A review by heyshannonhall
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This book freaked me out, especially as someone who is often the “what are they reeaally going to do with our data” person. It’s an extremely interesting premise: a future where the government uses individual’s data, even from dreams, to assign “risk levels” to them to try to prevent crimes (instead of just passing gun control laws, obviously) and then detains people with high risk scores until they deem that they aren’t going to harm anyone. But of course, proving you aren’t planning to commit a crime is basically impossible, as the women in this book come to realize. Just like in a nightmare, the panic and urgency about Sara’s situation seems to mount as this novel goes on. It follows kind of a predictable pattern imo but I was still glued to it because it felt so believable and personal. It was very haunting and I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc!