Upstream Reviews - Escaping Infinity, by Richard Paolinelli

From Declan Finn:

Peter Childress and his buddy Charlie Womack are engineers driving to Phoenix. But Charlie's “shortcut” has them lost in the middle of the Arizona desert. When their car breaks down in the middle of the night, they figure they're well and truly screwed. Lucky for them, Peter and Charlie trip over the Infinity Hotel. Charlie can't help but enjoy all of the hotel's casino and other delights.

Peter, on the other hand, wonders where the front door disappeared to, and why the floors on the inside of the building seem to go on forever.

If you read the above and thought this was a scifi version of The Twilight Zone taking place in the Hotel California... yeah, pretty much. Sort of. After a fashion.

Though if you're worried that the description above will spoil the plot, it only covers up to chapter 2. Our hero, Childress, has already started to piece together that the hotel is bigger on the inside by that point.

Yes, the Hotel Infinity is bigger on the inside. And if you think that's bad, you should see the Star Trek references. Heh.

The book is written in a style that's very novel-like. Less Victor Hugo, and more modern novel, but Richard is very much an artist with no pretensions. It’s smart and well-thought-out, a mystery that plays perfectly fair, and gives the reader all of the pieces and parts to figure out what the bloody blue heck is going on. However, you really won’t figure it out.

I will say that going from the prologue to chapter 1 in a little disorienting, as it goes from space opera, David Weber style, to a road trip in the South West. The last 10% of the book could have been an additional novel by itself, with what it pulled off. But the ending we got gave a complete, satisfying conclusion to the story, the characters, and the world that’s been established.

The full Review: https://upstreamreviews.substack.com/p/ei-paolinelli

On Spotlight: https://spotlightonindie.com/books/escaping-infinity