Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this eCopy to review

When I first picked up The Dream Hotel, I was intrigued by its premise. The story is set in a near future where even our dreams are under surveillance. Sara Hussein, finds herself detained by the Risk Assessment Administration (RAA) after an algorithm predicts she will commit a crime based on her dreams.

We follow Sara's journey from the moment she lands at LAX and is informed of her imminent risk to her husband. The tension builds as she is transferred to a retention centre, where she meets other women in similar predicaments. The facility's strict and ever-changing rules make it nearly impossible for Sara to prove her innocence, and her stay is extended repeatedly. Months pass, and Sara's hope for release dwindles. The arrival of a new resident disrupts the order of the facility, leading Sara to confront the companies responsible for her loss of freedom.

The novel explores themes of privacy, freedom, and the invasive nature of technology. While the concept was fascinating and the writing was clear and urgent, I felt some parts dragged, making it difficult to stay fully engaged.

The Dream Hotel offers a thought-provoking look at the future of surveillance and personal freedom.

This novel explores a variety of topics whilst we watch a woman be detained for the contents of her dreams. We're in a version of our future, where the government is able to access details from peoples subconscious and uses it to detain them to "prevent future crimes".

The incarceration system in the US, people overusing their power, governmental surveillance and the increasing prevalence of technology all come up as topics within this book and I enjoyed the way they were explored. Whilst Sara is supposedly only detained rather than arrested, the environment she is placed in is clearly a prison with wardens and the use of the inmates labour. Lalami depicts prison culture and shows how those who have been unfairly incarcerated or who have served their times end up stuck in the system.

I also found the topic of opting into monitoring to be really interesting. We all do it. We click "Accept" on the contracts to use the social media website or the running tracker or the game without reading what they get from us clicking that button. And suddenly our data has been sold and is being analysed on the other side of the world for some research we've never heard of or is being used to advertise to us more effectually. And this book explores the very real possibility of it being used against us when we've committed no crime. It's a little dramatic, sure, but it's not that far off the modern day truth.

I thought the PTSD representation was done well, we see some inmates after they leave the institution and seeing their very real reactions to this and the inability to immediately adapt back to the "free" world is something that is often overlooked when people are freed from incarceration.

The idea of "there's no need to worry if you've not done anything wrong" is also shown here. If you're not a criminal you've got nothing to hide. But that's only as long as the laws line up with morality and they so often do not. Our main character Sara is just like most of us. She doesn't break the law, she's just a normal citizen. But she can't get out.

I did struggle with the formatting of this book, I read it via a NetGalley ARC (thank you!) and there were sections that were intended to be tables but instead were out of order lists as well as the paragraphs being broken up weirdly. Usually this doesn't impact my reading experience too much but that combined with the writing style did leave me a little disconnected from the story, especially in the middle of the book.

Despite the formatting and disconnection issues, this book does a fantastic job at analysis on the topics of autonomy, privacy, and crime in a world that is increasingly running on algorithms. Definitely one that made me think!!

Imagine a world where you could be imprisoned for your dreams. It’s like an extension of being imprisoned for your thoughts. At which point I’m sure 100% of humans would qualify.

This would be a great book to have discussions of the ethics of technology on - the premise of this book isn’t a million miles away from the situation now. How many times have you just clicked “agree” on some tech company T&Cs without thinking about it?

I really enjoyed (I think) the thought experiments this book got me into, I did find the main character frustrating at points (especially at the beginning), and I didn’t really care much about any of the other characters which is why it’s only 3* for me.

This book started out exciting and immediately gave me Black Mirror vibes. And then it just dragged. Sara over-analysed why she was taken to “the dream hotel” away from her young children, which to me would be tragic, yet I could not connect with her emotionally. Halfway through, there seemed to be an interesting plot twist, but nothing came of it. The ending was disappointing because there were still plotholes and I did not feel connected with any of the characters. This book had so much potential but unfortunately did not live up to it for me

The Dream Hotel is a really interesting dystopian novel. It is based in a world where you can be detained when the algorithm predicts that you might be likely to commit a future crime. Such an interesting concept that has very real implications for technology and the ways in which we use it. I really enjoyed this book and was really invested in the characters and the situations they found themselves in. Really recommend to anyone looking for a thought provoking dystopian read.

Such an interesting dystopian story that really had me thinking . Its set in the near future where peoples algorithms are constantly monitored and any changes that seem to be thought of as a threat to other people are caught and the offenders are sent to an establishment called Madison - here they and their dreams are monitored until they are deemed well enough to go back into society. Sara is pulled in whilst coming through the airport and is sent to Madison where she stays whilst she is monitored - this was such an interesting story that feels quite chilling in the world that we live in now ! It is one of those stories that you feel could happen !!

I’m very confident The Dream Hotel is going to end up on lots of “If you like Black Mirror read these” lists.

Set in the near future, Madison is a crime prevention facility where all the residents are predicted to commit a crime based on an algorithm. One of the things the algorithm scans is dreams. Perfectly legal, you agreed when you signed up in a desperate attempt to get a nights sleep. I loved the premise of this. It actually reminded me of a YA book I read well over ten years ago called The Predicteds.

I found the facility really interesting, especially the role that the dream company plays. With lots of dream sequences and flashbacks, I did struggle with the lack of action or any forward momentum. I was very excited around the half way mark when we saw a shift in where the story was going, but I was a little disappointed when that didn’t really lead to much.

I really enjoyed the residents, especially Emily. By the end I was growing to really like and root for the group of women. I'd love to read more about the other residents at Madison.

Without spoiling I thought the ending was fascinating. Not at all the direction I thought. There were a few storylines I wish were tied up a little, but I did enjoy the open-endedness of Sara’s story.

I’d say this is for people who like stories that explore concepts and focus on reflection.

The formatting of this arc also made a lot of the extras like lists impossible to follow so that was a shame but not a reflection of the book.

I really wanted to love this book but it wasn't quite there for me.

It has a fantastic concept, of pre-crime culpability/retention, which is similar to the anime Psycho-pass.
Lalami is great at eliciting feelings of unease in the reader, The protagonist felt strong and layered. The description of how it feels to exist as a WOC in a western society was very relatable and accurate.

But for me I just wanted more from the book. It felt like there were so many potential chekhov's gun moments but none of them fired.

A powerful concept with a finale that kind of fell flat.

💜Dream Hotel is written like a dream... of a nightmare. An algorithm notes that our MC has been triggered as potentially dangerous based on her risk score, as tracked by a device that helps her sleep. This was EXCEPTIONAL - but I wanted more from the ending.

This book just wasn't for me. It was thrilling, scary and felt realistic, but I didn't gel with the writing style. I enjoy third-person POV, but I found it very passive and just didn't get along with it. It's definitely not a bad book - I would just recommend picking it up in your bookshop and reading the first few pages to see if you'll get along better than I did!

Gripping speculative mystery! In a world without privacy, Sara is detained for a future "dream crime." Inventive and terrifying, exploring the cost of freedom under surveillance.

Spine chilling. Cautionary. Bold.

Welcome to the Dream Hotel. We hope you have a pleasant stay.

Where to even begin reviewing this sublime speculative story?!

Such a fascinating concept, and delivered with aplomb. It's the near future and algorithmic policing is in full force. The RAA uses personal data to stop crime before it happens.

This is progress. The ability to stop a school shooting before it happens for example? It seems reasonable? After all, if you're law abiding you have nothing to fear right? Nothing bad is going to happen to you - until it does.

Our main character Sara discovers this when she is returns from a work trip and upon arrival at the airport is taken for questioning. Her risk score is up.

What follows is the unbearably tense and cloying story of Sara's detainment. As a reader you feel the utter hopelessness, the despair, the claustrophobia. Then the rage.

The unjustness of a system that you are expected to submit to in order to prove the you are deserving to be free of control.

The conclusion couldn't have been anything else. I would love to see a follow up, I didn't really feel ready to let the story go!

The Dream Hotel is beautifully written, compulsive and astutely taps into fears I didn't even know I had.

With the explosion of use of artifical intelligence by governments the word over and always the assurance that data will be assessed by a human - food for thought indeed.

I highly recommend this book - and checking your cookies!

Risk Assessment Administration pull Sara aside in the airport as she's returning from a conference, Their data analysis of her dreams suggests that she is at risk of harming her husband,

She is sent to a detention centre for a minimum stay of 24 days to be monitored alongside her fellow harmful dreamers. The slightest infraction increases a dreamer's hold period so home can feel very far away.

A 'black mirroresque' tale that could very well come true in the not too distant future.

Imagine a world where you can be detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure for thinking about committing a crime. A world where complicated algorithms can sift through your life history, and a million observations of your behaviour, and determine that – for the safety of society – you would be better locked up.

That’s what happens in this book and Sara, a 38-year-old mother, finds herself detained at Customs in the United States and sent to Madison, a converted old school building in the middle of nowhere. To leave, she has to prove that she doesn’t think like that but the annoyances and irritations of detention don’t help and a device that reads her dreams tells the authorities exactly what is going on.

Her family and friends think that if she only followed the rules for a week or two she would be allowed out but the rules are Kafkaesque and it is not that easy for the women detained there.

She has a lawyer and occasional visits but the routine and the processes means that there are many cancellations as if the system is conspiring against her. She suspects that one of the guards is making life difficult for her as well but society doesn’t care. Potential murderers should obviously be locked up!

This is a dystopian novel but many of the elements clearly reflect the challenge of imprisonment in the modern world and its flaws. There are also people in the UK indefinitely imprisoned, like Sara, until they can somehow demonstrate that they have reformed. Worse still, the UK Ministry of Justice has what is called a ‘homicide prediction project’ being quietly developed which uses ethnicity, social class, crime data and social services data to predict those most likely to commit serious crimes. Of course, it is only in the research stage and there is nothing to worry about… …that is unless you’re on it!

It’s a good read. The strains on Sara’s family life are well-documented and there’s something about the people who might invent this kind of thing. The other detainees are an interesting bunch and the minutiae of being locked up for a long time is well explored.

And, now it turns out that it isn’t just dystopian but also slightly predictive about the world we could live in!

Sara is returning home from a work trip when she is stopped at the airport. The Risk Assessment Administration+ pulls her aside to question her regarding her risk level; Sara has been having dreams about harming her husband and she is taken to a detention centre in order to hold her for 21 days.

This was a really interesting and speculative novel about the dangers of technology and freedoms that can be taken away by this monitoring. I was really gripped and had to finish the novel to see what ultimately happens to Sara and the women she meets in the detention centre.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

A stunning piece of literary fiction that will pull on your heart strings and make you question so many truths. A powerful read.

Lalami knows how to tell a story and how to get the reader invested in the characters. There were a lot of interesting ideas and I enjoyed reading it but the ending felt a bit forced, and there are dystopian books that have felt more exceptional to me.
Thank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley UK for the ARC.

Absolutely brilliant! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending it.

In "The Dream Hotel," Laila Lalami gives us a nightmarish look at what happens when tech companies take over the justice and legal systems of a country. It might have seemed farfetched, but we just have to look at 2025's United States to see that Lalami's vision is spot-on. Lalami tells the story of Sara, who is detained at the airport for being a possible danger to her husband. She is not told why she is a danger, and her every answer is twisted into evidence against her. Sara repeatedly tries to get out of detention but she is constantly met with an endless series of purposeful obstacles. It's strongly reminiscent of all the legal troubles we see with immigrants in the US and in the UK.

The book is anxiety inducing because Sara's predicament feels relevant and realistic. Lalami creates a believable fictional world run by algorithms because we see technocrats taking over our lives and harming us through politics and the legal system. We yearn for Sara to escape because we want to escape our real lives as well. Like Sara, we want to reclaim our stolen identities from the algorithm and the tech companies who have infiltrated our lives. Scary first-rate read. As of March 2025, this novel has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. I am rooting for its inclusion on the shortlist which will be announced on 2 April 2025

Oh, this is a dystopia that is too close to real life. I’m immediately grabbed by the story and want to read on
The novel tells of a potential future world where Brain implants allow the government to monitor your dreams and these together with data from social media used to monitor and convict you for being a potential criminal even before you have committed any crime . in the book, Sarah and mother and wife is travelling home from a conference abroad when immigration on entering the USA flag are opposite as a potential criminal and imprison her. The story follows her in increasingly impossible attempts to be released from incarceration.
Speculative fiction is one of my favourite genres and this book is so close to the current state in the USA that I find it quite chilling
The author has a clear flowing writing style which is a pleasure to read. The story is fast paced and kept my attention throughout. Character development is well described and you feel you know the main character well by the end of the story.
Originally published in Spain 2008 I’ve not read any of the authors previous novels.

I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK in return for an unbiased review. The book was published in the UK on the 4th of April 2025 by Bloomsbury publishing plc.

This review will appear on NetGalley UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads, and my book blog bionic SarahSbooks.wordpress.com. it will also appear on Amazon UK.