Honestly this was a lot creepier than anticipated- I couldn’t read.
I imagine it would be really good if you’re into that but I am a scaredy cat! Sorry! Thank you for the opportunity!

I really liked the beginning of "The Dream Hotel" but unfortunately, around the halfway mark, it started to lose its steam. I liked Sara as the protagonist, but the secondary characters were so interchangeable and forgettable. I felt like they added nothing of value. Some of their dialogue felt so forced and childlike. They didn't sound like grown women. The concept was interesting, but to be honest, some of the subplot was difficult to understand. I like novels surrounding the dangers of AI but overall, this book left me feeling unfulfilled.

This was a good, yet challenging book to read right now and really makes you question what happens when the algorithms to keep you safe are incorrect?

In the near future, there is a group called the Risk Assessment Administration, which uses various pieces of data to determine if you are at risk of committing a crime. When Sara is detained by agents at an airport, she's at a loss as to what could be the cause. She's soon informed that per her dreams, she's at risk for harming her husband, and must be transferred to a retention center for observation for 21 days.

Once in the detention center, Sara encounters constant bureaucratic red tape trying to get her case heard; a common experience for all the other female retainees in the center. As 21 days balloons to over 300 Sara is at a loss for how to change her fortune in this place where the rules are clear until they aren't. But when a new resident arrives and shockingly is released after 21 days, it raises questions for Sara to dig deeper.

Thank you to #netgalley and #pantheon for access to an advance digital copy.

Upon her arrival at LAX after attending a conference abroad, Sara is intercepted by Risk Assessment Administration agents. They inform her that she will soon commit a crime based off analyzed data from her dreams. She is told that she poses an imminent threat to the safety of her husband, Elijah. As a result, she must undergo observation for a 21-day period at a retention center. Once there she meets fellow women “dreamers” who like Sara are trying to prove their innocence of projected crimes. Any action taken against the facility’s constantly changing rules and their stay is extended. Months pass in Sara’s case and her prospects of release begin to wane. This sparks a resistance against those responsible for her detention.

I really enjoyed this book. I found the first half paced very well. After a while I found myself reading solely to reach the conclusion. There was an opportunity to expound on some of the other “dreamers” that was missed. I would’ve preferred that to the correspondence had between those running the facility. I don’t find the usage of technology in this book to be something that we are too far from seeing in the future which made it an intriguing read.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the opportunity to review this eGalley.

Wow, this book will knock your socks off, riveting story line. A powerful story told in fiction yet future non-fiction idea. I found myself sharing this story with many a friend. I wanted to process the scary idea of how the main character Sara's thoughts mixed with AI, gender biases, greed & past experiences could be used to imprison her. Sara's survival in retention where her thoughts are used against her and her ability to unsettle authorities in the facility is hopeful. I would recommend this powerful timely fiction story, the story to this moment rolls around in my thoughts.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Dream Hotel.

Just finished The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, and I have thoughts. The concept? Super intriguing—think surveillance, privacy, and a little too much government control. The execution? Kinda hit or miss for me. The world-building was unsettling in the best way, but the pacing dragged in places, and I never really connected with the characters. That said, it definitely made me think about how much data we willingly give up every day. Worth a read if you’re into dystopian stories with a little too much real-world truth.

"The Dream Hotel" has garnered a lot of praise from other readers, but my experience was less enthusiastic. While the premise intrigued me, and I appreciated the exploration of archival work and algorithmic bias, several aspects prevented me from fully connecting with the story.

The narrative felt disjointed at times, most notably with an abrupt perspective shift midway through. This detour, which wasn't revisited or integrated meaningfully into the larger narrative, felt unnecessary and ultimately detracted from the impact of a later reveal. It disrupted the flow rather than adding depth.

The pacing also proved problematic. The middle section of the book, roughly from the 40% to the 80% mark, felt sluggish. While some readers might appreciate this more deliberate pace, I found it lacking in significant plot development, which made it difficult to maintain engagement. This slower build-up only amplified the disappointment of the abrupt and anticlimactic ending. The story seemed to be heading toward a more impactful conclusion, but it ultimately fell short.

Despite its thought-provoking themes concerning ethical issues in technology, "The Dream Hotel" didn't entirely resonate with me. The pacing challenges and the somewhat fractured narrative structure hindered my overall enjoyment, leaving me with the sense of untapped potential.

It's something of an open secret or a largely ignored truth that our daily lives are under mass observation. Thanks to widespread usage of social media or mobile devices that fueled their growth, our action, activities or visited locations are logged, tracked and used to sell us stuff. Laila Lalami's latest, The Dream Hotel is a dystopian near future that imagines a more mundane Minority Report. The Risk Assessment Administration, in a role once held by the airport screeners of the Department of Homeland Security, screens and tracks Americans, with the goal of interdicting or keeping under observation those who's algorithmic number surpasses a certain number. This organization has greater access to the lives of the people thanks to public acceptance of computer implants that allow their users to have restful sleep at a normally unhealthy four hours.

On a return trip from a conference, Sara Hussein, is separated out from the rest of the passengers for a more in-depth screening. On the flight out the passenger next to her had an apparent medical emergency, but fought leaving the plane and then left a complaint about Sara. Based on this complaint, her risk score is elevated and thanks to this higher number she is now suspect for soon committing a crime. This sends her off to a retention center for 'observation' for 21 days, instead of home to her husband and twin baby children.

A prison in all but name, the retention center is populated by other women and the employees that enforce the rules. Thanks to privatization, the company that runs this center has the opportunity and glee to charge for everything from clothing and bedding, to the receipt of mail or contact through telecommunications. All of these privileges that can be with held, and it is far to easy to have one's observation extended. In fact it is the rare 'observed' individual who gets out at their initial three week period.

Reminiscent of Atwood, Sara is our narrator, as both the main character, and when we read from her journal, her direct viewpoint of her dreams and experience. Lalami also extends the text by including primary source documents of meeting texts, retainee reports and the terms of service no one every seems to read. Her prison job is to help train AI models and sound quite tedious.

A troubling possibility of a society more driven by greed and capitalism, using these methods for racial profiling in all but name and making the life of the poor more expensive, simply because they can. As current events show, big technology has great power and when they use that politically their are costs to us all. Should safety be this expensive?

Recommended to readers of contemporary literature, dystopias or current events.

I fear this book will stand the test of time. "The Dream Hotel" is a must read in 2025 - a warning about the urgent threat of the scale of technology and surveillance capabilities, while also exploring the timeless topics of conformity, human nature, and identity.

Warning to anyone feeling stressed out about the state of the world: it was strikingly plausible, and for that reason, it's also uncomfortable, heartbreaking, disturbing, and anxiety-inducing…. Read at your own risk.

The story set in a not-so-distant future where the government has developed an algorithm to predict crimes, including using the surveillance of a person’s dreams to contribute to their risk profile. Sara (main character) is detained at the airport upon return to the country from a business trip, because her AI-generated risk score for committing a crime is too high. She's deemed a public risk and required to be kept for observation for 21 days that turns into months.

For fans of authors like George Orwell and Franz Kafka or books like "The School for Good Mothers".

Thank you NetGalley and Pantheon for an advance copy of #TheDreamHotel. It’s due out March 4th.

In a near future, where an algorithm can predict future crime, our protagonist, Sara, is put in retention for the future crime of murdering her husband. How does the algorithm know? Her dreams. Many people choose to implant a sleep device in their head that cures insomnia and improves REM so they only need four hours of rest. The issue? The company producing the device sells your dreams to the thought police. Once in retention, the for-profit company contracted by the government wants to keep retainees there as long as possible. The plot is shockingly realistic and the stories thought-provoking. The author has a few tell instead of show moments, but overall, paints a dystopian picture that leaves the reader questioning all capitalistic advancements with "and at what price?"

For readers of sci-fi and dystopian who want to root for a grassroots underdog. This novel feels shockingly close to reality, fictionizing the prison industrial complex, AI, and the rise of invasive technology.

Think about a future where nothing, not even your personal dreams, are private and the government thinks that dream interpretation can anticipate crime. It’s creepy and scary and it’s the basis for this story. I’m glad I read it but it made me extremely uncomfortable, which I know is the point. It makes you think about how much of our private lives we are giving up by using Siri and Alexa, not to mention the cameras that are now everywhere.
Four very scary stars! Thank you Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the digital ARC. (I now need to read a light fluffy happy novel.)

The premise of this book was promising, but the execution fell flat. There were moments when I almost DNFed it—some sections dragged, while others felt unnecessary to the overall story. The characters lacked depth, making it hard to connect with them, and I wished they had been more relatable. The sudden POV change—for just one chapter—felt random and didn’t add much to the narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for the ARC!

Based on premise alone, the book The Dream Hotel sounds riveting: a woman is found guilty of some transgression, of which she is unaware, and must serve time in a retention center. Dreams are being policed, and it’s difficult to tell what is real. However, I had trouble getting sucked into this narrative. It felt a bit like watching a movie, albeit a horror film, where you’re watching scenes unfold but not really connecting with characters. I’m not sure why I had trouble connecting with or caring too much about Sara. It’s definitely appropriate for the times we live in, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with anxiety. Still, a very well written book! Thank you to NetGalley, Lalami, and Pantheon for the ARC!

Lalami shows her strength as a write as she explores the dystopian genre in her latest book. Focusing on the world’s need for better sleep, Lalami capitalizes on the contemporary issue in this novel. In order to sleep better, Sara gets a neurotransmitter that allows her to get some glorious sleep after the birth of her twins. However, this company, has shifted gears and is now in the business of preventing crimes by analyzing the dreams of those who have willingly submitted to getting these neurotransmitters. Lalami creates a hopeless situation for the protagonist, and the audience can see how quickly something can be exploited for capital and power. The book provides documents to see how difficult is becomes for Sara to maneuver through the bureaucracy. I also like that Lalami gives Sara the opportunity to utilize the library in the retention center which becomes her oasis of sanity. Sara reaches for the classics as a way hold onto a society that she is not longer allowed to live in.

I wish I had not requested this book. It was ultimately too creepy for my taste. I guess I really can't handle too much sci fi.

Oh well.

Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

The Dream Hotel has an interesting concept, where dreams can be used by the Risk Assessment Administration to view individuals Rick’s factors and prevent potential crimes from occurring. This gave me Minority Report vibes and I was intrigued with women being targeted, as well as specifically their dreams. I was expecting more from this and while I definitely wanted to know what the heck was happening, then ending left me wanting. Which I guess could be the reality of a lot of situations where people are held for crimes they haven’t committed or for lesser crimes that are now being seen as felonies or something like that.
We follow our FMC Sara, who has been flagged at the airport due to her risk factor increasing a bit over 500, and she’s deemed a threat. She will be detained for 21 days to see if her score will decrease. What we find out is that the rules at Madison are ever changing and you can be written up for even the slightest thing, increasing your risk factor and increasing your stay. While the attendants suck, it’s mostly a cash grab for the company of Safe-X who are using the women as guinea pigs for ads, surveys, and just overall work grunts. You also flip back to when Sara was first detained and what the interactions was.
While I did enjoy this and would recommend, it is slow and I had to push myself to finish.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Panthenon publishing for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Great concept, poor execution. I loved the themes in this book: technology, algorithms, surveillance, privacy, detention, etc. Very timely! However, I couldn’t connect to the characters at all. The brief POV shift in the middle of the book was unnecessary and confusing. I kept waiting for the author to come back to it but she never did. I found the pacing to be incredibly slow and at times boring. I almost DNF’d it but forced myself to keep going. Overall I feel disappointed. I had such high hopes for this one.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up

A dark but very good read. Original and not cloying. Uncomfortable at times but that’s expected given the subject matter. The writing was fantastic. Easy to read and well paced.

With her latest novel, award-winning author Laila Lalami has written the terrifyingly plausible dystopian tale of our dreams (pun intended). Set in a near future in which all aspects of life—even dreams—are surveilled, Sara is retained by the Risk Assessment Administration under suspicion that she’ll soon harm her husband. In this electrifying novel, Lalami examines technology and privacy and explores the slippery slope of surveillance in a not-too-unlikely scenario. Kaleidoscopic, evocative and vexing, The Dream Hotel is a master class in riveting writing.

I loved this book! It was terrifying in the sense that it was too real. It feels too close. The way the author went about the containment and the jobs, I thought was done very well and added the horror. I was expecting the plot to get pushed a little more, but I didn’t feel like it was lacking either. Can’t wait to read more by them!