The chilling parallels to modern capitalism in Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel (Random House Audio, 11 hours and 42 minutes) are impossible to miss, which makes this novel feel less like the dystopian horror story it is and more like an outline of real dangers to come.
Moroccan American museum archivist Sara Hussein, while flying home to Los Angeles after a conference, is detained by authorities when an algorithm determines that she’s at risk of committing a crime. That algorithm comes courtesy of the Dreamsaver, an implanted device that allows exhausted overachievers (like new mother Sara) to get high-quality sleep. But its creators have turned over the biometric data collected from its users to the government, landing Sara in a detainment camp where she’s at the mercy of petty guards and a prison-industrial complex that relies on cheap labor.
Narrator Frankie Corso reflects every nuance of Sara’s shifting moods, as she moves from fear and frustration to a steely resolve. She misses her children but decides that she won’t capitulate to a corrupt system, no matter the cost to her freedom. As the voice of the bureaucracy, which relays camp rules and regulations, Barton Caplan offers the perfectly maddening tone of bland corporate indifference to the human condition.
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Liann Zhang’s black comedy Julie Chan Is Dead (Simon & Schuster Audio, 9 hours and 39 minutes) also takes aim at contemporary life, this time through the sharp satire Zhang uses to question privilege and the American obsession with fame and power.
Separated from her twin, Chloe, as a young child after their parents were killed in an accident, Julie is barely scraping by. She was adopted by a greedy, indifferent aunt, while Chloe, adopted by a wealthy white couple, has become a popular TikTok influencer. But then Julie finds Chloe dead and can’t resist stepping into her twin’s perfect life. Soon, however, she discovers it’s not as perfect as she had imagined.
Narrator Yu-Li Alice Shen is a natural for this darkly comic material, especially as the story takes an even more menacing turn at a secret island gathering for influencers. Shen also conquers the difficult task of creating distinct voices for the privileged group of young women Julie finds herself a part of, tapping into humor when needed and never minimizing the horror.
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Small-town politics take on big implications in Jon Hickey’s Big Chief (Simon & Schuster Audio, 10 hours and 1 minute), about a thorny Wisconsin tribal election that not only splits the reservation but also exposes fault lines in friendships and family relationships. Law school grad and would-be political fixer Mitch Caddo is working toward the re-election of his childhood friend Mack Beck as tribal president. The battle seems futile—Mack’s challenger is formidable, a well-known activist—and Mitch registers with too many tribal members as a “J. Crew Indian,” thanks to his white father and his status as an outsider who mostly grew up off the rez.
As the campaign leans into chaos and violence, Mitch is forced to consider his own loyalties and alliances. As Mitch, Shaun Taylor-Corbett has a natural resonance, at first reflecting a sense of bravado. But when tragedy rocks the reservation, Taylor-Corbett allows a tentative note to slip into his narration, mirroring Mitch’s questioning of all he believes.
Connie Ogle is a writer in South Florida.
