The Dream Hotel
by Laila Lalami
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Pub Date 4 Mar 2025 | Archive Date 4 Mar 2025
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) | Bloomsbury Circus
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Description
In a world without privacy, what is the cost of freedom?
Sara is returning home from a conference abroad when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside at the airport and inform her that she will commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, their algorithm has determined that she presents an imminent risk to the person she loves most, and must now be transferred to a retention centre for twenty-one days to lower her ‘risk score’.
But when Sara arrives at Madison to be observed alongside other dangerous dreamers, it soon becomes clear that getting home to her family is going to cost more than just three weeks of good behaviour. And as every minor misdemeanour, every slight deviation from the rules, adds time to her stay, she begins to wonder if there might be more here than first meets the eye.
Then, one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and setting off a chain of events that lead Sara on a collision course with the companies that have deprived her of her freedom.
The Dream Hotel is a gripping speculative mystery about the seductive dangers of the technologies that are supposed to make our lives easier. As terrifying as it is inventive, it explores how much we can ever truly know those around us – even with the most invasive surveillance systems in place.
Advance Praise
‘A gripping, Kafkaesque foray into an all-too-plausible future ... An elegant meditation on identity, motherhood, and what we sacrifice, unthinkingly, for the sake of convenience’ JENNIFER EGAN
‘Extraordinary ... More than just a political warning; the book is an exploration of the psyche itself, the strange ungovernable forces of fate and emotion that make us human’ RUMAAN ALAM
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781526685193 |
| PRICE | £16.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 336 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Peter W, Reviewer
Another brilliant book by Laila Lalami.
The characters were great, the storyline well structured and for me totally original.
Some of the content is frightening that it might become true one day, or that where we live might become one of those places that things like this truly happen.
There is a big warning in the book of what might happen if mankind relies too heavily on Artificial Intelligence to run peoples lives.
The author has taken our fears of relying too heavily on technology and AI and imagined the world shown in such imaginative detail.
I loved it!
My thanks to the author for the hours of enjoyment that the book has brought me, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Cath H, Bookseller
Stunning, in an ominous and somewhat sinister way, especially in these 'strange' times. Frankly, with everything going on around the world, and especially in the USA right now, this felt less speculative and more realistic than I imagined as it captures the current 'Brave New World' surveillance culture almost too well in tone and spirit. Exceptionally strong characterisation, despite the fairly shallow dice into the main protagonist's backstory, coupled with a dark, almost unrelenting sense of unease, led me to race through this, gripped by each turn of events, but a read I'll come back to more than once.
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