The Dream Hotel

Lalami (The Other Americans) delivers a stirring dystopian tale of dwindling privacy and freedom in the digital age. In the late 2030s, Sara T. Hussein, 38, a Muslim American art archivist, is detained by officials from the Risk Assessment Administration, who claim data recorded by her Dreamsaver implant, which was originally developed to treat sleep apnea, predicts she will murder her husband. She’s held at a repurposed elementary school for “observation,” which stretches on for nearly a year, and forced to work in the de facto prison’s laundry room. “Retainees,” as prisoners like Sara are called, are promised their freedom if they’re compliant and they stop dreaming about potential crimes, but she’s released only after making a nuisance by organizing a work stoppage. She returns home to her husband and twin toddlers, who urge her to stay out of trouble, but she immediately starts planning to help her friends at the retention center regain their freedom, partnering with a former retainee whom she met inside. The premise calls to mind Philip K. Dick’s The Minority Report, but Lalami’s version is chillingly original, echoing widespread fears about the abuse of surveillance technology, and she balances high-concept speculative elements with deep character work. This surreal story feels all too plausible. Agent: Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group. (Mar.)

Correction: A previous version of this review mistakenly described one of the secondary characters as a Dreamsaver informant.