This is a story of a sleep-deprived working mom of twins who turns to a life-changing piece of technology: ‘Dreamcatcher’. This implant promises deep, restful sleep by storing dreams for you. But in a dystopian twist, those dreams are being monitored—and when Sara returns from a work trip, she’s flagged by a government agency that claims her dreams indicate she’s a future threat. No trial, no evidence…. just her dreams. Sara is sent to a grim detention facility for “retention,” and what follows is a nightmare of shifting rules, arbitrary punishments, and a growing realization that proving her innocence might be impossible.

Lalami builds a world that feels terrifyingly close to our own, where the lines between safety and surveillance, convenience and control, have been obliterated. Sara’s journey is painful and infuriating, but you can’t help rooting for her. She’s messy, stubborn, and fully human, and her fight against an unjust system feels raw and real. The friendships she builds inside the facility—especially with Toya and Victoria—add layers of warmth to an otherwise bleak world.

This book really hits hard with its commentary on how easily we trade our privacy for convenience, how corporate greed is everywhere, and how technology always seems to hurt the people who are already struggling the most. It’s unsettling, no doubt, but you can’t stop reading. Lalami’s writing is so vivid and powerful—it pulls you in, even when it’s breaking your heart. Every moment feels intentional, and you just have to know what happens next.

While the story is heavy—there’s no denying the dread that lingers as you read—it’s also thought-provoking in the best way. What does freedom really mean? How much of it are we giving up without even noticing? And how do you fight back against a system designed to crush you?

If you’re into books like Minority Report or shows like Black Mirror, you’ll probably love this one. It’s got all the dystopian elements, but with a deeply personal, human story at its core. It’s the kind of book that sticks with you, making you question the world we’re building—and the small choices that might already be steering us toward it. Highly, highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor.

In the near future, the government establishes a Risk Assessment Administration to determine who is likely to commit a crime based on an algorithm of many data points -- and then they put those people in retention centers that are actually, definitely jail. One of those data points? Your dreams.

Combine that with the perils of late stage capitalism and you have an actual living nightmare.

This does not feel that farfetched given the current state of technology. And that is what makes this story so chilling. What happened to the main character Sara could happen to any of us. Imagine the worst nightmare you have ever had and then imagine the government using that as proof you should be imprisoned, away from your children and the rest of your family, not to mention your job would be lost as well.

Laila Lalami is an incredible writer, and I will be seeking out more of her books. She created a believable world -- she even took the terms of use for the technology in this book from real software agreements -- and her characters are fully developed. While I got frustrated with Sara multiple times and would not necessarily make the choices she did, by the end I fully respected her.

The first half of this book I read with a feeling of dread. The second half contained more hope. I don't think it is a reach to say this book should be a must-read. It will certainly make you think twice about the data you agree to give companies (that care only about making money). And on that note, you'll think how others could become rich by turning you into a commodity.

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon books for this ARC for review. This book was not at all what I expected, but I greatly enjoyed where it took me. The Dream Hotel touches on how technology can help or harm us depending on who is using it or what it is used for. This book was a fascinating study at how technology could be used to control society, and specifically women, in a very scary way, with no research to support it.

A jarring, deeply unsettling story about a future that closely parallels our present - Laila Lalami is a masterful storyteller as she unveils a narrative centered around a young mother who's held captive against her will.

"The Dream Hotel" opens when Sara Hussein, an archivist at the Getty Museum, is pulled out of line at the LAX airport after returning from a business trip and subjected to a series of interrogations - all because her Risk Score, an algorithmically calculated total that is the result of the national RAA (Risk Assessment Administration), has put her into the threshold for at risk. Forced to live in an all-women's retention facility that mirrors a prison, she's stripped away from her husband and two young children, and forced into a purgatory with only vague promises of eventual freedom. The current world is one that's subject to an all-encompassing scope of surveillance, where data about every conversation and even dreams are collected, processed, and analyzed - an can be used against you.

The bulk of this novel focuses on Sara's experience living in the retention facility known as Madison, and the other women she meets and befriends during their shared experience. It is a dark, dismal environment where abuse of power is rampant; rules and regulations are only at the detriment of the detainees; and the women are forced to work to help the CRO (Chief Retention Officer) meet contractual guidelines with other companies for corporate profit. The novel is a clear critique of the existing incarceration system, and how poorly governed and structured it is; especially given recent events of the abuse and mistreatment of prisoners in our country, this message could not have come at a better time. Lalami's novel also serves as a warning to the growing presence of surveillance, data collection, and AI - and the dangerous ways these things can sabotage and destroy our current society.

Very much a recommended read when "The Dream Hotel" is published in March 2024!

The Dream Hotel is creepily on point in so many ways! From 'I didn't read the fine print in the terms of service and that led to unforeseen consequences' to 'surveillance is great, but oops, now I'm the one being surveilled' to 'women should support each other, but sometimes they'd rather kiss the patriarchy's butt'. It isn't just a fictional illustration of contemporary concerns though--the characterizations are so richly textured you are drawn into caring about these people (or in some cases, caring about seeing them get what's coming to them, lol). Highly recommend!

Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most, her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days. And that quickly, Sara ends up at a privately-run retention center, where she and the other detainees are monitored virtually every minute by guards and electronics to insure that they comply with ever-changing rules lest their sentences be increased as a result of an infraction.

Laila Lalami has created a very realistic future society, where an effort to reduce crime has led to massive surveillance, including not only observable behaviors but also dreams, which are then interpreted according to a mysterious algorithm to determine who is likely to commit a crime in the future. Punishment for crimes has been replaced by crime prevention, and retention facilities are touted as a means of keeping society safe from crimes.

As Sara's sentence is repeatedly extended, often because of write-ups for seemingly random or totally fictitious violations, she begins to despair of ever being freed. After nearly a year of confinement and separation from her husband and their infant twins, it seems that playing by the rules will never earn her release, and rebellion is her response. The tension ramps up as the novel follows her rebellion and the system's responses, and this reader turned the pages eagerly to learn the outcome.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy mysteries and dystopian fiction, this novel will be published in March 2025. Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for providing a complimentary ebook in exchange for an objective review.

WOW. This was disturbing in so many different aspects, and brilliantly written. I must admit that I've always been leery of "smart" devices. This increased that wariness, LOL, and I'm grateful I've avoided watch type devices.

I think The Dream Hotel highlights inherent dangers in social media and reliance on technology. Well done.

This book was really a dream as the name implied. I loved following the twists and turns of the plot and really enjoyed the characters and the way they all interacted. I’ll definitely be reading this author’s work in the future.

I couldn’t put this eerie, dystopian novel down! The Dream Hotel takes place in a world where AI technology is expanding rapidly, and it centers on Sara Hussein, a new mom and wife who’s wrongly accused of a pre-crime she didn’t commit. To help her juggle her chaotic life, Sara gets a neuroprosthetic implant that boosts her sleep, allowing her to function on just 5 hours a night—perfect for managing twins, her home duties, and her career. Sounds great, right? But there’s a catch. By agreeing to the device’s terms, Sara unknowingly gives permission for her dreams to be monitored, sold, and worse—used against her. If a dream raises any red flags, it’s considered “pre-crime,” and a deep dive into her life is triggered in Al algorithm, searching for more evidence of an impending crime. Those deemed a threat are sent to retention centers, which, in reality, are just high-tech prisons. This novel really gets under your skin and makes you think about the line between privacy and control in our ever-evolving tech-driven world.

“She wants to be free, and what is freedom of not wrestling of the self from the gaze of others, including her own? Life is meant to be lived, to be seized for all the beauty and joy to be wrung out of it; it isn’t meant to be contained and inventoried for the sake of safety”.

It’s honestly kind of terrifying to think about how much of our personal information is out there—and how close we are to living in a full-blown surveillance state. With AI growing so fast, that fear only gets worse. Laila Lalami’s writing is gripping and beautifully crafted; she really nails the idea that digital technology isn’t just invasive, but also a major threat to personal freedom. It’s a chilling reminder of how much control we could be handing over without even realizing it.

Special thanks to the publisher, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, author Laila Lalami, and NetGalley for a free copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm definitely in the minority here but I felt like this book overpromised and underdelivered. The 'new resident' point was anticlimactic and a tiny plot point, even if the summary would have you believe otherwise. The middle portion dragged and the ending felt rushed and weirdly muted on its commentary on surveillance if the rest of the book was an indictment.

This was a very interesting dystopian take on the near future, where dreams and thoughts are monitored for possible crimes. It was engaging and easy to get lost in. Thanks to the publisher and NeGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for the eARC of The Dream Hotel in exchange for an honest review.

The Dream Hotel is a chilling examination of the surveillance state, the incarceration industrial complex, and capitalism and even though the book is billed as a dystopian, the setting of the novel feels very much too close for comfort.

We follow the harrowing experience of Sara Hussein, a Moroccan American archivist whose unpleasant interaction with customs officers at LAX turned into a nightmare when she is sentenced to retention by the government agency Risk Assessment Administration (RAA) which has predicted that she will commit a crime against her husband. As a retainee, Sara finds herself at the mercy of Madison, a private retention center run by corporation Safe-X, where her chances of freedom depend on the whims of the complicated bureaucratic system full of arbitrary rules designed to keep Sara and her fellow retainees in a perpetual miserable, profit-maximizing existence inside Safe-X.

It is definitely a depressing and rage-inducing read. There are many moments where I found myself needing to stop the book and take a breath to calm myself down at the numerous injustices facing Sara and her fellow retainees at Madison. While the resolution at the end of the book is not the just desert that one may be expecting, I am grateful for the message of solidarity and organized action in the face of corporate greed. A theme that is very prevalent during this time of renewed union strength alongside repressive corporate crackdown on workers in the US. The hopeful tone at the end of the book of course does not resolve or erase all of the injustices, but it marks the beginning of something that can be greater, which is perhaps the best gift Laila Lalami gives us.

Like many dystopian novels, the horrors depicted in The Dream Hotel are very real. Perhaps the exact technology used is still thankfully not a reality just yet, but the issues of our willingly sign away our privacy and rights to tech companies promising “convenience”, to the growing surveillance state promising “safety and security”, and the ugly, exploitative, and dehumanizing nature of for-profit prisons are integral aspects of our society. And I appreciate Laila Lalami drawing attention to these realities through her story. I hope The Dream Hotel will begin to open the door to these conversations, no matter how difficult people may find them.

This provocative gem of a dystopia is not just terrifyingly real but also implicates capitalism while warning of the dangers of a seemingly advantageous police state. To combat the huge increase in mass murders, the legislature enacts a law to detain persons that are deemed likely to commit violent crimes by virtue of examining not just behaviors but their dreams. These retention centers are run by a variety of Nurse Ratchett types. A young mother who is not the best at keeping her mouth shut, gets detained.

I can’t say more about the plot without spoilers. Suffice it to say it is a propulsive, fascinating read with an extraordinarily satisfying ending.

Thank you to Net Galley and Pantheon for this advanced readers copy.

WOW! This book was fascinating. I could not stop reading. There were many times I wanted to skip to the end just so I knew how it would end because I was so anxious and invested in the outcome of the main character. Loved this book so much!

In a society where tech has advanced to the point of “predicting” crimes before they happen, a system of surveillance monitors people’s dreams and prescribes risk scores, leading to the detention of individuals for crimes they MIGHT commit.

Sometimes with the on-the-nose commentary it can read like straight up horror. I’ve been trying to get all my feelings sorted but really this book drained me. I am a sucker for anything that has to do with surveillance, tech, and different forms of our future so this was basically a guaranteed 4or5 star going in. I immediately vibed with the prose, pace, & tone of the novel but the back to back, so-close-to-real-life was haunting. Obviously not reading the dreams part but the use of AI and our data and our relationships and our climate and prison system… I could go on and on.

I am frazzled in the best way and all I know is if someone could see my dreams… my sentence would be 3830394 days & probably more.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this title.

This is a hauntingly eerie dystopian tale that doesn’t stretch the limits at all of believability. A mix of Minority Report, Black Mirror, and Orange is the new black, it details a not-too-distant future where crime prevention and technological surveillance are at the extreme; even your dreams are monitored and even the smallest part of your dream can land you in a facility for “pre crimes”. This book also reminded me of another great dystopia with similar elements, “The School for Good Mothers”.
This is a fate that befalls our protagonist Sara, a wife and mother of twins. Sara is detained after a work trip and jailed in a facility with other women who have been arrested. Racism, sexism, and misogyny run rampant at the facility, and Sara does her best to plead her case and also make friends with the other inmates. Between chapters we get snippets of the facility Bureaucracy, which I thought brought a lot to the story and really showed how unfairly Sara and the rest of the women were being treated; just like prison, they’re not seen as human beings and are just seen as objects. There are multiple references to today’s major tech and social media, with their names changed but it’s fairly obvious who they’re referencing.
So remember kids: always read the fine print in agreements

This is a new release to watch!! I read this gripping novel within 48 hours, spellbound as if in a fever dream. The world in The Dream Hotel is beautifully constructed, and Lalami deploys believable, lovable characters to illustrate larger themes about technological surveillance, AI, capitalism, and the prison industrial complex--all issues that are incredibly pertinent to our world. I was fully immersed in the novel and felt utterly invested in the wellbeing of the main character and her safety. The experience was so immersive that I knew myself to be in the hands of a masterful storyteller. That, as the novel progressed, it grew harder and harder to discern the dream sequences from the character's lived reality is a testament to this.

I have only a few, nitpicky issues with the book: there is some mixed media interjections in the central narrative, as well as one divergence via a second narrator. I don't think those parts served the book as well as they could have, and some opened up loose ends that were never tied up, which bothered me. Conversely, I felt the ending in the main narrative a little too tidy and spelled out, and though I know this is likely an unpopular opinion, I would have appreciated more ambiguity in it. Finally, the book centers a mother who is abruptly separated from her 13-month-old twins. As someone with a 14-month-old, this hit close to home, and I found that a more nuanced and dimensional depiction of maternal longing and guilt would have better served the novel.

Overall, this book is a feat, and one that I will be thinking about for days to come. So looking forward to its release!

I have only read one other book by this author, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, and loved it. Not sure why I never returned to read more of her work, but I finally had the opportunity, and she did not disappoint!

This novel is a dystopian one set in the very near future. Insomnia has been cured by a brain implant that captures and analyze dream data. This data has been co-opted to prevent crime before it occurs. Lalami brings to life a system of detention under the slimmest of premises and then does a great job of specifically detailing the likely fallouts and abuses that emerge.

It's very scary because it feels so realistic, as if the scenarios in the book could happen in the next 5 years. It's very Black Mirror-ish, and I'm a huge fan of that television series.

My only quibble was really with the ending. It felt a bit foreshortened to me. I was left wanting more.

All in all, The Dream Hotel is very strong when it comes to pacing, dialogue, a very interesting premise, and well drawn characters. I normally am not a fan of dreams in literature, but when they were used here, the device actually worked well.

The positive is that I would check out Lalami's other works. The book centers on tech and how that can impact daily life ( I know original lol). Specifically, it asks, "What if crime can be predicted and prevented by establishing a jail system? If you ever had yourself or a loved one in jail (or you can even read about the highway robbery) you will appreciate the spotlight on the dollar industry that lies in the complex of imprisoning people. Jail is punishment but it is also just another form of big business and this story paints a great picture of a woman named Sarah who just on the whim of new technology finds herself in an institution, that's a prison or jail although since she hasn't committed any crime they cant technically call to that. But the treatment by all involved must not have gotten that memo.

I would definitely give this book and the rest of the author's back catalog if you are new to her a chance, I know I will.

I really loved the concept of this book, and it was a quick engaging read. I saw another review say that this would make for a great book club option and I completely agree - there's so much to talk about and the subject itself sparks a lot of great conversation. Ultimately, I wanted a little more from the story - I had trouble fully connecting and getting sucked in when it came down to it. That being said, there's a lot to love here and would definitely recommend picking up a copy. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!