Time of Death (Paradox P.I., #1)
Electric Midnight (Paradox P.I., #2)
The Clockwork Game (Paradox P.I., #3)
Tomorrow Detective (Paradox P.I., #4)
By: Nathan Van Coops
My Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS
Best for: 18 and up

THIS is how you write time travel…

There are all kinds of stories about time travel. I was going to list some for you, but then the list started getting really big. Just Google “books about time travel” and you find some. Tragically, there will be one author missing from Google’s algorithm-based search results that favor popularity: Nathan Van Coops. Tragic, because he’s the one who does it best.

His first books were a series called In Times Like These, which started good and grew to great. One thing I love about discovering new authors is seeing their growth. Nathan Van Coops is doing a fantastic job. Buy his books, the guy deserves to be read.

This series, Paradox P.I., is about the son of the main character from In Times Like These. It’s related, but not necessary to read first. In fact, my reading journey went like this. I read In Times Like These originally back in 2016, but didn’t finish the series. Instead, I read some of Nathan Van Coops other stuff: Kingdom of Engines (cool!) and Faster Than Falling (even cooler!). It wasn’t until 2023 that I jumped back into his time travel books, and realized quickly I’d been missing out on some really great stories. But instead of finishing In Times Like These, I read Paradox P.I. Loved it. And then went back to In Times Like These. It’s been a perfect way to jump around.

Okay, now you know my history, and hopefully that will inform you when you jump in too.

Let’s talk about Paradox P.I.

These stores are little bit Doctor Who, some Thursday Next, a sprinkling of Agatha Christie, and big splash of Knight Rider. In this world, time travel is a reality. It was invented in the 1980s. Over time, it’s use became common place, the future is full of time travelers who can travel back to our past and get into all kinds of fun trouble.

I enjoyed the plausible scientific rules for time travel in these books. That’s why they stand out to me. This isn’t Back to the Future–in these books changing the past splits the time stream, and that’s serious business. Creating a time paradox should be avoided!

Don’t make a jump through time unless you have an anchor to get you exactly where you want to go. After all, the Earth is constantly moving! You can’t jump from one place in time to another and expect to magically end up the same spatial location. If you jump to a place that is currently occupied by something else, that thing becomes part of you…and that isn’t pretty.

Follow the rules, and you should be safe. Don’t, and you’ll be dead.

Our main character is a time traveling detective who uses his unique skill set in SUPER creative ways to solve the crimes and catch the bad guys. He’s super smart and has cool tech, including a wise-cracking AI in his car and home bases set up in multiple time streams in multiple years, past and present. He’s super complicated–he’s a paradox. Something happened in his past that split his time stream, so there’s two of him. One who holds a place with his famous time-traveling family, and the extra one. Being the extra adds all kinds of drama, and following along with him as he comes to peace with his past is a big part of our adventure.

Mix up all that: the time travel, the gadgets, the wise-cracking AI, the mysteries, the past that needs to be dealt with, and the crimes to solve, and Nathan Van Coops has created a brilliantly fun character with endless stories to be told. It’s ready made for an excellent TV series!

There’s some language, but no other significant content concerns or triggers. Because of the language, I’ll say this series is best for adults.

You’re going to love time travel.

Happy Reading!