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Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep
Not yet published
Expected 30 Jun 26Philip K. Dick meets the Coen Brothers in this genre-bending near-future tech nightmare that is as bitingly funny as it is horrifically believable from the New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie.
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer, living with her retired uncle, and working two jobs she doesn’t like. Out of the blue, her estranged mother, a CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies, offers her a temp job with a payday Julia can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the to chaperone a man in a vegetative state—one with proprietary AI implanted in his head—from California to the East Coast.
To sum up in Julia’s own “You want me to remote control this dead dude across the country.” In a word, yes. But he’s not dead dead.
Meet a middle-aged man who wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. Worse than the fluid, morphing reality in which he’s trapped, he has no memory of who he is. He certainly doesn’t remember getting the rabbit tattoo on his arm. He only knows that he must find a certain person. Who? He can’t remember.
Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was—and who he must track down. And as their two lives intertwine, Julia and Bernie become unlikely allies and fugitives on a collision course with reality.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a heady, horrific genre-bender from one of the most groundbreaking voices in fiction today.
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer, living with her retired uncle, and working two jobs she doesn’t like. Out of the blue, her estranged mother, a CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies, offers her a temp job with a payday Julia can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the to chaperone a man in a vegetative state—one with proprietary AI implanted in his head—from California to the East Coast.
To sum up in Julia’s own “You want me to remote control this dead dude across the country.” In a word, yes. But he’s not dead dead.
Meet a middle-aged man who wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. Worse than the fluid, morphing reality in which he’s trapped, he has no memory of who he is. He certainly doesn’t remember getting the rabbit tattoo on his arm. He only knows that he must find a certain person. Who? He can’t remember.
Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was—and who he must track down. And as their two lives intertwine, Julia and Bernie become unlikely allies and fugitives on a collision course with reality.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a heady, horrific genre-bender from one of the most groundbreaking voices in fiction today.
12 pages, Audible Audio
Expected publication June 30, 2026
About the author
Paul Tremblay
135 books12.3k followersPaul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, the Sheridan Le Fanu, and Massachusetts Book awards and is the author of the New York Times bestselling Horror Movie, The Beast You, Are, The Pallbearers Club, Survivor Song, Growing Things, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, and the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland. His novel The Cabin at the End of the World was adapted as the Universal Pictures film Knock at the Cabin. An adaptation of A Head Full of Ghosts is currently filming. His novel Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is coming in June 2026.
His short fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly online, and numerous year’s-best anthologies. He has a master’s degree in mathematics and lives outside Boston with his family. He is represented by Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management.
His short fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly online, and numerous year’s-best anthologies. He has a master’s degree in mathematics and lives outside Boston with his family. He is represented by Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management.
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November 2, 202511/2/25 There's a brief excerpt from the book at VARIETY: https://variety.com/2025/scene/news/p...
April 1, 2026
Starred review in the April 2026 issue of Library Journal
Three Words That Describe This Book: AI Horror, character centered, unique, disorienting (on purpose) and compelling narrative style.
I know that is a lot more words than 3, but this is my review and I get to make the rules.
More words: unforgettable, overlapping narratives with dual POV, meta, existentially terrifying, biting satire, middle finger to the AI companies, heartwarming and full of love even in the face of evil.
Draft Review: Throwing down the gauntlet for AI horror, with a novel that would make Philip K. Dick beam with pride, Tremblay introduces readers to Julia, a semi-pro gamer short on cash, offered a job by her estranged, Silicon Valley, CEO mother to test a groundbreaking technology, controlling the AI bots implanted in a braindead employee as he is returned to his mom in Rhode Island. Told in alternating and overlapping narrations by Julia and “You,” the voice of what is left of the body Julia nicknames, Bernie, readers watch Julia contemplate the ethics of her task, while Bernie simultaneously fights the “clicks” overwhelming him and struggles to remember who he was. Quirky textual choices in Bernie’s chapters enhance the disorientation, unease, and heartbreaking beautiful tone. Readers are quickly and emotionally invested in Julia and Bernie, separately and together, as they “abide*” across the country, A masterpiece of storytelling, injected with a squirming worm of fear,** forcing all who encounter it to take a critical look at AI’s encroachment, how it is actively stripping away our humanity, and rushing us all down the road to ruin.
Verdict: A not-to-miss reading experience for fans of a wide range of chilling, darkly humorous, existentially terrifying titles like Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill, Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle, and The Wanderers Duology by Chuck Wendig.
This is THE standard for AI horror as of this moment and it will be for a long time to come. It is also the darkest buddy comedy you have ever read.
Are there more than 5 stars to give? Well I would if I could. Let me back up. I love the way Paul Tremblay writes. As a professional reviewer I am even tougher on the authors to whom I hold to the highest standard. This book exceeds that standard-- in every facet of its writing and as a superior horror novel.
The allusion to Philip K Dick is there to put you in the right frame of mine to read this book. There are also two characters with Richard in their name (one first and one last). They are both corporate shills. But I point this out because it adds to the dark humor here. This book is deadly serious and existentially terrifying-- readers will not be able to NOT see themselves as part of the horror. And yet, I need to say this before I write more-- Tremblay is able to tell this deadly serious story and still imbue it with heart and humor. This is key to why it is such a great read.
All you need to know about the plot is this-- Julia is a recent college grad whose mom is an executive for a HUGE computer company. Julia is a former semi-pro gamer and her mom calls her up to San Fran up to LA. They have a strained relationship, but Julia agrees because her mom is offering a job that pays very well. She is asked to help the company test a new AI that they have implanted in an employee who had a stroke. He is brain dead. She is supposed to pilot him across the country using a controller and bring him to RI, back to his mother.
This is a horror novel, so come on, you know the big tech company is not telling the truth about its motives.
Julia ia whole and real from the start, Without sacrificing the narrative pacing, we get a fully fleshed out woman while the action is moving briskly. So by the time she gets to San Fran, we know who she is.
But it is the alternating narrative-- which is why this novel goes from just terrifying to excellent.
The story fluctuates between chapters told by Julia and those told by "You." You is the man that this AI is implanted in. First of all, the choice to make it "you" is perfect! "You" as the narrator instantly makes the reader an intimate player in the story. The man, who Julia calls Bernie because it is like she is in the movie Weekend at Bernies, is for all intents and purposes all of us readers, or he could be, at first. His narration begins oddly to us the reader. We are seeing the story we get from Julia overlap with how it appears from inside "Bernies" head. As the story moves on, Bernie begins to remember more of who he was, even as the
This adds a level of heartbreaking emotion to the story. It also allows Julia to connect to Bernie as well-- even though she does not know what is happening in his head, she knows he is regaining himself as they move across the country, but our chapters in his head help.
Tremblay uses textual images to help make the "You" chapters easier to from his perspective. Trapped in his head, part the man he was and part AI technology, we need to be able to see how he is interacting insides his own head with himself. It works very well and helps to orient the reader into a perspective that is purposely disorienting and hard to understand. But again, as it moves along, the reader and Bernie get more comfortable. Great narrative choice.
I also enjoyed all the Big Lebowski references. It helped to flesh out Julia's character and get the reader to know her as a person before this story's events. I am going to add something about Julia and Bernie "abiding" in the review to make reference to this (I only get 200 words so I have to make them count).
Also Tremblay fans will chuckle as Bernie's real identity comes to light.
Julia and Bernie will come to feel like friends as they follow them across the country. The characters are so fully developed that you will miss them when it is over. This novel will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you think long and hard about how AI is encroaching on our lives, stripping away our humanity and leading us down a road to ruin. It will make you feel a fear that will worm its way off the page and into your body, a fear you will not be able to shake. But all of this is the entire point.
And get ready for the ending because it is doozy. Terrifyingly realistic. And spoiler alert-- not really if you have ever read any AI horror (Sea of Rust is a good comp here)-- rise of the machines sf/horror never works out well for the humans.
For readers who enjoyed The Wanderers Duology by Wendig, Sea of Rust by Cargill, and the world of Blake Crouch. But in terms of the tone here, the dark humor mixed with existential terror but always centering love of Lucky Day or Bury Your Gays by Tingle. Also the real world horror being novelized in a way that makes is a good horror read but doesn't allow you to not think about the real world implications is similar to Mariana Enriquez.
And if you made it this far-- touche to Tremblay for the NOS4A2-esque use of the "Notes on the Type" to enhance the novel.
Three Words That Describe This Book: AI Horror, character centered, unique, disorienting (on purpose) and compelling narrative style.
I know that is a lot more words than 3, but this is my review and I get to make the rules.
More words: unforgettable, overlapping narratives with dual POV, meta, existentially terrifying, biting satire, middle finger to the AI companies, heartwarming and full of love even in the face of evil.
Draft Review: Throwing down the gauntlet for AI horror, with a novel that would make Philip K. Dick beam with pride, Tremblay introduces readers to Julia, a semi-pro gamer short on cash, offered a job by her estranged, Silicon Valley, CEO mother to test a groundbreaking technology, controlling the AI bots implanted in a braindead employee as he is returned to his mom in Rhode Island. Told in alternating and overlapping narrations by Julia and “You,” the voice of what is left of the body Julia nicknames, Bernie, readers watch Julia contemplate the ethics of her task, while Bernie simultaneously fights the “clicks” overwhelming him and struggles to remember who he was. Quirky textual choices in Bernie’s chapters enhance the disorientation, unease, and heartbreaking beautiful tone. Readers are quickly and emotionally invested in Julia and Bernie, separately and together, as they “abide*” across the country, A masterpiece of storytelling, injected with a squirming worm of fear,** forcing all who encounter it to take a critical look at AI’s encroachment, how it is actively stripping away our humanity, and rushing us all down the road to ruin.
Verdict: A not-to-miss reading experience for fans of a wide range of chilling, darkly humorous, existentially terrifying titles like Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill, Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle, and The Wanderers Duology by Chuck Wendig.
This is THE standard for AI horror as of this moment and it will be for a long time to come. It is also the darkest buddy comedy you have ever read.
Are there more than 5 stars to give? Well I would if I could. Let me back up. I love the way Paul Tremblay writes. As a professional reviewer I am even tougher on the authors to whom I hold to the highest standard. This book exceeds that standard-- in every facet of its writing and as a superior horror novel.
The allusion to Philip K Dick is there to put you in the right frame of mine to read this book. There are also two characters with Richard in their name (one first and one last). They are both corporate shills. But I point this out because it adds to the dark humor here. This book is deadly serious and existentially terrifying-- readers will not be able to NOT see themselves as part of the horror. And yet, I need to say this before I write more-- Tremblay is able to tell this deadly serious story and still imbue it with heart and humor. This is key to why it is such a great read.
All you need to know about the plot is this-- Julia is a recent college grad whose mom is an executive for a HUGE computer company. Julia is a former semi-pro gamer and her mom calls her up to San Fran up to LA. They have a strained relationship, but Julia agrees because her mom is offering a job that pays very well. She is asked to help the company test a new AI that they have implanted in an employee who had a stroke. He is brain dead. She is supposed to pilot him across the country using a controller and bring him to RI, back to his mother.
This is a horror novel, so come on, you know the big tech company is not telling the truth about its motives.
Julia ia whole and real from the start, Without sacrificing the narrative pacing, we get a fully fleshed out woman while the action is moving briskly. So by the time she gets to San Fran, we know who she is.
But it is the alternating narrative-- which is why this novel goes from just terrifying to excellent.
The story fluctuates between chapters told by Julia and those told by "You." You is the man that this AI is implanted in. First of all, the choice to make it "you" is perfect! "You" as the narrator instantly makes the reader an intimate player in the story. The man, who Julia calls Bernie because it is like she is in the movie Weekend at Bernies, is for all intents and purposes all of us readers, or he could be, at first. His narration begins oddly to us the reader. We are seeing the story we get from Julia overlap with how it appears from inside "Bernies" head. As the story moves on, Bernie begins to remember more of who he was, even as the
This adds a level of heartbreaking emotion to the story. It also allows Julia to connect to Bernie as well-- even though she does not know what is happening in his head, she knows he is regaining himself as they move across the country, but our chapters in his head help.
Tremblay uses textual images to help make the "You" chapters easier to from his perspective. Trapped in his head, part the man he was and part AI technology, we need to be able to see how he is interacting insides his own head with himself. It works very well and helps to orient the reader into a perspective that is purposely disorienting and hard to understand. But again, as it moves along, the reader and Bernie get more comfortable. Great narrative choice.
I also enjoyed all the Big Lebowski references. It helped to flesh out Julia's character and get the reader to know her as a person before this story's events. I am going to add something about Julia and Bernie "abiding" in the review to make reference to this (I only get 200 words so I have to make them count).
Also Tremblay fans will chuckle as Bernie's real identity comes to light.
Julia and Bernie will come to feel like friends as they follow them across the country. The characters are so fully developed that you will miss them when it is over. This novel will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you think long and hard about how AI is encroaching on our lives, stripping away our humanity and leading us down a road to ruin. It will make you feel a fear that will worm its way off the page and into your body, a fear you will not be able to shake. But all of this is the entire point.
And get ready for the ending because it is doozy. Terrifyingly realistic. And spoiler alert-- not really if you have ever read any AI horror (Sea of Rust is a good comp here)-- rise of the machines sf/horror never works out well for the humans.
For readers who enjoyed The Wanderers Duology by Wendig, Sea of Rust by Cargill, and the world of Blake Crouch. But in terms of the tone here, the dark humor mixed with existential terror but always centering love of Lucky Day or Bury Your Gays by Tingle. Also the real world horror being novelized in a way that makes is a good horror read but doesn't allow you to not think about the real world implications is similar to Mariana Enriquez.
And if you made it this far-- touche to Tremblay for the NOS4A2-esque use of the "Notes on the Type" to enhance the novel.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Paul Tremblay is one of my favorite authors so I will always look forward to reading his new releases. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep was no different. But despite my excitement and my predisposition to like anything Paul Tremblay writes, this one is probably and unfortunately my least favorite from his catalogue.
The premise and the set up at the beginning seemed promising. We follow a young woman who is assigned to accompany, or rather remote control, a man in a vegetative state with AI implanted in his head. It touches on topics such as morality and autonomy and we do get an interesting perspective from the man’s murky consciousness, lost in a hazy void. I also appreciate the references to The Pallbearers Club.
That said, my main issue with the story is how dragged out it is. There is a lot of repetition and a large part of the story was painfully boring to get through. It could have easily been cut down to a novella which would have made it a lot more impactful. I was also let down by the lack of any weirdness and ambiguity which I’ve come to expect from Paul Tremblay. The ending was also quite predictable.
Thank you to publisher William Morrow and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
The premise and the set up at the beginning seemed promising. We follow a young woman who is assigned to accompany, or rather remote control, a man in a vegetative state with AI implanted in his head. It touches on topics such as morality and autonomy and we do get an interesting perspective from the man’s murky consciousness, lost in a hazy void. I also appreciate the references to The Pallbearers Club.
That said, my main issue with the story is how dragged out it is. There is a lot of repetition and a large part of the story was painfully boring to get through. It could have easily been cut down to a novella which would have made it a lot more impactful. I was also let down by the lack of any weirdness and ambiguity which I’ve come to expect from Paul Tremblay. The ending was also quite predictable.
Thank you to publisher William Morrow and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Want to Read
October 23, 2025Nobody else could make me read sci-fi xxx
March 10, 2026
Afraid of AI? No? Well you will be after reading Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep.
I’m a huge fan of Paul Tremblay’s work and this is both his most unique novel to date and also one of his scariest, despite not being a “traditional” horror novel on the surface.
Julia, a Big Lebowski loving young woman, is tasked by her tech company mother with transporting a man she calls “Bernie” (ha ha, get it?) across the country with the goal to get him home to his family. The catch: “Bernie” is in a coma and has been implanted with AI in his brain.
This novel is told in alternating POVs, limited third person from the POV of Julia as a more traditional narrative, and You chapters that are told in 2nd person with “you” as the man implanted with AI. I especially loved these (intentionally) disorienting sections as they make the reader feel culpable with what is happening. It’s similar to how tech companies foist AI upon as against our will, whether we want it or not.
On the surface this is a sci-fi buddy road trip kind of story with lots of humor and lots of heart, which is an excellent counterbalance to the bleak horror of the AI and the implications of what is happening to Bernie and the incredible dilemma that Julia faces as she learns more about the intentions of the tech company. I think what makes this even scarier than many other tech horror or sci-fi stories is that this novel doesn’t feel far off at all in the future. It feels like the now and a major warning for what we are doing to ourselves by feeding into this terrible technology.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is Paul Tremblay at his absolute best - smart, witty, humorous, and outright scary. It is an incredibly important novel that is unfortunately way too relevant and will continue to be.
Wake us up from this nightmare.
Thank you to the author and the publisher for an ARC for review.
I’m a huge fan of Paul Tremblay’s work and this is both his most unique novel to date and also one of his scariest, despite not being a “traditional” horror novel on the surface.
Julia, a Big Lebowski loving young woman, is tasked by her tech company mother with transporting a man she calls “Bernie” (ha ha, get it?) across the country with the goal to get him home to his family. The catch: “Bernie” is in a coma and has been implanted with AI in his brain.
This novel is told in alternating POVs, limited third person from the POV of Julia as a more traditional narrative, and You chapters that are told in 2nd person with “you” as the man implanted with AI. I especially loved these (intentionally) disorienting sections as they make the reader feel culpable with what is happening. It’s similar to how tech companies foist AI upon as against our will, whether we want it or not.
On the surface this is a sci-fi buddy road trip kind of story with lots of humor and lots of heart, which is an excellent counterbalance to the bleak horror of the AI and the implications of what is happening to Bernie and the incredible dilemma that Julia faces as she learns more about the intentions of the tech company. I think what makes this even scarier than many other tech horror or sci-fi stories is that this novel doesn’t feel far off at all in the future. It feels like the now and a major warning for what we are doing to ourselves by feeding into this terrible technology.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is Paul Tremblay at his absolute best - smart, witty, humorous, and outright scary. It is an incredibly important novel that is unfortunately way too relevant and will continue to be.
Wake us up from this nightmare.
Thank you to the author and the publisher for an ARC for review.
Want to Read
May 19, 2026ARC received! Thank you so much, William Morrow.
This is easily one of my most anticipated reads of 2026 -- I cannot wait to get to it!!
This is easily one of my most anticipated reads of 2026 -- I cannot wait to get to it!!
February 21, 2026
Rounded up. Dystopian Weekend at Bernie's in an unsettling big tech hellscape. This is Paul Tremblay at his most literary.
June 16, 2026
Thank you to Libro.fm for the gifted copy - all opinions are my own.
Reading Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep feels like having a sharp and uncanny fever dream. AI could never be this inventive and clever.
Our story follows Julia, a jaded gamer living with her uncle and working two dead-end jobs. Julia’s estranged mother (and CFO of a giant tech company) offers her a job she can’t refuse; remotely controlling a brain dead man. Enter said brain dead man. Julia soon dubs him, fittingly, as “Bernie”. The two embark on an unsettling cross country journey and while “Bernie” appears asleep, he’s actually on a terrifying trip of his own.
The story is told using two POVs and dual narration styles and that worked surprisingly well for me. It was initially jarring but I soon fell in to rhythm and it became clear why it was an appropriate choice. It’s a very modern story told in a very modern way and the pieces simply…fit. As a juxtaposition to this near future nightmare, the story is littered with nostalgic pop culture references that I found wildly entertaining.
Tremblay explores many topical issues like A.I. overreach, capitalism, and corporate greed but also some quieter, more existential ones like “what makes the self”. I found myself pondering the MANY ethical implications at play in this hellacious scenario. This is a really thought-provoking piece and the more I stew on it, the more I see the nuances and intricacies at play.
I listened to the audio and I swear this story is MADE for this format. The narrating cast was superb and the sound design took things up to an entirely different level.
Overall, this is a superb story that I expect to stay with me. I recommend this to fans of gaming, bold story-telling, and intellectually stimulating stories.
Reading Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep feels like having a sharp and uncanny fever dream. AI could never be this inventive and clever.
Our story follows Julia, a jaded gamer living with her uncle and working two dead-end jobs. Julia’s estranged mother (and CFO of a giant tech company) offers her a job she can’t refuse; remotely controlling a brain dead man. Enter said brain dead man. Julia soon dubs him, fittingly, as “Bernie”. The two embark on an unsettling cross country journey and while “Bernie” appears asleep, he’s actually on a terrifying trip of his own.
The story is told using two POVs and dual narration styles and that worked surprisingly well for me. It was initially jarring but I soon fell in to rhythm and it became clear why it was an appropriate choice. It’s a very modern story told in a very modern way and the pieces simply…fit. As a juxtaposition to this near future nightmare, the story is littered with nostalgic pop culture references that I found wildly entertaining.
Tremblay explores many topical issues like A.I. overreach, capitalism, and corporate greed but also some quieter, more existential ones like “what makes the self”. I found myself pondering the MANY ethical implications at play in this hellacious scenario. This is a really thought-provoking piece and the more I stew on it, the more I see the nuances and intricacies at play.
I listened to the audio and I swear this story is MADE for this format. The narrating cast was superb and the sound design took things up to an entirely different level.
Overall, this is a superb story that I expect to stay with me. I recommend this to fans of gaming, bold story-telling, and intellectually stimulating stories.
June 22, 2026
The FMC, Julia, is a struggling 20-year-old who can’t refuse an odd job to make money. She is remotely piloting a man in a vegetative state to the East coast through a series of car and planes rides. The story is told from 2 POVs, Julia’s and someone else called “You”. Oh, I absolutely hate the mambo-jambo “You” chapters in the beginning. I’m sure all will be revealed in time but I barely can get through this nonsense. At least these chapters could have shorter.
Someone who likes reading for the sake of the literary language and vibes would enjoy this book. As for me, I’d rather read earlier Paul Tremblay’s books than this one. I really liked how fast paced and action packed some other Tremblay’s books are. But more recent ones, and this including Dead but Dreaming, are more philosophical and reflective and writing rather than plot focused.
The whole time I kept thinking that the government is definitely going to make an army of zombie soldiers with this tech. I’m surprised it took half through the book for characters even to bring up their concerns with the military applications of the tech.
The scariest scene for me was actually the story that Julia told as the most frightening moment of her life.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for sharing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own
Someone who likes reading for the sake of the literary language and vibes would enjoy this book. As for me, I’d rather read earlier Paul Tremblay’s books than this one. I really liked how fast paced and action packed some other Tremblay’s books are. But more recent ones, and this including Dead but Dreaming, are more philosophical and reflective and writing rather than plot focused.
The whole time I kept thinking that the government is definitely going to make an army of zombie soldiers with this tech. I’m surprised it took half through the book for characters even to bring up their concerns with the military applications of the tech.
The scariest scene for me was actually the story that Julia told as the most frightening moment of her life.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for sharing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own
June 13, 2026
I should caveat this review with an acknowledgement that I don’t think reading a digital review copy was the optimal experience. And that’s not to be ungrateful for receiving that particular copy - I truly appreciate getting it - but I’ve seen photos of physical copies and definitely think that printed seems to be the optimal form, as there is plenty of nice and value-adding design and formatting going on.
Anyway…
I think a lot about AI at the moment and how terrible it is, so a horror story tied into that hideous movement was always going to appeal. Throw in Tremblay’s ability to craft something layered and subtle that gnaws away at you the further you read and you’re onto a winner.
There are a couple of threads to the AI part of this that make it scary. First and most obvious is how quickly the AI learns and takes control. It’s the equivalent of Skynet becoming self aware and once that toothpaste is out of the tube there’s no going back. Tremblay captures that excellently here.
There’s also the horrible, discombobulating and chilling ‘You’ sections, where we learn just how aware of what’s happening our supposedly vegetative body Bernie is. We see the horror of his AI-implanted reality and it is nasty.
Finally, and perhaps most chilling is the willingness of everyone to participate - even our lead character, who is positioned as being morally superior, can’t resist being drawn in by the tech and feeding it. How many people do you know in your life who are willingly using AI without thinking of the consequences?
With all that darkness behind it, it’s maybe a little surprising that this book is also damned funny. The Big Lebowski is a constant reference point for the story, and it feels like something the Coen Brothers might have concocted. The dialogue is sharp and witty, and there is an acceptance of the inherent craziness of the situation…without diminishing the horror.
I also really liked some of the things Tremblay has included here to show the way to fight back against books being used to train AI - without consent from or compensation for the author. Large periods of seemingly nonsense sections, and direct intermissions from the author himself. It’s invasive and disorientating but is also a powerful statement from an author who is actively taking a stand against the AI hell hole.
The story itself is compelling. The Julia sections move at pace and are full of zip and zing. The You sections are a much slower burn for the first two thirds, but once everything clicks into place then you find yourself barrelling to the end.
An unnerving and disquieting dark comedy that lingers long after it is done, and a hugely important statement to publish in 2026.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the review copy.
Anyway…
I think a lot about AI at the moment and how terrible it is, so a horror story tied into that hideous movement was always going to appeal. Throw in Tremblay’s ability to craft something layered and subtle that gnaws away at you the further you read and you’re onto a winner.
There are a couple of threads to the AI part of this that make it scary. First and most obvious is how quickly the AI learns and takes control. It’s the equivalent of Skynet becoming self aware and once that toothpaste is out of the tube there’s no going back. Tremblay captures that excellently here.
There’s also the horrible, discombobulating and chilling ‘You’ sections, where we learn just how aware of what’s happening our supposedly vegetative body Bernie is. We see the horror of his AI-implanted reality and it is nasty.
Finally, and perhaps most chilling is the willingness of everyone to participate - even our lead character, who is positioned as being morally superior, can’t resist being drawn in by the tech and feeding it. How many people do you know in your life who are willingly using AI without thinking of the consequences?
With all that darkness behind it, it’s maybe a little surprising that this book is also damned funny. The Big Lebowski is a constant reference point for the story, and it feels like something the Coen Brothers might have concocted. The dialogue is sharp and witty, and there is an acceptance of the inherent craziness of the situation…without diminishing the horror.
I also really liked some of the things Tremblay has included here to show the way to fight back against books being used to train AI - without consent from or compensation for the author. Large periods of seemingly nonsense sections, and direct intermissions from the author himself. It’s invasive and disorientating but is also a powerful statement from an author who is actively taking a stand against the AI hell hole.
The story itself is compelling. The Julia sections move at pace and are full of zip and zing. The You sections are a much slower burn for the first two thirds, but once everything clicks into place then you find yourself barrelling to the end.
An unnerving and disquieting dark comedy that lingers long after it is done, and a hugely important statement to publish in 2026.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the review copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep follows Julia Flang who is in her twenties, lives with her uncle and works two jobs she doesn’t like. Julia isn’t close to her mother who is the CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies. Out of the blue, Julia’s mother gets in touch with Julia and invites her to a job interview and Julia gets the job. The job is to chaperone a man from California to the East Coast but the issue is he is in a vegetative state with an AI mind/chip implanted into his head. This book also follows a man who is existing in a disorienting hellscape, who cannot remember who he is and doesn’t know what he is doing.
I enjoyed this novel and I really liked following Julia as a character. This book is compelling and is very much against AI (and rightly so). This book provides some interesting ideas to think on and this book does particularly well in pondering the vegetative man and how much autonomy he has. Without giving any spoilers, there is a point in this book where Julia wonders if the vegetative man is actually alive which leads to interesting ideas about AI and how ‘real’ it actually is. The only thing I struggled with in this book was the man’s chapters as I found those difficult to read due to the disorienting nature of those chapters. I will be recommending this book and I appreciate how this shows the potential dangers of AI. This book kept me interested and I think this is one of this author’s stronger novels.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep follows Julia Flang who is in her twenties, lives with her uncle and works two jobs she doesn’t like. Julia isn’t close to her mother who is the CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies. Out of the blue, Julia’s mother gets in touch with Julia and invites her to a job interview and Julia gets the job. The job is to chaperone a man from California to the East Coast but the issue is he is in a vegetative state with an AI mind/chip implanted into his head. This book also follows a man who is existing in a disorienting hellscape, who cannot remember who he is and doesn’t know what he is doing.
I enjoyed this novel and I really liked following Julia as a character. This book is compelling and is very much against AI (and rightly so). This book provides some interesting ideas to think on and this book does particularly well in pondering the vegetative man and how much autonomy he has. Without giving any spoilers, there is a point in this book where Julia wonders if the vegetative man is actually alive which leads to interesting ideas about AI and how ‘real’ it actually is. The only thing I struggled with in this book was the man’s chapters as I found those difficult to read due to the disorienting nature of those chapters. I will be recommending this book and I appreciate how this shows the potential dangers of AI. This book kept me interested and I think this is one of this author’s stronger novels.
March 10, 2026
Actual rating: 1.5 stars
I read roughly 55% of this one and skimmed the rest. The 1.5 stars is for the idea itself - sci-fi-esque AI tech implanted in a brain-dead person's brain that's then used to control their body via a video game-like remote controller.
The writing was...awkward and told in a strange, clunky way, and often the dialogue seemed so stilted and unnatural. I thought Bernie's chapters were nonsensical and boring, and eventually I found Julia's POV to be filled with so much unnecessary detail about every little movement second-by-second. For such a popular author I thought this book would be better, but after the halfway point it really frustrated me and I wanted nothing more than to be done with it.
I read roughly 55% of this one and skimmed the rest. The 1.5 stars is for the idea itself - sci-fi-esque AI tech implanted in a brain-dead person's brain that's then used to control their body via a video game-like remote controller.
The writing was...awkward and told in a strange, clunky way, and often the dialogue seemed so stilted and unnatural. I thought Bernie's chapters were nonsensical and boring, and eventually I found Julia's POV to be filled with so much unnecessary detail about every little movement second-by-second. For such a popular author I thought this book would be better, but after the halfway point it really frustrated me and I wanted nothing more than to be done with it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2026
This is somehow the most Paul Tremblay book that ever Tremblayed (yes, it is now a verb), despite it being entirely unlike any of his other novels. Thank you to the man himself and William Morrow Books for an arc that I was able to read and honestly review ahead of its release day.
This novel is broken up into two main perspectives that alternate back and forth. One perspective follows Julia, who is an incredibly compelling character to read about, especially as the novel kicks off and she struggles with the morality of the situation she has been put in. The other perspective is written entirely in second-person POV, and "You" is a bit of a mystery (at least at the start). I think some readers will struggle with this second-person narrative, but I am a huge fan of second-person and don't think it is utilized enough in stories. Second-person was, in my opinion, the best way to tell half of this narrative. It forces the reader to be as close as possible to the horror that is occurring.
As someone who works in biotech, I struggle to even call this book science fiction due to the believability of the plot. And just because I am calling it science fiction does not mean it is not horror. I'd argue this is one of Tremblay's most horrifying books, if not the most horrifying, because of its believability. The overarching theme of this novel is the AI takeover. The novel does not hide Tremblay's stance (the correct one) on AI, and if you follow him on any social media, you already know it. I think that is where this novel differs vastly from a chunk of Tremblay's back catalog. There is no ambiguity in this novel. If anything, this novel is anti-ambiguity. The themes present a narrative that you would be hard-pressed to find a different meaning in. This does not mean the story is not nuanced, as I think Tremblay explores nuance in different ways throughout the novel, especially when following Julia.
As previously mentioned, this novel alternates between two perspectives, and this decision does wonders for the pacing. I think this is a nearly perfectly paced novel. I took it extremely slowly, annotating as I went, but I could've finished this rapidly in one setting because of how compulsively readable it was.
I can't end this review without talking about the different way the "You" chapters are comprised. I hesitate to call it a mixed-media aspect of the story, but I don't really know what else to call it. Other Tremblay novels have something fun/different within them; The Pallbearers Club has the notes in the margins, Horror Movie contains a script. This novel has a different aspect entirely, so much so that I am not sure how an ebook or audiobook version captures the experience of reading this book physically. And I think these extra/ different bits add so much to the novel and truly elevate the reading experience and the story.
I am going to end this review despite the fact that I could go on and on about this novel. This book forces people to look at the catastrophe going on around us in the world today and acknowledge that AI is, can, and will be bad for human civilization. I was filled with so many emotions while reading. I was disgusted, horrified, depressed, hopeful, confused, enlightened, and so much more. I laughed, I cried, and I cringed. I wanted to make it to the end, but I never wanted it to end. Chills ran down my spine as the last lines of this novel consumed me.
This novel is broken up into two main perspectives that alternate back and forth. One perspective follows Julia, who is an incredibly compelling character to read about, especially as the novel kicks off and she struggles with the morality of the situation she has been put in. The other perspective is written entirely in second-person POV, and "You" is a bit of a mystery (at least at the start). I think some readers will struggle with this second-person narrative, but I am a huge fan of second-person and don't think it is utilized enough in stories. Second-person was, in my opinion, the best way to tell half of this narrative. It forces the reader to be as close as possible to the horror that is occurring.
As someone who works in biotech, I struggle to even call this book science fiction due to the believability of the plot. And just because I am calling it science fiction does not mean it is not horror. I'd argue this is one of Tremblay's most horrifying books, if not the most horrifying, because of its believability. The overarching theme of this novel is the AI takeover. The novel does not hide Tremblay's stance (the correct one) on AI, and if you follow him on any social media, you already know it. I think that is where this novel differs vastly from a chunk of Tremblay's back catalog. There is no ambiguity in this novel. If anything, this novel is anti-ambiguity. The themes present a narrative that you would be hard-pressed to find a different meaning in. This does not mean the story is not nuanced, as I think Tremblay explores nuance in different ways throughout the novel, especially when following Julia.
As previously mentioned, this novel alternates between two perspectives, and this decision does wonders for the pacing. I think this is a nearly perfectly paced novel. I took it extremely slowly, annotating as I went, but I could've finished this rapidly in one setting because of how compulsively readable it was.
I can't end this review without talking about the different way the "You" chapters are comprised. I hesitate to call it a mixed-media aspect of the story, but I don't really know what else to call it. Other Tremblay novels have something fun/different within them; The Pallbearers Club has the notes in the margins, Horror Movie contains a script. This novel has a different aspect entirely, so much so that I am not sure how an ebook or audiobook version captures the experience of reading this book physically. And I think these extra/ different bits add so much to the novel and truly elevate the reading experience and the story.
I am going to end this review despite the fact that I could go on and on about this novel. This book forces people to look at the catastrophe going on around us in the world today and acknowledge that AI is, can, and will be bad for human civilization. I was filled with so many emotions while reading. I was disgusted, horrified, depressed, hopeful, confused, enlightened, and so much more. I laughed, I cried, and I cringed. I wanted to make it to the end, but I never wanted it to end. Chills ran down my spine as the last lines of this novel consumed me.
May 2, 2026
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
Got as an arc from netgalley.
Julia is a former professional online gamer who lives with her uncle. Dead end job.
She gets a call from her disappointed at her mother about an interview for a job at her company and crazy amount of money for a few days work.
She reluctantly goes to it to find out she’d be escorting via her using a sophisticated controller a “dead” man who has been connected to an AI system to make his body be controlled. Purpose is to get him to his mother for self termination.
Julia’s past skills easily gets her the position but she questions is his mind really not functioning or is he trapped not being able to communicate.
Intertwined with Julia’s sense of humor of movies, tv, and music she wants to help “Bernie”.
As the person”Bernie” his chapters are You. Him in his mind of memories old, new, and AI created to help him comply, understand Or is helping recreate himself?
Julia has to figure if this is corporate cruelty assuming Bernie/ You still has conscious thoughts.
She has to get him home regardless of reckoning from evil corporate that created him.
Tremblay as always creates a great character or two where one is returning his mind.
5⭐️
Got as an arc from netgalley.
Julia is a former professional online gamer who lives with her uncle. Dead end job.
She gets a call from her disappointed at her mother about an interview for a job at her company and crazy amount of money for a few days work.
She reluctantly goes to it to find out she’d be escorting via her using a sophisticated controller a “dead” man who has been connected to an AI system to make his body be controlled. Purpose is to get him to his mother for self termination.
Julia’s past skills easily gets her the position but she questions is his mind really not functioning or is he trapped not being able to communicate.
Intertwined with Julia’s sense of humor of movies, tv, and music she wants to help “Bernie”.
As the person”Bernie” his chapters are You. Him in his mind of memories old, new, and AI created to help him comply, understand Or is helping recreate himself?
Julia has to figure if this is corporate cruelty assuming Bernie/ You still has conscious thoughts.
She has to get him home regardless of reckoning from evil corporate that created him.
Tremblay as always creates a great character or two where one is returning his mind.
5⭐️
June 8, 2026
Technology can extremely helpful in making life easier and accomplish things faster, however there is a line that we have to figure out not to cross. In
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep
, New York Times bestselling author
Paul Tremblay
explores how far people will push the boundaries such as artificial intelligence. A thought-provoking, science-fiction, horror story that is sadly closer to real life than we should hope for.
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer, living with her retired uncle, and working two jobs she doesn’t like. Out of the blue, her estranged mother, a CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies, offers her a temp job with a payday Julia can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the job: to chaperone a man in a vegetative state—one with proprietary AI implanted in his head—from California to the East Coast.
To sum up in Julia’s own words: “You want me to remote control this dead dude across the country.” In a word, yes. But he’s not dead dead.
Meet a middle-aged man who wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. Worse than the fluid, morphing reality in which he’s trapped, he has no memory of who he is. He certainly doesn’t remember getting the rabbit tattoo on his arm. He only knows that he must find a certain person. Who? He can’t remember.
Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was—and who he must track down. And as their two lives intertwine, Julia and Bernie become unlikely allies and fugitives on a collision course with reality.
Computers and the advancement of technology has been super beneficial for the human race over the years, but we are in an age of artificial intelligence that is getting sloppier by the second. Such places at the generative spaces is unnecessary and ugly, but there is also a line we shouldn't cross when things become a little more blurry on the ethical side of things. These ethical boundaries are being pushed on a daily basis and it's this real-life horrors that make Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep hit closer to home and all that more terrifying.
Tremblay explores AI in a way that was eyeopening and horrifying. The lines that people will cross for financial, personal, and selfish gain are fading away. What makes it the most scary and sad is how people don't care as much and how normalized using AI for whatever you need or want has become. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is deeper than the surface issues with this technology and has extremely heartfelt and emotional moments I wasn't fully expecting. AI can be evil, but sometimes the technology itself is innocent enough, it's those who wield the power of AI that are even more evil.
It's not just the story itself that is fantastic with Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep, it's the way Tremblay writes this book and how it is laid out. He uses two different perspectives that can confuse you to start, but are written with such purpose. Not to mention a couple of special additions throughout that serve a purpose, but also give a little fun to the book. Tremblay crafts a story that is extremely well written, but also compiled in such a wonderful way. Reading this story was more than just enjoyment, but an overall amazing experience. Not to mention the bonus I give Tremblay for mentioning Stephen King and my great home State of Maine.
If you are someone who dabbles in the world of audiobooks I will highly recommend enjoying Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep in this format. Yes, Tremblay crafts an amazing story, but it's only amplified by the narration by Sophie Amoss, Graham Halstead, John Pirhalla & Dan Bittner. Some stories are just simply narrated and others bring an entire other level to the book, this is one of those books.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is an unsettling and surprisingly emotional, yet unsurprisingly smart exploration of technologies relationship to morality and dangers of pushing innovation too far. Paul Tremblay crafts a story that is both science-fiction and horror that feels frighteningly relevant. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a thought-provoking story that turns the real-world horrors of AI into something terrifyingly unforgettable.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep hits bookstores everywhere on June 30, 2026 from William Morrow. The audiobook is available via Libro.fm!
NOTE: We received an advance copy of Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep from the publisher. Opinions are our own.
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer, living with her retired uncle, and working two jobs she doesn’t like. Out of the blue, her estranged mother, a CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies, offers her a temp job with a payday Julia can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the job: to chaperone a man in a vegetative state—one with proprietary AI implanted in his head—from California to the East Coast.
To sum up in Julia’s own words: “You want me to remote control this dead dude across the country.” In a word, yes. But he’s not dead dead.
Meet a middle-aged man who wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. Worse than the fluid, morphing reality in which he’s trapped, he has no memory of who he is. He certainly doesn’t remember getting the rabbit tattoo on his arm. He only knows that he must find a certain person. Who? He can’t remember.
Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was—and who he must track down. And as their two lives intertwine, Julia and Bernie become unlikely allies and fugitives on a collision course with reality.
Computers and the advancement of technology has been super beneficial for the human race over the years, but we are in an age of artificial intelligence that is getting sloppier by the second. Such places at the generative spaces is unnecessary and ugly, but there is also a line we shouldn't cross when things become a little more blurry on the ethical side of things. These ethical boundaries are being pushed on a daily basis and it's this real-life horrors that make Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep hit closer to home and all that more terrifying.
Tremblay explores AI in a way that was eyeopening and horrifying. The lines that people will cross for financial, personal, and selfish gain are fading away. What makes it the most scary and sad is how people don't care as much and how normalized using AI for whatever you need or want has become. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is deeper than the surface issues with this technology and has extremely heartfelt and emotional moments I wasn't fully expecting. AI can be evil, but sometimes the technology itself is innocent enough, it's those who wield the power of AI that are even more evil.
It's not just the story itself that is fantastic with Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep, it's the way Tremblay writes this book and how it is laid out. He uses two different perspectives that can confuse you to start, but are written with such purpose. Not to mention a couple of special additions throughout that serve a purpose, but also give a little fun to the book. Tremblay crafts a story that is extremely well written, but also compiled in such a wonderful way. Reading this story was more than just enjoyment, but an overall amazing experience. Not to mention the bonus I give Tremblay for mentioning Stephen King and my great home State of Maine.
If you are someone who dabbles in the world of audiobooks I will highly recommend enjoying Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep in this format. Yes, Tremblay crafts an amazing story, but it's only amplified by the narration by Sophie Amoss, Graham Halstead, John Pirhalla & Dan Bittner. Some stories are just simply narrated and others bring an entire other level to the book, this is one of those books.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is an unsettling and surprisingly emotional, yet unsurprisingly smart exploration of technologies relationship to morality and dangers of pushing innovation too far. Paul Tremblay crafts a story that is both science-fiction and horror that feels frighteningly relevant. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a thought-provoking story that turns the real-world horrors of AI into something terrifyingly unforgettable.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep hits bookstores everywhere on June 30, 2026 from William Morrow. The audiobook is available via Libro.fm!
NOTE: We received an advance copy of Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep from the publisher. Opinions are our own.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a proof copy.
My rating: 2.5 ⭐️
I want to preface this by saying I am so behind what this book is about, and I do think especially in this day and age with all the shit surrounding AI and tech in general, we need more books like this.
This book follows two main POVs, a woman who has just got a job with a tech company for her great controller skills (she’s a gamer) & the fact her mum is high up in the company. Second POV is a little more complicated - it’s essentially the robot she is controlling (POV labelled “you”). She is tasked by the company to move this robot from one place to another, but there’s a catch - the robot is actually a real persons body with an ai consciousness. The book is influenced by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and is a commentary on how our society is changing and what determines consciousness. There’s a lot to unpack in it to be honest, which I don’t think I can even begin to do, or add any value to. I did think the concept sounded amazing, but I think I learned some things while reading this personally.
The execution of this book felt very empty and disjointed to me, which is kind of the point, but I’ve realised that I need a book with characters I either love or hate. These characters I just felt indifferent towards.
I am disappointed, as I am a massive Paul Tremblay fan and I loved his other books like Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts. This felt very different, so just bear that in mind. I do think if you like books which focus on detail and puzzles this could be for you. I am not blind to the fact that a lot of elements of this book probably went over my head. The format of this book played a big part in the “you” character. Plus, it probably doesn’t help that our main character has a huge obsession with The Big Lebowski, which I’ve probably only seen once in my life and forgotten most of.
I think I’m a reader that relies heavily on evoking some sort of emotional response in my reading, which I didn’t get here. I guess the whole concept of the way the world is going with AI and this sort of subject is very scary, and while it does make me angry, it’s one that I also just feel numb towards at the same time because we are living through it right now. That combined with the writing style intentionally leaning into this robotic, technical tone was where the book fell short for me.
Paul Tremblay has a very intellectual style of writing which leans heavily into the subject matter and plot in general. With Horror Movie, this worked for me because it was obviously leaning into the artsy way of making movies and criticising/satirising that world. The writing was descriptive and pretentious and I lapped it up. With this, it was written in such a technical way, leaning into tech companies and AI, that I appreciated what he was doing but I just could not enjoy my experience reading it.
It was also written like a satire but I didn’t enjoy it because I already know just how empty and grey these people can be anyway - lacking conscious morals, treating everything as transactional and cold, treating people with as little care as possible. These criticisms of AI and tech companies aren’t funny to me, they are just sad. If you’ve watched the Louis Theroux manosphere documentary, I felt similarly towards that. As Louis approaches his interviews in quite a satirical way, taking the piss out of people who quite literally play this game in real life and see everything as transactional and lacking any sort of conscious or emotional integrity was not something I enjoyed or gained much from.
This does reach a resolution at the end which is quite cleverly executed. Ultimately, this books topic is very interesting, but did I enjoy my experience reading it? No.
I do think it does a good job at pinning human consciousness against artificial consciousness, there were definitely parts of this book I enjoyed and parts I quite frankly hated.
It could have worked better for me as a shorter book. I really enjoyed the first 100 pages or so, but then the middle became mundane, repetitive, and just a slog with all the technical elements.
My rating: 2.5 ⭐️
I want to preface this by saying I am so behind what this book is about, and I do think especially in this day and age with all the shit surrounding AI and tech in general, we need more books like this.
This book follows two main POVs, a woman who has just got a job with a tech company for her great controller skills (she’s a gamer) & the fact her mum is high up in the company. Second POV is a little more complicated - it’s essentially the robot she is controlling (POV labelled “you”). She is tasked by the company to move this robot from one place to another, but there’s a catch - the robot is actually a real persons body with an ai consciousness. The book is influenced by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and is a commentary on how our society is changing and what determines consciousness. There’s a lot to unpack in it to be honest, which I don’t think I can even begin to do, or add any value to. I did think the concept sounded amazing, but I think I learned some things while reading this personally.
The execution of this book felt very empty and disjointed to me, which is kind of the point, but I’ve realised that I need a book with characters I either love or hate. These characters I just felt indifferent towards.
I am disappointed, as I am a massive Paul Tremblay fan and I loved his other books like Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts. This felt very different, so just bear that in mind. I do think if you like books which focus on detail and puzzles this could be for you. I am not blind to the fact that a lot of elements of this book probably went over my head. The format of this book played a big part in the “you” character. Plus, it probably doesn’t help that our main character has a huge obsession with The Big Lebowski, which I’ve probably only seen once in my life and forgotten most of.
I think I’m a reader that relies heavily on evoking some sort of emotional response in my reading, which I didn’t get here. I guess the whole concept of the way the world is going with AI and this sort of subject is very scary, and while it does make me angry, it’s one that I also just feel numb towards at the same time because we are living through it right now. That combined with the writing style intentionally leaning into this robotic, technical tone was where the book fell short for me.
Paul Tremblay has a very intellectual style of writing which leans heavily into the subject matter and plot in general. With Horror Movie, this worked for me because it was obviously leaning into the artsy way of making movies and criticising/satirising that world. The writing was descriptive and pretentious and I lapped it up. With this, it was written in such a technical way, leaning into tech companies and AI, that I appreciated what he was doing but I just could not enjoy my experience reading it.
It was also written like a satire but I didn’t enjoy it because I already know just how empty and grey these people can be anyway - lacking conscious morals, treating everything as transactional and cold, treating people with as little care as possible. These criticisms of AI and tech companies aren’t funny to me, they are just sad. If you’ve watched the Louis Theroux manosphere documentary, I felt similarly towards that. As Louis approaches his interviews in quite a satirical way, taking the piss out of people who quite literally play this game in real life and see everything as transactional and lacking any sort of conscious or emotional integrity was not something I enjoyed or gained much from.
This does reach a resolution at the end which is quite cleverly executed. Ultimately, this books topic is very interesting, but did I enjoy my experience reading it? No.
I do think it does a good job at pinning human consciousness against artificial consciousness, there were definitely parts of this book I enjoyed and parts I quite frankly hated.
It could have worked better for me as a shorter book. I really enjoyed the first 100 pages or so, but then the middle became mundane, repetitive, and just a slog with all the technical elements.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Anyone familiar with the work of Paul Tremblay will know that when he is on form in such novels as ‘Head Full Of Ghosts’ and ‘Survivor Song’ he is one of the very best writers working in the horror genre today.
It is on this basis that I was absolutely delighted to be given an advance copy of his new work prior to its publication in June.
All I really knew about the new book was that this work was to tackle AI through the genre lens and this together with the Philip K dick referencing title had me intrigued.
The story, such as it is concerns a young woman named Julia who is clearly lost in life following the traumatic death of her beloved Father. Directionless & aimless both professionally and personally she now lives with her uncle owing to a complicated relationship with her narcissistic mother Janice.
Inexplicably, It turns out that Janice just happens to be the Finance Director of a huge tech firm and offers her daughter some short term work at the firm that will be so well paid that she will even get $5,000 for just attending the interview.
Inevitably Julia gets the job which involves escorting a man across the country to be reunited with his mother. The catch here being that the man is in a vegetative state following a stroke and has had AI implanted in his brain to allow his body to be remote controlled which is where Julia’s particular skill set comes in as it turns out she has been something of a semi-professional gamer in her time.
The true identity of this man is kept from Julia but given the nature of the assignment she christens him Bernie in reference to the eighties cult film ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ whose plot I won’t explain here but suffice to say it would appear that this whole novel drew its inspiration from this cult comedy.
Whilst reading this book I felt the pull of nostalgia and googled ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ reviews which led me to the legendary film critc Roger Ebert who stated ‘“Weekend at Bernie’s” makes two mistakes: It gives us a joke that isn’t very funny, and it expects the joke to carry an entire movie.’
I mention this only because when reviewing this novel this quote actually makes a very salient point in that this premise is indeed not enough to carry an entire novel as the synopsis is exactly what you get nothing more and nothing less.
It is even queried by a character as to what the point of all this technology is when ‘Bernie’ could just as easily be ferried around in a wheelchair ! What is the point indeed !
The point is ultimately and mercifully revealed in an ending that is no doubt designed to be polarising and I must confess that when I first read it I felt both cheated and angry but as the days passed I realised that not only could I not stop thinking about the ending but that those feelings of anger and betrayal were exactly the point.
The book reads as though it was a first draft and one in desperate need of a second. In fact, I personally felt that it read more like a writing exercise than a fully realised novel. I say this because we even get two interchapters from the novelist one of which is a comment on the writers’ process telling us that it takes up to two years to write a novel and the other interchapter seems to toy with our narrative expectations.
The main narrative driving the novel is a third person one from Julia’s perspective but we also have a first person narrative from Bernie’s perspective which seems to serve no other purpose that to highlight the fact that he is not as brain dead as we are led to believe and that there is a real person in there.
The problem is that ultimately, we don’t really care and I found myself skimming these pages as they seemed to serve little or no narrative purpose.
All in all this was a fascinating exercise but one that doesn’t even come close to his very best efforts.
It is on this basis that I was absolutely delighted to be given an advance copy of his new work prior to its publication in June.
All I really knew about the new book was that this work was to tackle AI through the genre lens and this together with the Philip K dick referencing title had me intrigued.
The story, such as it is concerns a young woman named Julia who is clearly lost in life following the traumatic death of her beloved Father. Directionless & aimless both professionally and personally she now lives with her uncle owing to a complicated relationship with her narcissistic mother Janice.
Inexplicably, It turns out that Janice just happens to be the Finance Director of a huge tech firm and offers her daughter some short term work at the firm that will be so well paid that she will even get $5,000 for just attending the interview.
Inevitably Julia gets the job which involves escorting a man across the country to be reunited with his mother. The catch here being that the man is in a vegetative state following a stroke and has had AI implanted in his brain to allow his body to be remote controlled which is where Julia’s particular skill set comes in as it turns out she has been something of a semi-professional gamer in her time.
The true identity of this man is kept from Julia but given the nature of the assignment she christens him Bernie in reference to the eighties cult film ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ whose plot I won’t explain here but suffice to say it would appear that this whole novel drew its inspiration from this cult comedy.
Whilst reading this book I felt the pull of nostalgia and googled ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ reviews which led me to the legendary film critc Roger Ebert who stated ‘“Weekend at Bernie’s” makes two mistakes: It gives us a joke that isn’t very funny, and it expects the joke to carry an entire movie.’
I mention this only because when reviewing this novel this quote actually makes a very salient point in that this premise is indeed not enough to carry an entire novel as the synopsis is exactly what you get nothing more and nothing less.
It is even queried by a character as to what the point of all this technology is when ‘Bernie’ could just as easily be ferried around in a wheelchair ! What is the point indeed !
The point is ultimately and mercifully revealed in an ending that is no doubt designed to be polarising and I must confess that when I first read it I felt both cheated and angry but as the days passed I realised that not only could I not stop thinking about the ending but that those feelings of anger and betrayal were exactly the point.
The book reads as though it was a first draft and one in desperate need of a second. In fact, I personally felt that it read more like a writing exercise than a fully realised novel. I say this because we even get two interchapters from the novelist one of which is a comment on the writers’ process telling us that it takes up to two years to write a novel and the other interchapter seems to toy with our narrative expectations.
The main narrative driving the novel is a third person one from Julia’s perspective but we also have a first person narrative from Bernie’s perspective which seems to serve no other purpose that to highlight the fact that he is not as brain dead as we are led to believe and that there is a real person in there.
The problem is that ultimately, we don’t really care and I found myself skimming these pages as they seemed to serve little or no narrative purpose.
All in all this was a fascinating exercise but one that doesn’t even come close to his very best efforts.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A sci-fi horror critique of AI written by one of my favorite authors? This was easily my most anticipated read of the year and I had high hopes it would be a five star. Maybe it's my fault for having such high expectations, but alas, here we are anyway.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep throws you right into the story with a chapter ominously titled “you” and detailing a very disorienting scene through the perspective of someone who cannot remember who they are, where they are, how they are, when they are…you get the idea. Then, we flip to Julia’s chapter, who we learn is going to be our main character throughout the story. She is living with her uncle, spends her days quoting her comfort movie, The Big Lebowski, and works multiple jobs to stay afloat despite the fact that her mother is the wealthy CFO of a huge tech company. When her mother calls with a crazy job offer seemingly too good to be true (they’re paying $5,000 just for someone to show up to the interview!) Julia decides, after some deliberation, to take her up on the offer. However, when she learns that the job is transporting a brain dead man across states via a video game-esque controller, Julia starts to wonder if all the money in the world is really worth what she is about to do.
It is clear that Tremblay set out to write this novel as one giant f*ck you, hate letter to AI models and their creators. Maybe the plot of the book seems a little farfetched at first, but the more you read, the more you may find yourself wondering…is it really that far off from the world we currently live in and the way this tech is rapidly evolving? The dread and existential horror comes across perfectly. While I agree with the sentiment and think the message was delivered excellently, my main issues with this came from the actual execution of the book.
I loved the set-up, but with the intentionally vague and confusing chapters between Julia’s story, the middle of the novel was a struggle for me to get through. Things were a bit repetitive and the pacing was very slow. Which I will acknowledge is ironic since Tremblay calls attention to this at one point and discusses the constantly decreasing attention spans in society and the way it has become difficult for many people to sit in contemplation for long periods of time. I understand, and I agree, but man, I really had to push myself to get through the middle section 😅
Some of that may be due to personal preference though, as I am not usually a fan of dream sequences in books and that is what I felt like I was reading a lot of the time. Anyway, I am glad I persevered because around the 70% mark, it really hooked me and I was thoroughly invested during that last 30%. I love the way Julia’s and the *mystery man’s* stories intertwined as they kind of have to work together to each individually make it out of the fucked up mess they somehow got themselves into.
The very end of the story is left open, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I became so invested in both characters and I feel like I didn’t get the closure I wanted in Julia’s case. One of my favorite aspects was Julia’s endearing relationship with her uncle, and I wish we came back around to that one final time at the end.
If you are looking for a sci-fi horror genre blend that plays into the fear and anxiety many of us have regarding the future of our world in the age of AI, this might be one I recommend picking up. Especially if you like a bit of mystery and a fever dream quality in your books! 🐑🤖
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with an electronic copy of this book to review.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep throws you right into the story with a chapter ominously titled “you” and detailing a very disorienting scene through the perspective of someone who cannot remember who they are, where they are, how they are, when they are…you get the idea. Then, we flip to Julia’s chapter, who we learn is going to be our main character throughout the story. She is living with her uncle, spends her days quoting her comfort movie, The Big Lebowski, and works multiple jobs to stay afloat despite the fact that her mother is the wealthy CFO of a huge tech company. When her mother calls with a crazy job offer seemingly too good to be true (they’re paying $5,000 just for someone to show up to the interview!) Julia decides, after some deliberation, to take her up on the offer. However, when she learns that the job is transporting a brain dead man across states via a video game-esque controller, Julia starts to wonder if all the money in the world is really worth what she is about to do.
It is clear that Tremblay set out to write this novel as one giant f*ck you, hate letter to AI models and their creators. Maybe the plot of the book seems a little farfetched at first, but the more you read, the more you may find yourself wondering…is it really that far off from the world we currently live in and the way this tech is rapidly evolving? The dread and existential horror comes across perfectly. While I agree with the sentiment and think the message was delivered excellently, my main issues with this came from the actual execution of the book.
I loved the set-up, but with the intentionally vague and confusing chapters between Julia’s story, the middle of the novel was a struggle for me to get through. Things were a bit repetitive and the pacing was very slow. Which I will acknowledge is ironic since Tremblay calls attention to this at one point and discusses the constantly decreasing attention spans in society and the way it has become difficult for many people to sit in contemplation for long periods of time. I understand, and I agree, but man, I really had to push myself to get through the middle section 😅
Some of that may be due to personal preference though, as I am not usually a fan of dream sequences in books and that is what I felt like I was reading a lot of the time. Anyway, I am glad I persevered because around the 70% mark, it really hooked me and I was thoroughly invested during that last 30%. I love the way Julia’s and the *mystery man’s* stories intertwined as they kind of have to work together to each individually make it out of the fucked up mess they somehow got themselves into.
The very end of the story is left open, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I became so invested in both characters and I feel like I didn’t get the closure I wanted in Julia’s case. One of my favorite aspects was Julia’s endearing relationship with her uncle, and I wish we came back around to that one final time at the end.
If you are looking for a sci-fi horror genre blend that plays into the fear and anxiety many of us have regarding the future of our world in the age of AI, this might be one I recommend picking up. Especially if you like a bit of mystery and a fever dream quality in your books! 🐑🤖
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with an electronic copy of this book to review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advance copy of this new novel set about twenty minutes in the future, a book about technology, how humans are just things to corporations, and not of importance, a book about family, and the new afterlife that might be possible, where even death is something that can be monetized.
I work I was discussing books with a customer who told me what she had been reading and how she wanted something new and different. I asked her thoughts on genre literature, but when I mentioned horror she held up her phone and said, this gives me enough horror everyday. I had not started this book yet, so I was unable to tell her about the dark future that was coming, at least according to the author of this book. A book set in a time not that far from now, where ethics are something that the AI that does public relations tries to fit into buzz lines, but otherwise ignored. About the dead not allowed to rest, but sent through airports and car rental places, controlled by phones. A future only a skilled master of horror could detail. Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay is about corporations, family, life and death, and about being trapped in one's body, knowing that something must be done, but having no idea how to do so.
The book starts in chaos, with mad visions, and dreams, a conscious coming to life, or returning to life. Told in a distant way, but one that speaks to the horror that being lost in one's self can be like. Readers then meet Julia Flang, a young woman lost in the world, missing her deceased father with a gift for playing video games, and a knowledge of pop culture. Both which will help her in her future endeavors. Julia has a rich and powerful Mother, one who not just helicopter her parenting, more space shuttled it. Which surprises Julia when her mother offers Julia a large amount of money to go on an interview, for a job that seems perfect for her. Julia is hired to accompany a man across the country, through busy airports, and security, to a destination to be reveled. The thing is the man is functionally dead, Julia, using a remote control, will handle all of his motions. Julia and Bernie, a name Julia comes up with set off on a trip, one fraught with problems. Bernie is dead, or maybe not, filled with visions and thoughts that something has to be done, but no idea how to do so.
A dark book, but one I am sure that we are going to be reading about on social media within a year or two. There is so much that seems of now, the disconnect between right and wrong, the way people are treated, the way we shunt problem people aside. Even the way that family treats those they consider members not living up to their proper ideals. The book is broken into two points of view, and both are handled well. Julia is good character with a lot more going on than her attitude shows, a character that shows growth and even more resilience. Bernie's tale is told in a different kind of way, one that might challenge readers, but one that ultimately rewards.
Tremblay is a really good writer, with lots of ideas, and the ability to make even the oddest ideas, and oddest dialogue work. A writer who is always trying something new, never content to ride on old ideas. A scary look at what might be, and how we as a society are allowing ourselves to be treated. A good story, a bit of a warning, and maybe a call to arms.
I work I was discussing books with a customer who told me what she had been reading and how she wanted something new and different. I asked her thoughts on genre literature, but when I mentioned horror she held up her phone and said, this gives me enough horror everyday. I had not started this book yet, so I was unable to tell her about the dark future that was coming, at least according to the author of this book. A book set in a time not that far from now, where ethics are something that the AI that does public relations tries to fit into buzz lines, but otherwise ignored. About the dead not allowed to rest, but sent through airports and car rental places, controlled by phones. A future only a skilled master of horror could detail. Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay is about corporations, family, life and death, and about being trapped in one's body, knowing that something must be done, but having no idea how to do so.
The book starts in chaos, with mad visions, and dreams, a conscious coming to life, or returning to life. Told in a distant way, but one that speaks to the horror that being lost in one's self can be like. Readers then meet Julia Flang, a young woman lost in the world, missing her deceased father with a gift for playing video games, and a knowledge of pop culture. Both which will help her in her future endeavors. Julia has a rich and powerful Mother, one who not just helicopter her parenting, more space shuttled it. Which surprises Julia when her mother offers Julia a large amount of money to go on an interview, for a job that seems perfect for her. Julia is hired to accompany a man across the country, through busy airports, and security, to a destination to be reveled. The thing is the man is functionally dead, Julia, using a remote control, will handle all of his motions. Julia and Bernie, a name Julia comes up with set off on a trip, one fraught with problems. Bernie is dead, or maybe not, filled with visions and thoughts that something has to be done, but no idea how to do so.
A dark book, but one I am sure that we are going to be reading about on social media within a year or two. There is so much that seems of now, the disconnect between right and wrong, the way people are treated, the way we shunt problem people aside. Even the way that family treats those they consider members not living up to their proper ideals. The book is broken into two points of view, and both are handled well. Julia is good character with a lot more going on than her attitude shows, a character that shows growth and even more resilience. Bernie's tale is told in a different kind of way, one that might challenge readers, but one that ultimately rewards.
Tremblay is a really good writer, with lots of ideas, and the ability to make even the oddest ideas, and oddest dialogue work. A writer who is always trying something new, never content to ride on old ideas. A scary look at what might be, and how we as a society are allowing ourselves to be treated. A good story, a bit of a warning, and maybe a call to arms.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
As other reviews of mine indicate, I'm not the biggest Paul Tremblay fan. I know a lot of folks (personally and otherwise) who love him, and his books keep getting nominated for and/or winning awards though, so I keep trying in hopes I'll find one where I will go 'Oh, I *get* it now!'. There are still a couple of award winners I'll give a shot after this, but ultimately, 'Dead But Dreaming...' isn't that book for me. That being said, I think if you're already a Tremblay fan, I think will tick a lot of the same boxes that you've enjoyed before, and I think aspects of it are going to appeal to a broad audience.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is the story of gamer and aspiring film industry person Julia, hired by her mother's evil tech firm company to help move some highly secret and dangerous tech as well as a body across the country. Antics terrible and sometimes funny ensue, with a fairly predictable 'twist' ending. There's a subplot involving people that work for the company trying to undermine it, associated with an internet journalist and somehow Julia's friend and coworker at a part time restaurant job (who we otherwise have no reason to believe is involved in politics, tech, advocacy, or protest). The plot is...thin...and stretches credulity in a lot of ways, not least regarding the reasons for Julia's hiring (I get it, we're told its nepotism, repeatedly), and I think there was probably a more believable way to get there. Julia herself is at times going to serve as mouthpiece for Tremblay's encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture and movies specifically. The constant referencing, especially constant quoting of Big Lebowski, gets pretty irritating and feels pretty unrealistic. I *did* really enjoy the exploration of family dynamics and relationships around Julia, and thought Uncle Fun was particularly well done and interesting.
Despite that, the portions of the book centered Julia are definitely the better parts. Those familiar with Tremblay will see a familiar structure, where we're alternating between a couple POVs. The sections 'You' sections, while necessary for the underlying plot, are probably too abstract, too experimental in structure, and ultimately, far too long. They also break up the main narrative in a pretty disruptive way. I think they could've been both shortened and combined, maybe into a final quarter of the book. I suppose a lot of abstractness is necessary for the horror, but the sort of false or simulated version of what 'You' is seeing are ultimately pointless and meaningless.
I think length overall is a problem. I think the 24-36 hour story could've been condensed in length considerably, given how much of that time we're glossing over anyway. The ending is abrupt, predictable, and while I one hundred percent agree with AI being bad, this was kind of a blunt instrument to deliver that message.
I have to say that, the title itself left me feeling mislead. 'Dead but Dreaming' is clearly a Lovecraft reference, but there's Lovecraftian or even elder gods-ish about the story (I suppose you could view the ending as a birth of an elder god of sorts, but that feels like reaching). The 'Electric Sheep' is clearly a PKD reference, and the story delivers a little better on that front.
Overall, if you like Tremblay, you're going to like this. I'm not sure that its a great entry point otherwise.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is the story of gamer and aspiring film industry person Julia, hired by her mother's evil tech firm company to help move some highly secret and dangerous tech as well as a body across the country. Antics terrible and sometimes funny ensue, with a fairly predictable 'twist' ending. There's a subplot involving people that work for the company trying to undermine it, associated with an internet journalist and somehow Julia's friend and coworker at a part time restaurant job (who we otherwise have no reason to believe is involved in politics, tech, advocacy, or protest). The plot is...thin...and stretches credulity in a lot of ways, not least regarding the reasons for Julia's hiring (I get it, we're told its nepotism, repeatedly), and I think there was probably a more believable way to get there. Julia herself is at times going to serve as mouthpiece for Tremblay's encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture and movies specifically. The constant referencing, especially constant quoting of Big Lebowski, gets pretty irritating and feels pretty unrealistic. I *did* really enjoy the exploration of family dynamics and relationships around Julia, and thought Uncle Fun was particularly well done and interesting.
Despite that, the portions of the book centered Julia are definitely the better parts. Those familiar with Tremblay will see a familiar structure, where we're alternating between a couple POVs. The sections 'You' sections, while necessary for the underlying plot, are probably too abstract, too experimental in structure, and ultimately, far too long. They also break up the main narrative in a pretty disruptive way. I think they could've been both shortened and combined, maybe into a final quarter of the book. I suppose a lot of abstractness is necessary for the horror, but the sort of false or simulated version of what 'You' is seeing are ultimately pointless and meaningless.
I think length overall is a problem. I think the 24-36 hour story could've been condensed in length considerably, given how much of that time we're glossing over anyway. The ending is abrupt, predictable, and while I one hundred percent agree with AI being bad, this was kind of a blunt instrument to deliver that message.
I have to say that, the title itself left me feeling mislead. 'Dead but Dreaming' is clearly a Lovecraft reference, but there's Lovecraftian or even elder gods-ish about the story (I suppose you could view the ending as a birth of an elder god of sorts, but that feels like reaching). The 'Electric Sheep' is clearly a PKD reference, and the story delivers a little better on that front.
Overall, if you like Tremblay, you're going to like this. I'm not sure that its a great entry point otherwise.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
📚🤖💀 Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
Thank you to William Morrow for the ARC! 💛
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.5 stars
This book made me laugh, made me uncomfortable, and then made me stare into the void thinking about AI. 😭🤖
Which is honestly exactly what I expect from Paul Tremblay.
Julia is a former semi-pro gamer working jobs she hates when her estranged mother offers her a suspiciously well-paying temporary job. The assignment? Use a controller to remotely operate a man in a vegetative state while transporting him across the country.
Yes. Really.
Meanwhile, the man Julia nicknames "Bernie" is trapped inside a surreal nightmare landscape with no memory of who he is, where he is, or why he feels compelled to find someone before it's too late.
And somehow this becomes one of the weirdest, funniest, saddest, and most unsettling road trips I've ever read.
😳💀🎮
The concept alone hooked me immediately. It feels like something straight out of a fever dream created by Philip K. Dick after spending too much time doomscrolling about artificial intelligence.
What really worked for me was Julia. She's sarcastic, messy, relatable, and trying her best in a situation that gets more horrifying the longer she thinks about it. I loved following her perspective and watching her slowly realize just how many ethical lines this tech company is crossing.
And Bernie? Oof.
His chapters are bizarre, disorienting, and often heartbreaking. You're trapped inside this fractured reality alongside him, trying to piece together who he was while everything around him seems to be falling apart.
I'll admit those sections were sometimes difficult to read because they're intentionally confusing. But that's also what makes them so effective. You're supposed to feel lost.
This book asks some genuinely terrifying questions:
🤖 What makes someone alive?
🤖 Can consciousness be copied?
🤖 Where does humanity end and technology begin?
🤖 How much control should corporations have over our bodies?
And the answers are... not comforting. 😅
What I loved:
🎮 Julia's voice and humor
🤖 The creepy AI concepts
💀 The emotional connection between Julia and Bernie
🛣️ The bizarre cross-country adventure
😱 The existential horror
😂 The surprisingly funny moments
What didn't fully work for me:
📖 Bernie's sections could occasionally feel a little too disorienting
📖 Some readers may find the pacing uneven
📖 It isn't as outright scary as some of Tremblay's previous horror novels
Overall, Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is smart, strange, funny, heartbreaking, and deeply unsettling. It's science fiction horror that feels a little too plausible for comfort, which somehow makes it even scarier.
If you enjoy AI horror, weird speculative fiction, morally questionable tech companies, and stories that leave you questioning reality long after you finish, this one is absolutely worth picking up.
Now excuse me while I go unplug every device in my house. 🤖💀📱
Thank you to William Morrow for the ARC! 💛
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.5 stars
This book made me laugh, made me uncomfortable, and then made me stare into the void thinking about AI. 😭🤖
Which is honestly exactly what I expect from Paul Tremblay.
Julia is a former semi-pro gamer working jobs she hates when her estranged mother offers her a suspiciously well-paying temporary job. The assignment? Use a controller to remotely operate a man in a vegetative state while transporting him across the country.
Yes. Really.
Meanwhile, the man Julia nicknames "Bernie" is trapped inside a surreal nightmare landscape with no memory of who he is, where he is, or why he feels compelled to find someone before it's too late.
And somehow this becomes one of the weirdest, funniest, saddest, and most unsettling road trips I've ever read.
😳💀🎮
The concept alone hooked me immediately. It feels like something straight out of a fever dream created by Philip K. Dick after spending too much time doomscrolling about artificial intelligence.
What really worked for me was Julia. She's sarcastic, messy, relatable, and trying her best in a situation that gets more horrifying the longer she thinks about it. I loved following her perspective and watching her slowly realize just how many ethical lines this tech company is crossing.
And Bernie? Oof.
His chapters are bizarre, disorienting, and often heartbreaking. You're trapped inside this fractured reality alongside him, trying to piece together who he was while everything around him seems to be falling apart.
I'll admit those sections were sometimes difficult to read because they're intentionally confusing. But that's also what makes them so effective. You're supposed to feel lost.
This book asks some genuinely terrifying questions:
🤖 What makes someone alive?
🤖 Can consciousness be copied?
🤖 Where does humanity end and technology begin?
🤖 How much control should corporations have over our bodies?
And the answers are... not comforting. 😅
What I loved:
🎮 Julia's voice and humor
🤖 The creepy AI concepts
💀 The emotional connection between Julia and Bernie
🛣️ The bizarre cross-country adventure
😱 The existential horror
😂 The surprisingly funny moments
What didn't fully work for me:
📖 Bernie's sections could occasionally feel a little too disorienting
📖 Some readers may find the pacing uneven
📖 It isn't as outright scary as some of Tremblay's previous horror novels
Overall, Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is smart, strange, funny, heartbreaking, and deeply unsettling. It's science fiction horror that feels a little too plausible for comfort, which somehow makes it even scarier.
If you enjoy AI horror, weird speculative fiction, morally questionable tech companies, and stories that leave you questioning reality long after you finish, this one is absolutely worth picking up.
Now excuse me while I go unplug every device in my house. 🤖💀📱
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a new novel by horror author Paul Tremblay, in which a former gaming streamer has to control an AI-powered man in a vegetative state on behalf of a huge tech company. Julia lives with her uncle doing dead-end jobs when her estranged mother gets in touch with the offer of a job interview at the tech company she is CFO for. The job is to use her gaming skills to navigate a man across the country, but Julia is suspicious around the company's intentions. At the same time, a man is waking up in a dreamscape, unable to remember who he is.
The title of this book really gives away quite a lot about it: a modern spin on Philip K. Dick's classic novel that explores AI in a very forthright way. It is very near-future sci-fi with tech that feels almost real and a lot of contemporary references to imply it is basically happening right now. The narrative is told alternately by focusing on Julia, whose story is most easily summarised as an episode of Black Mirror in the way it unfolds and escalates, and also from the perspective of the man waking up in a confusing unreality without most of his memories. The latter part can be quite difficult to get into because it cuts back to the straightforwardly-written Julia narrative just as you're getting into the style, which highlights the confusion that the man is facing.
Unfortunately, I found the book difficult to get into and occasionally a bit tiresome to read. The writing style is darkly comic, but I found it often verging on cringeworthy in the way that it references modern trends or very heavy-handedly makes references to current tech issues. I wanted more depth from the characters to build more of a sense of individual horror, as I felt like any horror element relied too much on the existential concepts around what tech companies are doing or might do with AI, and not enough on what was actually happening in the book (which is something that I feel that good Black Mirror episodes do well, combining the existential side with real, human horror). As someone who engages a fair bit with books and other media about Big Tech (and generative AI specifically), I perhaps am not the target audience for this novel, as nothing felt particularly new or shocking, and the purposeful lack of subtlety in the book's AI themes just felt a bit basic to me.
I think that plenty of people will get a lot from this book, especially those looking for something in the 'AI-is-evil satirical sci-fi' realm. For me, I was hoping for something a bit deeper and more complex, and, if I'm honest, something that made a bit more of the 'horror' side of things, as technology horror is fascinating. Sadly, this wasn't one for me, even though it sounded like it could be.
The title of this book really gives away quite a lot about it: a modern spin on Philip K. Dick's classic novel that explores AI in a very forthright way. It is very near-future sci-fi with tech that feels almost real and a lot of contemporary references to imply it is basically happening right now. The narrative is told alternately by focusing on Julia, whose story is most easily summarised as an episode of Black Mirror in the way it unfolds and escalates, and also from the perspective of the man waking up in a confusing unreality without most of his memories. The latter part can be quite difficult to get into because it cuts back to the straightforwardly-written Julia narrative just as you're getting into the style, which highlights the confusion that the man is facing.
Unfortunately, I found the book difficult to get into and occasionally a bit tiresome to read. The writing style is darkly comic, but I found it often verging on cringeworthy in the way that it references modern trends or very heavy-handedly makes references to current tech issues. I wanted more depth from the characters to build more of a sense of individual horror, as I felt like any horror element relied too much on the existential concepts around what tech companies are doing or might do with AI, and not enough on what was actually happening in the book (which is something that I feel that good Black Mirror episodes do well, combining the existential side with real, human horror). As someone who engages a fair bit with books and other media about Big Tech (and generative AI specifically), I perhaps am not the target audience for this novel, as nothing felt particularly new or shocking, and the purposeful lack of subtlety in the book's AI themes just felt a bit basic to me.
I think that plenty of people will get a lot from this book, especially those looking for something in the 'AI-is-evil satirical sci-fi' realm. For me, I was hoping for something a bit deeper and more complex, and, if I'm honest, something that made a bit more of the 'horror' side of things, as technology horror is fascinating. Sadly, this wasn't one for me, even though it sounded like it could be.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
*ARC received from Netgalley*
I went into Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep a bit cautiously. I’ve read Paul Tremblay before, and A Head Full of Ghosts is genuinely one of my favourite books of all time, but if I’m honest, some of his more recent work (looking at you, Horror Movie) hasn’t quite hit the same mark for me, so I was a little apprehensive going into this one. Thankfully, this felt like a step back in the right direction.
This is definitely a strange, slightly unsettling read, but in a way I really appreciated. The concept alone is enough to make you pause: AI implanted into a human body, being controlled remotely, blurring the line between consciousness and control. It sounds far-fetched at first, but the way it’s written makes it feel just close enough to reality to be properly eerie. That quiet, creeping discomfort is where Tremblay really shines.
There were parts of this I genuinely loved. The shifting perspectives added to that disorienting, dreamlike feel, and I found myself really pulled in during certain sections, especially when things started to unravel and reality became a bit slippery. It’s one of those books where you don’t always fully understand what’s happening, but you feel it, which I think is very intentional.
That said, it wasn’t a completely smooth ride for me. Some sections dragged a little, and I found my attention dipping here and there. The pacing felt uneven, I’d go from being completely hooked to having to push myself through a few chapters. I think that’s where it lost that extra star for me.
And then there’s the ending… which, unfortunately, felt far too sudden. After everything the story builds, I really wanted just a bit more time at the end. Not a full explanation or everything neatly tied up, but something to sit with - an extra chapter, an extra hour, just a little more space to process what had happened. Instead, it cuts off quite abruptly, and I was left feeling like I’d missed that final bit. I know ambiguity is very much Tremblay’s style, and sometimes it works brilliantly, but here it just felt a bit too sharp of an ending.
Overall though, I did enjoy it. It’s different, unsettling, and thought-provoking in a way that sticks with you, even if not every part lands perfectly. It felt closer in spirit to what I love about Tremblay, even if it doesn’t quite reach those same heights.
So, three stars. A clever, eerie concept with some genuinely gripping moments, but an ending that needed just a little bit extra. Give me that extra final stretch, and this easily could have been a four-star read.
I went into Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep a bit cautiously. I’ve read Paul Tremblay before, and A Head Full of Ghosts is genuinely one of my favourite books of all time, but if I’m honest, some of his more recent work (looking at you, Horror Movie) hasn’t quite hit the same mark for me, so I was a little apprehensive going into this one. Thankfully, this felt like a step back in the right direction.
This is definitely a strange, slightly unsettling read, but in a way I really appreciated. The concept alone is enough to make you pause: AI implanted into a human body, being controlled remotely, blurring the line between consciousness and control. It sounds far-fetched at first, but the way it’s written makes it feel just close enough to reality to be properly eerie. That quiet, creeping discomfort is where Tremblay really shines.
There were parts of this I genuinely loved. The shifting perspectives added to that disorienting, dreamlike feel, and I found myself really pulled in during certain sections, especially when things started to unravel and reality became a bit slippery. It’s one of those books where you don’t always fully understand what’s happening, but you feel it, which I think is very intentional.
That said, it wasn’t a completely smooth ride for me. Some sections dragged a little, and I found my attention dipping here and there. The pacing felt uneven, I’d go from being completely hooked to having to push myself through a few chapters. I think that’s where it lost that extra star for me.
And then there’s the ending… which, unfortunately, felt far too sudden. After everything the story builds, I really wanted just a bit more time at the end. Not a full explanation or everything neatly tied up, but something to sit with - an extra chapter, an extra hour, just a little more space to process what had happened. Instead, it cuts off quite abruptly, and I was left feeling like I’d missed that final bit. I know ambiguity is very much Tremblay’s style, and sometimes it works brilliantly, but here it just felt a bit too sharp of an ending.
Overall though, I did enjoy it. It’s different, unsettling, and thought-provoking in a way that sticks with you, even if not every part lands perfectly. It felt closer in spirit to what I love about Tremblay, even if it doesn’t quite reach those same heights.
So, three stars. A clever, eerie concept with some genuinely gripping moments, but an ending that needed just a little bit extra. Give me that extra final stretch, and this easily could have been a four-star read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Following a string of lauded but divisive novels, such as Horror Movie, A Head Full Of Ghosts and The Cabin At The End Of The World, Paul Tremblay has returned with... a novel that I expect will be lauded but divisive. Dead But Dreaming Of Electric Sheep proudly wears the Philip K. Dick influence on its sleeve through the title alone, and I'd say it leans towards sci-fi thriller more than outright horror – although some of the concepts here are pretty terrifying. As you'd expect, there's more than a little Blade Runner-inspired moments here, but there's a lot more than that going on too. I'll be vague, but almost anything I can say about the book feels at least a little spoiler-y, so reader beware.
This book is made up of alternating chapters. The bulk of the story is the "Julia"-headed sections, which follow our protagonist – you guessed it – Julia. She's lucked into a high-paying, short-term job utilising her video game skills, and while she knows deep down that it sounds too good to be true, she accepts. The interspersing chapters headed "You" are a little less straightforward. Written in the second person and putting the reader directly in the addressed character's headspace, these feel more like unravelling mysteries. Combined, these form a kind of AI-fuelled sci-fi Weekend At Bernie's that manages to be at turns quietly scary, laugh-out-loud funny, and occasionally emotionally devastating.
I'm a Tremblay fan generally, and if I wasn't pre-disposed to like it based on that, I certainly was by the end of the second chapter or so – references to Welsh noise-rockers mclusky, and two of the finest LA noir shaggy dog stories, The Long Goodbye and The Big Lebowski, immediately seized my interest. The rest of the book lives up to that initial excitement, thankfully.
I will admit that I struggled with the "You" chapters for a while – they felt a little repetitive and deliberately vague, and I just wanted to spend more time with Julia. Whether it's her strained maternal relationship, her love of her relative-slash-roommate Uncle Fun, or her rebellious but vulnerable inner monologue, these were the chapters I wanted to be reading. By the final chapters of the book, however, the "You" sections were the ones really putting me through the emotional wringer. I expect they would feel more necessary and less perplexing on re-reading, and I wouldn't be surprised if I liked it even more the second time around.
Oh, and to address the most frequent Tremblay complaint I see – you may not know EVERYTHING by the time you turn the final page, but I can assure you that there's very little ambiguity in the ending this time around.
This book is made up of alternating chapters. The bulk of the story is the "Julia"-headed sections, which follow our protagonist – you guessed it – Julia. She's lucked into a high-paying, short-term job utilising her video game skills, and while she knows deep down that it sounds too good to be true, she accepts. The interspersing chapters headed "You" are a little less straightforward. Written in the second person and putting the reader directly in the addressed character's headspace, these feel more like unravelling mysteries. Combined, these form a kind of AI-fuelled sci-fi Weekend At Bernie's that manages to be at turns quietly scary, laugh-out-loud funny, and occasionally emotionally devastating.
I'm a Tremblay fan generally, and if I wasn't pre-disposed to like it based on that, I certainly was by the end of the second chapter or so – references to Welsh noise-rockers mclusky, and two of the finest LA noir shaggy dog stories, The Long Goodbye and The Big Lebowski, immediately seized my interest. The rest of the book lives up to that initial excitement, thankfully.
I will admit that I struggled with the "You" chapters for a while – they felt a little repetitive and deliberately vague, and I just wanted to spend more time with Julia. Whether it's her strained maternal relationship, her love of her relative-slash-roommate Uncle Fun, or her rebellious but vulnerable inner monologue, these were the chapters I wanted to be reading. By the final chapters of the book, however, the "You" sections were the ones really putting me through the emotional wringer. I expect they would feel more necessary and less perplexing on re-reading, and I wouldn't be surprised if I liked it even more the second time around.
Oh, and to address the most frequent Tremblay complaint I see – you may not know EVERYTHING by the time you turn the final page, but I can assure you that there's very little ambiguity in the ending this time around.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
ARC
I'd like to thank William Morrow and NetGalley for the chance to give "Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep" an early read in return for an honest review.
When Tremblay announced this novel, it skyrocketed towards the top of my most anticipated novels of the year. Having not fully connected to anything I've read from Tremblay so far, I thought this novel would be one that I might enjoy more, since it's seemingly far different from anything that he's done before. As someone who is really interested in the worlds Philip K. Dick created, I knew this one was going to intrigue me.
And I'm sad to say that was not the case. Rather than crafting a textured and intriguing world, we get a story that is far more simple than expected. The basic plot doesn't take much time to get through, but takes the entirety of the novel to conclude. It's a story of someone going from point A to point B and having a few hiccups, but other than that, is perplexingly straightforward. The amount of time it took for the plot of the novel to really kick into gear was a bit outrageous, as things don't really have much movement until a third of the way through the novel.
The pacing of the novel is where I had a lot of difficulty. The ideas that Tremblay was bringing up for discussion were really interesting, but were told in the most bland, uninteresting way possible. And with that, the novel moves at a slower pace than you want it to, which left me really frustrated that I dedicated so much time to a story that easily could have been concluded in 200 less pages. There are two interludes that break up the story, which honestly are the most intriguing pieces of the novel. It felt nice to get to read something different, to break up the monotony that the rest of the novel had. It felt like Tremblay was more dedicated to fluffing up the novel than dedicating the time to work on making the plot interesting.
I really wanted to enjoy reading this novel, but found myself frustrated by just how much time was put in to a plot that didn't need that much time to be told. This easily could have been an amazing short story if 2/3 of the fluff had been cut out. There was so much unnecessary fluff in the book, which made it feel sluggish and bloated. There really are some interesting topics, especially as we enter into a new era with A.I. being used regularly, but they are examined in a lukewarm light within the novel and brings up conversations that we've already had. It may have an interesting premise, but this really was a disappointment to me.
Be sure to check "Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep" out when it is published on June 30, 2026.
I'd like to thank William Morrow and NetGalley for the chance to give "Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep" an early read in return for an honest review.
When Tremblay announced this novel, it skyrocketed towards the top of my most anticipated novels of the year. Having not fully connected to anything I've read from Tremblay so far, I thought this novel would be one that I might enjoy more, since it's seemingly far different from anything that he's done before. As someone who is really interested in the worlds Philip K. Dick created, I knew this one was going to intrigue me.
And I'm sad to say that was not the case. Rather than crafting a textured and intriguing world, we get a story that is far more simple than expected. The basic plot doesn't take much time to get through, but takes the entirety of the novel to conclude. It's a story of someone going from point A to point B and having a few hiccups, but other than that, is perplexingly straightforward. The amount of time it took for the plot of the novel to really kick into gear was a bit outrageous, as things don't really have much movement until a third of the way through the novel.
The pacing of the novel is where I had a lot of difficulty. The ideas that Tremblay was bringing up for discussion were really interesting, but were told in the most bland, uninteresting way possible. And with that, the novel moves at a slower pace than you want it to, which left me really frustrated that I dedicated so much time to a story that easily could have been concluded in 200 less pages. There are two interludes that break up the story, which honestly are the most intriguing pieces of the novel. It felt nice to get to read something different, to break up the monotony that the rest of the novel had. It felt like Tremblay was more dedicated to fluffing up the novel than dedicating the time to work on making the plot interesting.
I really wanted to enjoy reading this novel, but found myself frustrated by just how much time was put in to a plot that didn't need that much time to be told. This easily could have been an amazing short story if 2/3 of the fluff had been cut out. There was so much unnecessary fluff in the book, which made it feel sluggish and bloated. There really are some interesting topics, especially as we enter into a new era with A.I. being used regularly, but they are examined in a lukewarm light within the novel and brings up conversations that we've already had. It may have an interesting premise, but this really was a disappointment to me.
Be sure to check "Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep" out when it is published on June 30, 2026.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
If you’re trying to decide between reading this one with your eyeballs or your earballs, I strongly recommend the audiobook. The production is excellent, the performances are fantastic, and some of the book’s more experimental elements feel especially effective in audio format.
Paul Tremblay is best known for horror, but Dead Dreaming of Electric Sheep leans much more heavily into dystopian science fiction with horror undertones. The result is a strange, ambitious, genre-bending road trip that won’t be for everyone but will absolutely find its audience among readers who enjoy weird fiction.
Julia, a former professional gamer, lives with her retired uncle—whose name is Uncle Fun, which immediately won me over. When her estranged mother offers her a job with a massive payday attached, Julia agrees to escort a man who is technically alive but exists in a near-vegetative state. The catch? He has AI implanted in his brain. Julia nicknames him Bernie, and from there the story becomes part dystopian road trip, part mystery, part existential nightmare.
The premise reminded me a bit of Jason Pargin’s Black Box of Doom, mixed with a creepy, decidedly less funny version of Weekend at Bernie’s. As Bernie begins to develop awareness, the novel raises fascinating questions about memory, identity, and consciousness. Are the memories we see coming from the man himself, the AI implant, or some combination of both? Tremblay keeps readers off balance in a way that is unsettling and often compelling.
Julia was easily my favorite part of the book. She’s resourceful, skeptical, and grounded enough to keep the increasingly bizarre plot anchored. The relationship that develops between Julia and Bernie isn’t exactly friendship, but it becomes an engaging partnership as they try to uncover what is really happening and why.
Unfortunately, the book’s pacing didn’t always work for me. There are several detours and side storylines that felt underdeveloped or disconnected from the central narrative, and a few threads seemed to lead nowhere. The ending was also a little disappointing after so much buildup.
Still, I admire how willing Tremblay is to take risks here. This is a much stranger and more science-fiction-driven novel than readers expecting one of his traditional horror books may anticipate. Not every element landed for me, but I appreciated the ambition, the weirdness, and the questions the story asks.
Recommended for readers who enjoy horror/sci-fi hybrids, dystopian fiction, and stories that get delightfully weird.
3.25⭐️
Thank you to Libro.fm and Harper Audio for the advanced listening copy.
Paul Tremblay is best known for horror, but Dead Dreaming of Electric Sheep leans much more heavily into dystopian science fiction with horror undertones. The result is a strange, ambitious, genre-bending road trip that won’t be for everyone but will absolutely find its audience among readers who enjoy weird fiction.
Julia, a former professional gamer, lives with her retired uncle—whose name is Uncle Fun, which immediately won me over. When her estranged mother offers her a job with a massive payday attached, Julia agrees to escort a man who is technically alive but exists in a near-vegetative state. The catch? He has AI implanted in his brain. Julia nicknames him Bernie, and from there the story becomes part dystopian road trip, part mystery, part existential nightmare.
The premise reminded me a bit of Jason Pargin’s Black Box of Doom, mixed with a creepy, decidedly less funny version of Weekend at Bernie’s. As Bernie begins to develop awareness, the novel raises fascinating questions about memory, identity, and consciousness. Are the memories we see coming from the man himself, the AI implant, or some combination of both? Tremblay keeps readers off balance in a way that is unsettling and often compelling.
Julia was easily my favorite part of the book. She’s resourceful, skeptical, and grounded enough to keep the increasingly bizarre plot anchored. The relationship that develops between Julia and Bernie isn’t exactly friendship, but it becomes an engaging partnership as they try to uncover what is really happening and why.
Unfortunately, the book’s pacing didn’t always work for me. There are several detours and side storylines that felt underdeveloped or disconnected from the central narrative, and a few threads seemed to lead nowhere. The ending was also a little disappointing after so much buildup.
Still, I admire how willing Tremblay is to take risks here. This is a much stranger and more science-fiction-driven novel than readers expecting one of his traditional horror books may anticipate. Not every element landed for me, but I appreciated the ambition, the weirdness, and the questions the story asks.
Recommended for readers who enjoy horror/sci-fi hybrids, dystopian fiction, and stories that get delightfully weird.
3.25⭐️
Thank you to Libro.fm and Harper Audio for the advanced listening copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
An employee from a tech company has a stroke and is stuck in a vegetative state so the company implants AI technology into him that makes his body able to be moved via remote control. They then hire a young, semi-pro gamer named Julia to operate and accompany him across the country. Tremblay tells the story through a dual point of view that showcases both Julia and her companion, who she aptly names Bernie after the movie Weekend at Bernie's.
In Julia's chapters, we meet a young, naive woman who is coming to terms with the reality of the job she has accepted. She begins to realize that she did not receive the whole truth from the tech company, and she's now involved in something much larger than she initially anticipated.
In Bernie's chapters, we get a peek at what's happening inside his head. Julia is told that due to his vegetative state, he no longer has any meaningful level of consciousness. But is this really true? Not according to Bernie...
I had mixed feelings about this book but overall, I liked it and enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed how well Julia's character was developed. I feel like we really got to know her and got a good look inside of her life. Her backstory brought a lot of clarity as to how she ended up with this job and the choices she made as new information about Bernie came to light. I didn't particularly like how often she referenced The Big Lebowski and how often she quoted that movie. For someone not familiar with the movie, it made it harder to understand Julia. I do get that this was a big part of who she is as it's very plainly stated how important that movie is to her, but it didn't work so well for me as the reader. Bernie's chapters were hard to understand at first, but I think Tremblay did a great job writing in a way that truly felt like you were inside the brain of someone regaining bits of consciousness while also not being in control of their body. I do think this story could have been more impactful if it was shorter. I felt that it dragged on quite a bit and I had to take frequent breaks from it because of this.
Overall, I'm glad I read this book and I did like it. It felt different from the other horror books I've been reading and I'm in full support of the messages within the book. It's definitely worth reading, but if I did it again I would definitely watch The Big Lebowski and Weekend at Bernie's beforehand so I can better connect with the references.
A huge thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for sending me an eARC for review consideration!
In Julia's chapters, we meet a young, naive woman who is coming to terms with the reality of the job she has accepted. She begins to realize that she did not receive the whole truth from the tech company, and she's now involved in something much larger than she initially anticipated.
In Bernie's chapters, we get a peek at what's happening inside his head. Julia is told that due to his vegetative state, he no longer has any meaningful level of consciousness. But is this really true? Not according to Bernie...
I had mixed feelings about this book but overall, I liked it and enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed how well Julia's character was developed. I feel like we really got to know her and got a good look inside of her life. Her backstory brought a lot of clarity as to how she ended up with this job and the choices she made as new information about Bernie came to light. I didn't particularly like how often she referenced The Big Lebowski and how often she quoted that movie. For someone not familiar with the movie, it made it harder to understand Julia. I do get that this was a big part of who she is as it's very plainly stated how important that movie is to her, but it didn't work so well for me as the reader. Bernie's chapters were hard to understand at first, but I think Tremblay did a great job writing in a way that truly felt like you were inside the brain of someone regaining bits of consciousness while also not being in control of their body. I do think this story could have been more impactful if it was shorter. I felt that it dragged on quite a bit and I had to take frequent breaks from it because of this.
Overall, I'm glad I read this book and I did like it. It felt different from the other horror books I've been reading and I'm in full support of the messages within the book. It's definitely worth reading, but if I did it again I would definitely watch The Big Lebowski and Weekend at Bernie's beforehand so I can better connect with the references.
A huge thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for sending me an eARC for review consideration!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Julia Flang is a former professional gamer and has a strained relationship with her mother who just so happens to be the CFO of a tech company. When she calls with a job opportunity for Julia that pays a lot of money, Julia is rightfully skeptical. When her mom says her video game skills are required, Julia is more interested. Humoring her mother, Julia flies to Sandra Francisco for an interview to….???
This is no normal job Julia’s being asked to do. She will need to control a man in a vegetative state back to the east coast to his mother who lives in a right-to-die state. Yes, I said she’s going to control him. Julia’s mom’s company has created and implanted technology into this man - whom Julia has named Bernie for obvious reasons - so she can move him around with the help of a controller that looks like a phone. She can make him walk, sit, move, his hands, whatever she needs to do to make him look as normal and “alive” as possible. While Julia initially refuses the job, she eventually takes it, and we get to see her manipulate Bernie through some sticky situations.
The most interesting aspect of this novel for me is that the chapters alternate between Julia’s POV and Bernie’s. Bernie’s chapters come before Julia’s so we see events interpreted through his fractured mind first. And what he “sees” is terrifying for him and is therefore terrifying for us. Without context grounded in reality, we’re forced to meander through his confusing experiences and see how powerless Bernie is without agency over his own body. How he describes these experiences to us is often violent to the point of seeming traumatic for him.
By the end of the novel, we care so much about both of them that we’re forced to root for their happy endings. Tremblay has written something both complicated and hilarious, cerebral and emotional. The ending itself was wild, and I don’t think anyone will see that coming. This book was classic Tremblay but also so much more. It’s smart and has so much to say about the state of technology and AI in modern society. Yes, it’s a timely text but it will also be timeless with how it focuses on morality and making difficult choices. I loved this book, and you will too.
*Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Paul Tremblay for this eARC. This review contains my honest, authentic thoughts and opinions.*
This is no normal job Julia’s being asked to do. She will need to control a man in a vegetative state back to the east coast to his mother who lives in a right-to-die state. Yes, I said she’s going to control him. Julia’s mom’s company has created and implanted technology into this man - whom Julia has named Bernie for obvious reasons - so she can move him around with the help of a controller that looks like a phone. She can make him walk, sit, move, his hands, whatever she needs to do to make him look as normal and “alive” as possible. While Julia initially refuses the job, she eventually takes it, and we get to see her manipulate Bernie through some sticky situations.
The most interesting aspect of this novel for me is that the chapters alternate between Julia’s POV and Bernie’s. Bernie’s chapters come before Julia’s so we see events interpreted through his fractured mind first. And what he “sees” is terrifying for him and is therefore terrifying for us. Without context grounded in reality, we’re forced to meander through his confusing experiences and see how powerless Bernie is without agency over his own body. How he describes these experiences to us is often violent to the point of seeming traumatic for him.
By the end of the novel, we care so much about both of them that we’re forced to root for their happy endings. Tremblay has written something both complicated and hilarious, cerebral and emotional. The ending itself was wild, and I don’t think anyone will see that coming. This book was classic Tremblay but also so much more. It’s smart and has so much to say about the state of technology and AI in modern society. Yes, it’s a timely text but it will also be timeless with how it focuses on morality and making difficult choices. I loved this book, and you will too.
*Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Paul Tremblay for this eARC. This review contains my honest, authentic thoughts and opinions.*
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Julia Flang is a former professional gamer and has a strained relationship with her mother who just so happens to be the CFO of a tech company. When she calls with a job opportunity for Julia that pays a lot of money, Julia is rightfully skeptical. When her mom says her video game skills are required, Julia is more interested. Humoring her mother, Julia flies to San Francisco for an interview to….???
This is no normal job Julia’s being asked to do. She will need to control a man in a vegetative state back to the east coast to his mother who lives in a right-to-die state. Yes, I said she’s going to control him. Julia’s mom’s company has created and implanted technology into this man - whom Julia has named Bernie for obvious reasons - so she can move him around with the help of a controller that looks like a phone. She can make him walk, sit, move, his hands, whatever she needs to do to make him look as normal and “alive” as possible. While Julia initially refuses the job, she eventually takes it, and we get to see her manipulate Bernie through some sticky situations.
The most interesting aspect of this novel for me is that the chapters alternate between Julia’s POV and Bernie’s. Bernie’s chapters come before Julia’s so we see events interpreted through his fractured mind first. And what he “sees” is terrifying for him and is therefore terrifying for us. Without context grounded in reality, we’re forced to meander through his confusing experiences and see how powerless Bernie is without agency over his own body. How he describes these experiences to us is often violent to the point of seeming traumatic for him.
By the end of the novel, we care so much about both of them that we’re forced to root for their happy endings. Tremblay has written something both complicated and hilarious, cerebral and emotional. The ending itself was wild, and I don’t think anyone will see that coming. This book was classic Tremblay but also so much more. It’s smart and has so much to say about the state of technology and AI in modern society. Yes, it’s a timely text but it will also be timeless with how it focuses on morality and making difficult choices. I loved this book, and you will too.
*Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Paul Tremblay for this eARC. This review contains my honest, authentic thoughts and opinions.*
This is no normal job Julia’s being asked to do. She will need to control a man in a vegetative state back to the east coast to his mother who lives in a right-to-die state. Yes, I said she’s going to control him. Julia’s mom’s company has created and implanted technology into this man - whom Julia has named Bernie for obvious reasons - so she can move him around with the help of a controller that looks like a phone. She can make him walk, sit, move, his hands, whatever she needs to do to make him look as normal and “alive” as possible. While Julia initially refuses the job, she eventually takes it, and we get to see her manipulate Bernie through some sticky situations.
The most interesting aspect of this novel for me is that the chapters alternate between Julia’s POV and Bernie’s. Bernie’s chapters come before Julia’s so we see events interpreted through his fractured mind first. And what he “sees” is terrifying for him and is therefore terrifying for us. Without context grounded in reality, we’re forced to meander through his confusing experiences and see how powerless Bernie is without agency over his own body. How he describes these experiences to us is often violent to the point of seeming traumatic for him.
By the end of the novel, we care so much about both of them that we’re forced to root for their happy endings. Tremblay has written something both complicated and hilarious, cerebral and emotional. The ending itself was wild, and I don’t think anyone will see that coming. This book was classic Tremblay but also so much more. It’s smart and has so much to say about the state of technology and AI in modern society. Yes, it’s a timely text but it will also be timeless with how it focuses on morality and making difficult choices. I loved this book, and you will too.
*Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Paul Tremblay for this eARC. This review contains my honest, authentic thoughts and opinions.*
May 23, 2026
I loved this book. It made me laugh, scratch my head, nearly cry, squint my eyes to read text, flip back and forth across chapters, want to rewatch The Big Lebowski, Casablanca, and The Matrix… it’s a lot, and it’s worth the read. My least favorite type of reviews are ones that just regurgitate the plot, so instead I’ll give you a series of lists to help you understand what you’ll be in for - I think Julia and Bernie would both appreciate this approach…
So if you enjoy books that are:
* truly weird
* mind-bendy
* prescient-but-still-funny-as-heck
* slightly gory
* eviscerating about tech company culture
* definitely dark
* on-the-nose about AI and its obvious dangers
* dystopian without being set in the future
* philosophical without being annoying
* pop culture laden
* funny (did I mention that yet?)
…then this is a good one to pick up. Because beyond all those goodies, this is a novel that somehow reads like a visual novel that isn’t a graphic novel. It’s cinematic in its pacing and prose at times. At different points it reminded me/made me think of:
* Anna Karenina
* The Odyssey
* Plato’s “Cave”
* Schrödinger’s cat
* What the “worst” part of an EEG feels like
* Pandora’s box
* The Wizard of Oz
* A.I. Artificial Intelligence
* Watership Down
* Jung’s theory of the Collective Unconscious
* Reincarnation/multiple lives concept
* The Ship of Theseus
* Hervé Le Tellier’s The Anomaly
Tremblay captures what it must be like to experience consciousness (again? anew?), what it means to manipulate someone who is not conscious, the organic-to-digital-back-to-organic translation some people talk about AI enabling (or think about shows like Upload, Altered Carbon) on the path to “life after death”. He’s not afraid to paint a scary, dire warning for us, or to show us tender, human moments that still (must, will always) exist even in our technologically-obsessed and overly-optimized world.
This book, if it’s your cup of tea, is a genuinely fun way to have yourself forced to think about what it means to be human, what the value of our memories really is, and leaves you wondering about all the answers to: “Just because we can, should we? And if we’re told we ‘must’, why?”
Thank you to William Morrow Publishing and Paul Tremblay for this wonderful adventure of an ARC.
So if you enjoy books that are:
* truly weird
* mind-bendy
* prescient-but-still-funny-as-heck
* slightly gory
* eviscerating about tech company culture
* definitely dark
* on-the-nose about AI and its obvious dangers
* dystopian without being set in the future
* philosophical without being annoying
* pop culture laden
* funny (did I mention that yet?)
…then this is a good one to pick up. Because beyond all those goodies, this is a novel that somehow reads like a visual novel that isn’t a graphic novel. It’s cinematic in its pacing and prose at times. At different points it reminded me/made me think of:
* Anna Karenina
* The Odyssey
* Plato’s “Cave”
* Schrödinger’s cat
* What the “worst” part of an EEG feels like
* Pandora’s box
* The Wizard of Oz
* A.I. Artificial Intelligence
* Watership Down
* Jung’s theory of the Collective Unconscious
* Reincarnation/multiple lives concept
* The Ship of Theseus
* Hervé Le Tellier’s The Anomaly
Tremblay captures what it must be like to experience consciousness (again? anew?), what it means to manipulate someone who is not conscious, the organic-to-digital-back-to-organic translation some people talk about AI enabling (or think about shows like Upload, Altered Carbon) on the path to “life after death”. He’s not afraid to paint a scary, dire warning for us, or to show us tender, human moments that still (must, will always) exist even in our technologically-obsessed and overly-optimized world.
This book, if it’s your cup of tea, is a genuinely fun way to have yourself forced to think about what it means to be human, what the value of our memories really is, and leaves you wondering about all the answers to: “Just because we can, should we? And if we’re told we ‘must’, why?”
Thank you to William Morrow Publishing and Paul Tremblay for this wonderful adventure of an ARC.
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