekick and you have the makings of one heck of a fun story. This was such a fun read, yet a bit complicated that I had to put down all my other books to give it my full attention. It takes the spot for my favorite read for the month. I'm just sad that this book is not getting the publicity and attention in the book world that it deserves. It will be a for sure recommend book from me. 5 big stars! Thank you NetGalley and Ballentine Books for the eARC. I LOVED IT!!

”Godf*ckingdamnit I forgot about the dinosaurs.”

Mystery isn’t usually my thing, but time travel so .. here we are. It’s what drew me to this books and definitely what kept me interested throughout. The idea of being “Unstuck” in time is scary and clever, and while I feel like I’ve seen versions of it in other works, I still enjoyed it here. Everything about TT from the mechanics and rules, to this disease and its fallout all really worked for me and spoke to my never ending hunger for time travel constructs and stories.

My main gripe with this book was January’s characterization. So often she felt like the typical tough woman written by a man that never feels very genuine. There were things I liked about her, but some of the lines she was given were very cringe, for example, her observation of another woman wearing “f*ck-me pumps” .. just blegh.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House for the DRC of this book, it was a great ride!

The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

So, I’ve always been a fan of science fiction and time travel, throw in a bit of mystery, fantasy, and good old detective work, and I said yes, yes I will read it! What this story promised me was, first and foremost, TIME TRAVEL, secondly crime(s) being committed, and thirdly a female detective trying to find the killer(s) while suffering from being “UNSTUCK” due to many years’ close proximity to a timeport. Said detective’s name is January Cole, which I love, by the way, ends up being more Security for the Paradox Hotel rather than an actual detective. She is responsible for the safety of all staff and guests. The Hotel guests are extremely wealthy tourists who can pay to travel to the past, an experience of a lifetime that not everyone can have. Being so close to the timeport can cause clocks to run backward, or ghosts can be seen roaming the halls or sometimes even being seen lying murdered in room 526, which only January can see. The Hotel is in the process of being sold to the highest bidder, and “accidents” start happening to those bidders, not to mention baby dinosaurs being smuggled back from the past. Now January has a mission, to find out who the “future” murderer is, who the murdered man was/is, and stop the murder from happening, all while she is losing her mind being unstuck.

I went into this story excited to read mostly about the time travel. I wanted to see it for myself, experience that flight into the past, see live dinosaurs in their habitat, experience the fall of Rome, see the Egyptian pyramids being built, and find out why Stonehenge was built, and how. So many things I could have experienced from the time travel perspective, with some detective work included. Instead, I got a wannabe detective who spends most of the book being a smart ass to everyone, when she is not having inner monologues with herself and her dead lover. I am all for relationships, learning about yourself, and how to improve, but I can only handle so much of the “past” experiences with her lover, who died in the hotel kitchen, for which January blames herself. I am going to guess that only about 5% of the book, if that, speaks to actual time travel. The remaining involves unraveling the mystery of the murder, maybe 25%, and talking to the dead lover 70%.

I do think this was a decent storyline, it had its moments where I did not want to stop reading until I figured something out, but most of the time it was difficult for me to stay attentive to what was going on. I will be honest, I started reading this on January 3, 2022, and did not finish until May 16, 2022. I love to read and will often not stop until I finish the book, usually in record time. This book just did not keep my interest and I had to force myself to finish it the last few days. Overall, it is not a bad story, it’s just not my cup of tea. I would give 2.5 stars if I could, but alas, 2 it is.

*I was provided a free copy of this e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

I thought I would love this but I found it extremely confusing which made it a bit of a slog to get through for me

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review! All opinions contained in this review are my own.

When the publisher sent me an email asking if I would like to read The Paradox Hotel, I read the synopsis and was instantly hooked. A murder mystery set in a hotel with a body that only our main character, January Cole, can see. And, oh yeah, there’s time travel. Like, yes, please! Sign me up!

As i mentioned, this story follows an ex-time detective named January Cole who is now in charge of security at the Paradox Hotel. This hotel caters to the richest of the rich but there is something else unique about the clientele. Everyone staying there have also booked trips to the past. That’s right, time travel is a very real thing in this story and it’s January’s job to make sure these entitled time hoppers are safe inside the Paradox, among other things. Then a huge summit of trillionaires who are bidding to buy the time travelling technology and the hotel along with it descend on her domain way earlier than expected. And, to top it all off, she finds a body in one of the guest rooms that only she can see.

This book was an absolutely wild ride! I picked this up, intrigued but not sure what to expect, and found myself flying through the pages. The plot was well-structured, with no spots that seemed to lag or move too fast. I will say there are time jumps in this, which totally make sense with what is going on in the plot, but can be a little confusing. There’s a certain way the author signals that a jump is about to occur but, before I figured it out, I will admit I was lost 😂 Once I realized what was happening, though, I was completely re-invested in the story.

I know that this is going to make me sound like a bad sci-fi fan, but I’m kind of glad that this book didn’t focus on the ins and outs of how the time travel works in this world. There were a few moments where brief descriptions were given and I’m not 100% if they were scientifically sound, but that was okay with me. That was because I was far more interested in the stories of the characters populating this hotel and less so in the timey-wimey stuff. Rob Hart has created an incredible cast of diverse characters that were a pleasure to read! I will warn you right now: January Cole is an asshole. She’s sarcastic, emotionally unavailable, and sometimes just downright cruel to people who simply want to help her. She frustrated me to no end… but I loved her character. She was vivid and interesting and felt so real! It was incredible watching her journey through grief and pain throughout this novel. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters we meet along the way. No one felt one dimensional or like a caricature, which can be hard when there is such a large cast!

Final thoughts: I now need more books that mix science fiction and murder mystery because I loved this one! The plot is engaging and kept me interested throughout, though I will admit to getting lost a little bit at the beginning. If you’re looking for a sci-fi that focuses more on the science, this might not be for you. But if you’re looking for one that focuses on complex characters, struggles with grief and illness, and a mystery that will keep you guessing, I think this might be a good pick for you!

I guess I'll land on 3.5 stars... This is such a hard one to rate, because for premise, writing quality, and characters, I could happily give this something in the B+ to A range. But for plot execution, this is more like a C+, because there are so many threads that don't really come together as successfully as I hoped. By the end, it felt kind of jumbled but still somewhat satisfying, which creates a headscratcher in terms of how to review! In general, I appreciate an ambitious project even if it is not wholly successful, so I would still encourage people interested in this to give it a try. I really liked what it was trying to do with respect to a time travel story that actually takes the moral implications seriously and how fast moving the story was as a whole.

Not what I expected. Instead of a time travel story, The Paradox Hotel is more a story of the disasters of time travel centered around January Cole, Security Director during the privatization of the US time travel program at the Paradox Hotel and the Einstein Facilities. January and Ruby; her wise-cracking drone sidekick are nicely developed, authentic characters. The problem is the confusing and complicated plot, number of characters and hard to follow story lines. The character of January kept me reading. The idea of the story is inventive, just too scattered.