Friday, February 27, 2026

Nine thriller-y, crime-y speculative novels

Michelle Maryk graduated from Cornell University with a degree in English and attended the Yale Writer’s Workshop. For the better part of twenty-five years, she’s been a successful voiceover, on-camera commercial, and comedic actor, and she is a dual Swedish and US citizen.

The Found Object Society is her debut novel.

At CrimeReads Maryk tagged nine of her "recent (and one of my oldest) speculative favorites that thrillingly delve into crime and murder in its many forms." One entry on the list:
The Paradox Hotel, Rob Hart

Time travel for the ultrarich? Check. Powerful government entities privatizing the technology for their dubious gain? Check. One grieving female security officer trying to solve a murder while she slips between the present and past due to her time travel sickness called, Unstuck? Check and check. The time portal is starting to glitch; baby dinosaurs keep popping up; and things are going all kinds of wrong at the Paradox Hotel. Here, Hart showcases his mastery of melding noir, sci-fi and thriller in this wild ride.
Read about the other novels on Maryk's list at CrimeReads.

The Paradox Hotel is among Michelle Maryk's six of the best time-travel titles and Molly Odintz's seven top novels set in supernatural hotels.

The Page 69 Test: The Paradox Hotel.

--Marshal Zeringue