The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami.. A dystopian thriller about technology and surveillance. Sara is stopped at the airport because the Risk Assessment Administration has determined that she will commit a crime. The RAA is able to use data from her dreams and flag her as a potential felon. Sara is sent to a detention center where she is held with other “dreamers” who are trying to prove their innocence. Get ready for a wild ride.. Can you imagine what it would be like if people judged us and held us accountable based on our dreams/thoughts alone? Given today’s advances in technology anything is possible.. ✨Thank you to @netgalley @pantheonbooks @lailawrites for the advanced ebook of The Dream Hotel.✨ #thedreamhotel #bookstagram #books #dystopian #booklover #noseinabook #netgalley #pantheonbooks #knopf #lailalalami @readwithjenna #readwithjenna

The Dream Hotel took a much darker turn than I expected—and I mean that in the best way. It really leaned into themes of surveillance, control, and how easily privacy can be stripped away. The hotel setting was eerie and atmospheric, almost like a character itself, and the sense of being watched never let up. The main character’s slow realization of what was really going on had me totally hooked. It’s unsettling, thought-provoking, and honestly one of her most gripping stories yet.

I really enjoyed this book. It's extremely prescient, and Lalami does an excellent job keeping the reader on edge, just as her characters are on-edge. It deals with many pressing issues about algorithms, privacy, and imprisonment, and offers a really fascinating place to work out the worst of what could be on the horizon if tech billionaires and the government are left checked.

It would be challenging to bring into a curriculum because there are a few moments of sexual tension that are just graphic enough that I'd be worried about contact from adults at home. But, it would be a good book club book or recommendation for mature readers. Its length is very conducive for a high school reader and again, offers great thinking space for the future.

This was my first by Lalami and I really enjoyed it! Protagonist Sara finds herself detained after landing at LAX post-work trip, and marked a threat due to dreams she’s been having—which in this near-future world, can be tracked and used as evidence against your character. She is taken to a detainment center and held…and held…A nice balance of speculative and literary, it read very propulsively and pulled me right in. It’s a little tricky for me to review this one without comparing to a book I read and loved a few years ago, The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan. Both are speculative literary fiction focused on women being held in an institutional setting and integrating near-future sci-fi elements, making social commentaries on our world today. I felt the motherhood/parenthood of that book was more focused and effective, whereas here I was left a bit less clear on the message and takeaway. It felt just a bit too broad vs a sharper, more specific commentary. Still, I highly recommend giving it a read and will keep an eye on what else Lalami writes next!

When Sara returns from an international work trip, the last thing she expects is to be detained at the airport. But what becomes quickly clear is that Sara is not the one with the power. Years ago, she made the choice to implant a sleep device to get better sleep, but the ramifications of this action demonstrate how technology may not always be the best way. Little did she know that she would be detained due to something she did in her dreams, something seen as a risk to others. This literary examination of technology, detainment and power explores the associated risks through Sara’s detainment and how she adapts to her new normal and what she tries to do to get out. Fans of present day sci-fi or the TV show Severance will appreciate some of the parallels throughout this thought-provoking novel.

Unique and interesting - also a bit terrifying as you can imagine a not to distant future where this takes place. Dreams overlapping with reality and the monotony of daily life being locked up for a crime you might commit. what happens if we don’t participate?

This book made me think and I loved it. I was pulled in by the concept of dreams being used to predict criminal behavior, and then I couldn't put it down. Laila Lalami perfectly captured the almost insurmountable injustice of the RAA and the anguish Sara and the other retainees felt throughout the book. She sheds light on how systemic discrimination based on factors one can't control, like dreams, can disproportionately affect so many different groups of people. Sara, as a Muslim woman, grapples with the stereotypes and prejudice inflicted on women, especially religious and racial minorities. I found this book super timely, and Lalami's fictional near future feels more realistic than is comfortable.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the digital advanced copy!

In The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, Sara returns to Los Angeles after a work trip abroad and is immediately detained by the Risk Assessment Administration, a government agency that uses dream data to predict future crimes. According to their algorithm, Sara is about to harm her husband—the person she loves most—and is therefore a danger. For his safety, she’s taken to a high-tech facility where she joins other women, all held for “crimes” they haven’t yet committed. As time stretches beyond the promised 21 days, Sara is forced to navigate a tangled web of ever-changing rules, oppressive surveillance, and psychological control. Her hope for release dims until a new arrival shakes the delicate balance of the facility, propelling Sara toward a final confrontation with the corporate powers behind her incarceration.

Despite the intriguing premise, I didn’t enjoy this book. I was expecting a bit more fiction and story, but the social commentary—on immigration, artificial intelligence, and the prison system—felt heavy-handed and overwhelming. The pacing was sluggish, and the plot wandered without much urgency. The character of Hinton in particular felt unnecessary and grating, and most of the cast seemed emotionally disconnected from Sara, making it hard to invest in their arcs. While the themes were timely, the execution left me frustrated. This book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Pantheon for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book so much. I felt the injustice that took place so strongly. It unfortunately felt very real.

This is another evocative work from Laila Lalami. She creates a completely believable world in the near future. I really enjoyed how she used different periods in time, and depictions of dreams to create a vague sense of unreality. Sara is an extremely sympathetic character going through an extreme period of turmoil. She is going through a very normal experience of new motherhood, and struggling with how that changes one's marriage and sense of self. I also liked how Laila Lalami brought us into Sara's history as an immigrant and how that shaped her experience of retention. All in all, I really enjoyed Lalami's storytelling, though the topic was a little scary in it's believability and Sara's ultimate powerlessness. I will definitely continue to read whatever Laila Lalami comes out with!

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Pantheon for providing an eARC in return for my honest thoughts.

The Dream Hotel feels both futuristic and also a little too realistic in our current world of AI, digital surveillance and detention of citizens. The book was a fresh take on pre-crime that we were all introduced to by Tom Cruise in the Minority Report. You get the feeling that Sara Hussein might not be in this situation in an all women’s retention facility if it weren’t for her family background. I struggled a little bit with the sudden ending, but either way, this is a book that makes you think. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for my ARC.

The premise of this book was so interesting and reminded me of a bit of The School For Good Mothers. It was very thought provoking and insightful when thinking about the influences of technology. I can see it leading to some interesting conversations in book clubs, libraries, classrooms, etc.

However, I felt like this book was poorly executed. The writing felt disjointed and choppy between chapters and left me feeling lost and confused. The jump in timelines was awkward and not well executed. It felt unpolished, which surprised me for this being selected as a book of the month option for a few different places. Those aspects made it hard to recommend. I also didn’t feel satisfied by the ending. I think there could have been more depth and development across the characters and the stories, because the premise definitely was there for an amazing book.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this new release!

Very unique premise that had me intrigued from the start. Definitely relevant in today's day and age. I'm looking forward to rereading more closely in the future, and seeing what else becomes relevant as time goes on.

Imagine a world where your violent dreams can cause you to be put into a detention centers. The Dream Hotel is where you would be sent to prevent future violence. Your thoughts, present and future, are monitored. You are given a risk score. If you thoughts and dreams increase your score, you are detained until your risk levels decrease.

This is a story of a woman, detained at the airport, because she had dangerous dreams. I felt anxious the whole time I read this book. I couldn’t put it down. It makes you wonder if this is going to be our reality in the near future. Just when you think things might be ok, there’s a twist that tells you back into anxiety.

If you like thrillers, this is the book you need to read.

This was definitely an interesting premise. It was also incredibly infuriating. The gaslighting, the unnecessary fight for freedom women CONTINUE to fight for. Imagine a world where your dreams are under surveillance? Well, we’d be fucked.

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami is the story of a woman that is determined to be at risk of harming her husband and is sent to a retention center. While there, her every move is monitored, and she grows increasingly frustrated and concerned about her husband and twin children. This book explores the concerns regarding technology and whether surveillance can accurately interpret someone's motives. I found this story to be particularly chilling due to everything that's going on with immigration rights now. This story was very well done, but I found the ending to be lacking. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a really odd book that navigated between dreams, the past, and current situations. I can't imagine how I would feel if someone had access to data on my dreams and that my score could be used to predict how likely I am to be a risk for society.

A special thanks to Pantheon, NetGalley and the author for this advance copy of The Dream Hotel in exchange for this honest review.

I’ve been really trying to branch into the sci-fi genre, because even though I don’t read a lot, what I have read I really enjoy - this one had such an interesting premise as we follow our protagonist Sara as she’s detained at the airport by an agency that has been hacking her dreams and says she has an increased risk score from having dreams that she may harm her husband. While this one sounded so fun, the pacing was a little bit off for me, as we found out a lot about the other characters, but then it rushed up so quickly with her release at the end of the book. I wanted to love this one so much more but it was just okay for me.

Thank you again to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for this honest review. This one was a read with Jenna pick for March and available for purchase today!

In a dark futuristic world, where technology can provide intervention to ensure more sleep, a young woman returning from a business trip abroad, is detained at LAX when agents flag her for potentially being a threat to her husband’s life. Based upon an algorithm, taking into account the content of her dreams, Sara Hussein, is sent for a 21 day period of observation in a detention center, described again and again as NOT a prison.

While being unjustly held captive for ever increasing periods of time, Sarah becomes
isolated from her husband and young children. Finding it nearly impossible to accept her undeserved Incarceration in a world ruled by technology with endless rules, Sarah finds herself on a collision course with a vengeful guard who has the power to extend the length of her confinement.

Ms Lalami has written a dark tale exposing the potential impact of technology on our freedom. Will we be losing our privacy to an authoritarian state that can read our thoughts and log our dreams ? Is this unthinkable world right around the corner ?

With well drawn believable characters in a setting so clearly drawn that I was able to see it, The Dream Hotel was hard for me to put down. I was lost in this frightening parallel world from the first right up until the very interesting end. Thought provoking, troubling and insightful The Dream Hotel was an engaging read. Five gold stars for this one. It was published on March 4, 2025 so it’s readily available. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What It’s About:

The Dream Hotel is set in a near-future dystopia where dreams are surveilled. Sara has been identified as a threat to those around her because of the content of her dreams, and she is sent to a retention center where she will be held until the Risk Assessment Administration determines she is no longer likely to commit a crime. “Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are”.

Why I Liked It:

I flew through this book and was so struck by how imminent this reality feels. Knowing that every waking moment is inundated with advertising and surveillance, it only stands to reason that our dreams would be the next frontier for product placement. Lailami illustrates how seemingly advantageous technological advancements can be used to further systems of oppression - and they are certainly never without their biases.