My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor Publishers for an advance copy of this novel that looks at how the dreams we have can be held against, us by a government looking to prevent crimes, crimes that seem to be against the status quo, and crimes that never seem to come to trial.

I have been reading science fiction most of my life and in many ways I feel this has really shaped my view on technology. I had given up on flying cars, thinking that is no way a government would allow something that dangerous be given to civilians. Of course I never thought military assault weapons would be open-carried, so prepare for flying cars hitting your house. Whenever I see something new, my first thought is how will it be used to control us. Drones will deliver your Amazon products, and also bomb babies in disputed lands. Social media will make us all care for each other was another myth. Artifical intelligence is something that has been written about quite a lot in science fiction. Mostly not well. And yet it is still the dream. AI will change things. Yes, jobs, environmental impact, and maybe end us all. Humans have a gift for that, along with a want to control. One of the few places we can be free is in our dreams. We can be who we want, love who we want, and live a life that is free. In this novel dreams are the crime, a crime that hasn't happened. And that demands attention and detention. For how long well, there is an app for that. The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami is a novel set in the future, a future that the author dreamed up, but seems very close to the future we are dealing with today.

Sara Hussein is coming back from a trip to London, excited to see he husband and her twins. Flights used to a be a nightmare, with her last name, and darker complexion, but since AI took over the TSA, things have been easier. Until the Scout asks her to step to another line. And another. And soon she is answereing questions. The algorithm has shown that Sara has had dreams about hurting her husband. This dreams have been picked up by an app, she downloaded. As no crime had been committed, Sara is to be retained for twenty-one days, to see if these dreams go away. The retention center is a remodeled school, and is full of other dreamers, guilty only of dreaming something that got them flagged. The rules of the center are hard to follow, bad dreams add time, not cleaning utensils, time, not working time. Guards get vacation pay for the more write-ups they give. Sara begins to notice that people keep being added but few leave. Months pass, her twins are growing up, and Sara is feeling lost. Until something happens that makes Sara want to be human again.

A book that is far topical than I think even the author expected. Pandemics, wildfires, AI, banned social media sites, and even more. This is a book with a slow build, which mirrors the life that Sara is living. Detention means having lots of time, but nothing to do with it. Retention is the same thing, but even your dreams might get one in trouble. There is much going on. Looking at the agreements on apps is a big one. Prison work systems. The lack of freedom women have, and how if possible governments would love to prearrest women for acts like dreaming of abortion, or reporting their co-workers for inappropriate actions. Lalami is a very good writer, showing Sara and her before life, and what she has now to deal with. Dropping little things about the last pandemic causing a rise in speech problems among children. Even crazed wildfires. Lalami makes this very much a book of today, and one that many will nod and go I can see this happening. And others go, hmm I wonder if I can patent this idea and make it happen.

I was looking forward to this book because the premise sounded similar to the movie Minority Report. While there are similarities, The Dream Hotel fell short of capturing the suspense and drama of the film.

Dreams are used to predict possible crimes in the near future. After returning from a conference in London, Sara, a wife and new mother, is flagged by the Risk Assessment Administration as a danger to her husband. She is sent to a retention facility for twenty-one days of observation. Still, as the observation period turns into months, she wonders what it takes to prove her innocence. Learning to adhere to the unwritten rules, Sara's world is upset when a new detainee, Eisley, shows up and upsets the norm.

This book starts slowly and never gains momentum until the end, which feels rushed. I feel frustrated for Sara and her fellow detainees but could never fully relate to them. For these reasons, I had difficulty caring enough to finish the book—I kept thinking it would get better, but it never did. Given today's AI controversy, I found this book thoughtful and a bit scary. 3/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Pantheon, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is March 4, 2025.

Wow, this book is amazing and scary all at the same time. Scary because I can see a world like this happening in the future, and I don't want any part of it. I am a little disappointed in the ending because I would've hoped for a better outcome in Madison, some actual changes, but it also makes perfect sense that it would end that way. This book had a great flow and gave you little snippets of the outside world that added value to the story. Hinton is still a mystery to me, and I didn't understand the need for certain interactions. For example, the interaction between Elias and the other visitor seemed unnecessary. But these things did not take away from the story.
Thank you for sharing this story with me!

I was wonderfully impressed by this semi-horror, techno dystopian piece of literature (my own categorization tbh), mainly because of its ability to get stuck in my head. At a time when fascists are being legitimized at increasing rates, technology is becoming an ever present burden in our organic lives, the position of laborer is more clearly being seen as a sort of entrapment, and abolition is taking a center stage in many leftist (and even liberal) circles, this book is a striking blend of themes that bring to light such important conversations. Not only that, but Sara’s story is one that prompts you to wonder “what would I do if this was my life,” before considering that we’re currently hurdling towards a future much like this, if not already living in a diet version of it. The wildfires in California have not only brought people up to speed with the issues of climate change, hastened by the use of AI in the past few years, but also of the incarcerated firefighters who are pushing back the blaze. When the wildfires in this book began, I was shaken by the parallel, and reminded of how necessary it is for people to start making connections, and fast. Not only that, but Lalami’s ability to mold characters is so refreshing. I looked forward to seeing how their relationships progressed, how they faced challenges, how they grew. Their innovation in the face of an oppressive system was inspiring, and I found myself even more invested in the personal relationships that were taking on water as Sara’s stay at Madison was extended. There were genuinely times I wanted to throw my phone at the wall or scream or cry. Okay, maybe I did actually cry a little when Sara was faced with yet another string of unfair punishments by the attendees. It was a great, experience, and I really do look forward to reading the book again when it’s published!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Sara Hussein is flying home from a work event in London when she’s suddenly detained because of the holistic (as monitored by many recording devices and metrics, including her dreams) belief she’s a threat to others. The ideas here were unique, and gave off a combination of Orange is the New Black and The Handmaid’s Tale vibes, but the story became slow to me midway through and there wasn’t much happening in the plot for a long time. Because the book starts with Sara’s detention, her husband and children’s characters weren’t as well developed as I would’ve liked to truly care about them and their roles in her story.

The book has a very brief conclusion. Switching from dreams to reality was sometimes confusing (I read the eARC & the font was consistent throughout- not sure if there will be font differences in the print book?) A bit long for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of litfic. And even with more scifi-leaning litfic, I hesitate to pick them up. But I decided to give this a try because I love a good dystopian story and I love supporting talented authors of color.

The Dream Hotel definitely subverted my expectations!

This was a well-written, extremely thematically relevant novel that mixes a concept from Minority Report (pre-crime), writing in fears that every immigrant has (being detained at the airport, being profiled, etc.), uses our current society's reliance on flawed algorithms, and incorporates the use of dreams as a factor to determine whether you're at risk to commit crime.

It all sounds like a lot, but the author weaves all of these ideas into a story that reads so eerily relevant to today's focus on the capabilities of algorithms to determine whether someone receives healthcare or not (Estate of Gene B. Lokken et al. v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc. et al.). She also uses the post-9/11 security apparatus to really solidify the worldbuilding, letting readers understand how Sara and her fellow not-inmates are truly suffering under the guise of being protected from themselves and from society.

Add in a heavy dose of federal bureaucracy and the lose applicability of due process, and you can see how this novel is truly a dystopian nightmare rooted in a possible future United States. And that's what's scary about this book.

Thank you to Pantheon and NetGalley for this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley/Pantheon for the e-ARC!

Reading this at the start of 2025... yikes, man. I got to the chapters with the fire on the same day the LA fire started spreading and it felt a little too real. It's one of the bleakest books I've read recently because it isn't a far future dystopian. This feels real, like it could happen within my lifetime. And that really freaked me out. Part of me dreaded having to pick it up each time I went to read, which is just a huge compliment to the author for really nailing that atmosphere.

It's a story about Sara's unjust detainment after the algorithm considers her a risk for a future crime after analyzing her dreams. But, like most dystopian novels, it's more than that. Lalami is showing us a future where privacy doesn't exist and society accepts that as fact. It is a future where the government relies on tech companies to the point of using algorithm as rule of law. We do not know the details of the algorithm, but we do not question it.

Sara questions it. She's a good protagonist to follow because she is complex and fallible, and she struggles to choose between her desire for freedom and her individuality within the system. She's not the most likable person, but she's very sympathetic.

For as depressing but thoughtful this book was, it was a little slow to get going. There was also a section in the middle that felt almost out of place, though that might be because the rest of the story takes place almost exclusively in one building. The idea posed in that section fits into the theme of the novel, but I'm not sure it was a seamless addition to the narrative, if that makes sense. And there wasn't much of a conclusion with that arc. Other than what the reader should extrapolate, I guess.

Overall, I think this would be a really good book club read because there are a ton of themes to pull out of it that would make for great discussions. It's certainly given me a lot to think about.

What happens when Kafka's "Trial" meets Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"? A heckuva reader ride..especially if you sprinkle in AI and technology. Sara Hussein is returning home to California from a routine London business trip when she is detained at the airport on suspicion of perhaps wanting to murder her husband. These suspicions are a result of data that has been collected from her dreams. A nightmarish journey ensues as she is placed as a "detainee" in a repurposed elementary school and endures degradation, deprivations, and humiliation all while trying to prove her innocence.
As a person who is not sold on the concept of AI and the degree to which technology is ingrained into our lives, I found the story uncomfortable at times but very much wanting the characters to get their lives back.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this eARC.

➳ 2.5/5 stars

This book had a strong start and managed to hook me right from the first page. However, as the story progressed, I felt like it wasn’t really going anywhere, which made it a bit of a struggle to get through. I still pushed myself to finish it, hoping for something that would redeem the slow pace. The dream analysis aspect, though, was intriguing and definitely a unique angle that stood out. I can see how someone interested in that subject might find this book captivating, but for me, it just didn’t fully click. It had potential, but it wasn’t quite the right fit for me!

A truly excellent novel. Following themes of policing and motherhood along the lines of THE HANDMAID'S TALE and THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS, with its own unique element of surveilling the subconscious. An eerie and timely read. Thanks to Netgalley and Pantheon for the ARC.

Wow what a book. I literally could not put this down. A rehab of sorts that deals with dream sequencing of a sense. The one place that should be private, protected is being analyzed at all angles. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Loved this one! If you’re a fan of post-capitalist dystopian novels… this one if your you. This is the first book by Lalami, and it was a treat. Although there are many characters, this book was easy to follow and very hard to put down. If you’re a fan like The School For Good Mothers, you might like this one.

What a great book!
The tech oligarchy meets the prison industrial complex. A must read as we continue to lose our privacy to corporations.

#NetGalley

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami is a captivating dystopian novel about a young professional mother who is taken into government custody. In this future world of extreme surveillance everyone is given risk assessment scores based on the probability that they may commit a crime in the future. Sara, the protagonist of this book is flagged for a high risk score based on a several factors outside of her control including her dreams. In this Kafkaesque world, technology exists to monitor dreams. The book follows Sara's incarceration under strict, arbitrary and constantly changing rules.

The setting for the novel is Los Angeles of the future and it was chilling to read this book as fires envelop the city in January of 2025.

This book is outstanding. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was fantastic. I really enjoyed reading it and didn’t want to put it down. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Using AI to assess the risk of someone committing a crime sounds fantastic in theory and I love when sci-fi thrillers are able to turn that on its head and show just how that could go terribly wrong. It's an atmospheric read that was really fun but also felt slow in a lot of places. To be fair, it is a slow paced book that needs that pace for the atmosphere. There are a lot of conversation starters within the book, such as how we tend to easily trade our privacy for what we assume to be safety.

(3.75)
Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me access to the ARC of this novel.
The Dream House is a speculative fiction set in a world in which everyone is given a risk score based on a variety of factors (including dreams) which are beholden to an algorithm. Those with higher scores are at risk of being sent to detention centers even when they have committed no crime. It examines the reality and consequences of imperfect algorithms, radical surveillance, racial profiling and the prison industrial complex.

When an exhausted new mom Sara's risk assessment score goes over 500 she told she will detained for at least 21 days. As this "sentence" keeps getting extended Sara grows increasingly frustrated and eventually hopeless.

I found the premise of this novel to be interesting and intriguing to read. I liked learning about this new world Sara had found herself in. I found myself so angry and frustrated by what I was reading which was obviously the point. Where I think this booked lacked a bit was the pacing. The middle dragged a bit for me and was repetitive. However, that also could of been the point. As Sara was being set back again and again and becoming resigned to her circumstance we were also getting a bit tired and frustrated. I also think I would have liked to feel a bit more about the relationships in the book. While I was interested in the events I didn't feel much for the individual characters. Accept the asshole safely officers. I would like to slap them!

"The Dream Hotel" by Laila Lalami is a thought-provoking piece of speculative fiction that, while intriguing, may not fully capture the hearts of all readers. The book explores a unique concept that is both captivating and thought-provoking, but some may find it difficult to fully immerse themselves in the story.

Despite this, it's important to note that "The Dream Hotel" is still a well-crafted and engaging read that is worthy of attention. Lalami's writing is vivid and descriptive, painting a rich tapestry of characters and settings that will transport readers to another world.

Ultimately, "The Dream Hotel" is a solid addition to the speculative fiction genre and a book that is worth checking out, even if it doesn't quite hit the mark for all readers. It's a four-star read that will leave you pondering long after the final page is turned.

The DOJ and US Department of State are already deeply immersed in using predictive analytics, machine learning, and AI to make decisions. The premise of The Dream Hotel therefore doesn’t require a huge leap to imagine a fictional future where every piece of data, including data from dreams, is used to analyze every person for any future risk to commit a crime. This data is used to assign an individual a corresponding risk score. If your risk score goes above 500, you can be involuntarily “retained” and sent to a retainment center to further assess if you are a danger to society. The Dream Hotel had many aspects that I enjoyed: a dystopian future, a strong female lead, excellent plot pacing and character development, a malevolent company (or three) to root against. Lalami demonstrates the inherent cruelty of involuntary institutionalization, where an individual’s liberties are in perpetual legal limbo.

I was really intrigued by the blurb here, but the story just didn't resonate with me at all. I struggled from the beginning unfortunately, and never found my way into the story. The writing felt unnecessarily dry and the book just wasn't for me.