crime series, and he co-wrote Scott Free with James Patterson. He’s worked as a book publisher, a reporter, a political communications director, and a commissioner for the city of New York.
Hart applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Paradox Hotel, and reported the following:
From page 69:Visit Rob Hart's website.He tilts his head a little, reading my response, like he’s trying to decide whether he believes me.... That's from the top of page 69, in which the house detective of the Paradox Hotel, January Cole, first meets Kolten Smith, the head of social media giant Axon, who is bidding on time travel technology, which the government is on the verge of auctioning off.
“I know about the ghosts,” he says.
“People think the hotel is haunted.” I shrug. “So what? People think every hotel is haunted. It’s how hotels work. They’re creepy. Sound carries.”
“What do you believe?”
“I’m a nihilist. I don’t believe in anything.”
Kolten nods and smiles. “Let me tell you a story.”
“Oh god.”
It's a fun little encapsulation of two things: January's attitude (she's a little prickly), and it hints toward one of the things I really tried to have fun with: the nature of the hotel. This is a hotel for time travelers—the super-rich, waiting for their tourism "flights" to the past to take off. Because of its proximity to the Einstein Intercentury Timeport, things can get a little... weird. People see things in the halls. The clocks sometimes don't work right. There's clearly something weird going on, but I wanted to really keep the reader on their toes, as to what exactly was going on. I loved playing in multiple genres on this, and I couldn't resist the idea of bringing a little haunted-house into it. Because hotels are creepy, but also, if I'm going to write time travel, I'm going to have some fun with it. Which means ghosts. And also, robots and dinosaurs.
The Page 69 Test: Potter's Field.
The Page 69 Test: The Warehouse.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
