"The Paradox Hotel" by Rob Hart - Book Club Discussion

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. At once a dazzlingly time-twisting murder mystery and a story about grief, memory, and what it means to--literally--come face-to-face with our ghosts, The Paradox Hotel is another unforgettable speculative thrill ride from acclaimed author Rob Hart.

About the Author:

• The author of The Paradox Hotel, as well as The Warehouse, which sold in more than 20 languages and was optioned for film by Ron Howard
• He is also the author of the Ash McKenna crime series, which wrapped in July 2018
• Wrote the short story collection Take-Out, and co-wrote Scott Free with James Patterson
• The former publisher for MysteriousPress.com and the current class director at LitReactor. He has also worked as a political reporter and the communications director for a politician and was a commissioner for the city of New York
• Currently working on his next solo novel, as well as Dark Space, a sci-fi novel he is co-writing with Alex Segura
• Lives in Staten Island, N.Y.

On Writing the Book:

• "I had gone to this interactive theater experience in New York called Sleep No More which I’m a huge fan of. It’s structured as a play that you explore, following different actors and different scenes. It starts in a hotel and expands out: all of sudden you’re in a graveyard or a psych ward or a forest. And I thought, “Man! Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a hotel where you could go into a room and it was five minutes later or ten minutes ago?” I went home and opened a Google doc and wrote “time-travel hotel,” and then closed it. I do that whenever I have an idea – I’ll start a Google doc and rough something out: sometimes I come back to it, sometimes I don’t. This one kept sticking with me, especially because I love time-travel stories.” (Crime Reads)
• Optioned for TV by Working Title (no release date available)

Other Writings:

• The Warehouse
• Take-Out
• Ash McKenna series
• Short Stories
• “Diffusion” — Dogmatika
• “Second Chance” — Shotgun Honey
• “Ginny Tonic” — NEEDLE: A Magazine of Noir
• “The Best Job in the World” — Crime Factory
• “Happy Ending” — Thuglit
• “The Gun With Two Triggers” — Kwik Krimes
• “A Blow to the Head” — RELOADED: Both Barrels Vol. 2
• “Pont des Arts” — Helix Literary Magazine
• “How to Make the Perfect New York Bagel” — Thuglit
• “Knock-Off” — NEEDLE: A Magazine of Noir
• “Foodies” — Shotgun Honey
• “No Good Way Around” — All Due Respect
• “Confessions of a Taco Truck Owner” — Thuglit
• “Drone” — Thuglit
• “513:47:22:11” — Joyland
• “Making it Easy” — Shotgun Honey
• “How the Game is Played” — Occupied Earth
• “Pretty Princess” — Shotgun Honey
• “Bad Beat” (w/Alex Segura) — Polis Books
• “The Santa Con” — Cruel Yule
• “Last Request” —Thuglit
• “Creampuff” —Unloaded
• “Bhut Jolokia” —Medium Short
• “The Gift of the Wiseguy” —The Mysterious Bookshop
• “The Gas Chamber” —Hard Sentences
• “Like the 309” —Just to Watch Then Die
• “Take-Out” —Mystery Tribune
• “The Hug” —Killing Malmon
• “Lake Paradox” —Mystery Tribune
• “Bar Wall Panda” —Collectibles
• “No Honor Amongst Thieves” —Lockdown
• “The Other Foot” —Both Sides
• Non-fiction
• We Need More Wonder Women – Daily Beast
• On Overcoming a Deadly Case of Writer’s Block – LitHub
• Eight Writing Lessons from Hamilton: The Revolution – LitHub
• 10 Authors with Tattoos Inspired by Their Own Books – Electric Literature
• A Story and a Scar – Pediatric Congenital Heart Association
• Yes, Road House is a Modern Day Western – Birth.Movies.Death
• Four Decades of the Condor – Birth.Movies.Death
• Self-publishing has become a cult – Salon
• Book Bag: Five Great Books About New York City – Daily Beast
• Sweet Potato Girl – Nailed
• From Page to Screen with Death Wish: The Case of the Disappearing Conscience – Criminal Element
• Grist for the Twitter Mill – Crimespree
• Art Inspired by an Unknowable City – Bookpage
• The End of Apocalypse – Powell’s
• Five Things I Learned Writing New Yorked – terribleminds
• Top 10 Words That Need To Die, Immediately – LitReactor
• Republishing A Lost American Classic or Why I Love My Job – LitReactor
• Tom Spanbauer: A Primer, and A Review Of His Latest Novel, ‘I Loved You More’ – LitReactor
• Eleven Tips For A Successful Book Signing – LitReactor
• 10 Really Obnoxious Things Writers Do – LitReactor
• Eight Tips For Increasing Your Writing Output, From A Very Busy Writer – LitReactor

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you enjoy time travel as a trope in a book? If you do, when do you consider such a plot twist successfully executed?
2. Do you actually care if the time travel consequences make sense?
3. Every murder mystery begins with an act of murder. How was the murder in this book? Was it credible or creative? How about shocking or memorable?
4. Great characters make great stories. Were the characters in this book engaging, fully developed, and emotionally complex? Who was your favorite character?
5. The mystery-suspense genre has an expectation of being a “page-turner.” Was this book suspenseful? Did you become anxious as you read it—quickly turning pages to find out what happens next? At what point could you not put the book down?
6. What does this book say about science and technology and their effects on today’s society or the future?
7. Is the purpose of the book to be optimistic about the future or to serve as a warning?
8. What did you think about the recurring color blue (uniforms, ceilings, floors, book cover, etc.)? Was it meant to represent something or just to be a calming effect as January is told?
9. Which character(s) did you relate to the most? Why?
10. What did you think about the repeating passages? Was there a reason January saw those future events instead of others? What did they represent?
11. What genre would you classify this novel as?
12. A good mystery is a challenge to the reader to solve the crime before the sleuth. Did you solve the mystery and identify the murderer before the big reveal in the end?
13. Did you enjoy the spin on the mystery genre or would you rather stick to classic mysteries?