The Dream Hotel: A Read with Jenna Pick

Chilling. Infuriating. Bleak. And, aside from the neurologically impossible dream gimmick, all too plausible. Much of the book's context -- surveillance state, corporate data mining, prisons-for-profit, detaining innocent people without charge, Zimbardoesque sadism of those with power -- is well entrenched today. Lalami merely adds Philip K. Dick to the mix and shows us the next logical step.

Complex characters and relationships, portrayed with feeling. They felt real. Story flow is a little jumpy but deliberately so and, once you get used to it, effective. Keep going.