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Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep
Not yet published
Expected 2 Jul 26A genre-bending near-future tech nightmare that is as bitingly funny as it is horrifically believable, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World.
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former 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 from California to the East Coast. But he's not dead he has an AI mind implanted in his head…
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.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a heady, terrifying genre-bender from one of the most groundbreaking voices in fiction today, exploring the 'I' in AI.
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former 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 from California to the East Coast. But he's not dead he has an AI mind implanted in his head…
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.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a heady, terrifying genre-bender from one of the most groundbreaking voices in fiction today, exploring the 'I' in AI.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication June 30, 2026
7 people are currently reading
14078 people want to read
About the author
Paul Tremblay
130 books12k 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...
February 8, 2026
Reading for 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
February 21, 2026
Rounded up. Dystopian Weekend at Bernie's in an unsettling big tech hellscape. This is Paul Tremblay at his most literary.
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.
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
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep blends sci-fi and horror elements to create something reminiscent of a Black Mirror episode. Julia, the daughter of a tech company CEO, gets tapped for a last minute favor for her mother. The favor just happens to be using her video game prowess to pilot a braindead man like a mech from one side of the country to the other. The book alternates between a standard 3rd person perspective (Julia) and a very surreal 2nd person perspective (You, aka aforementioned braindead man). As Julia makes her way across the country with the man she dubs "Bernie", she wrestles with her place in this experiment.
I really need someone who has potent mental imagery to read this and tell me how these chapters felt for them. I have aphantasia and have a hard time visualizing regular novels let alone the vivid fever-dream imagery described in the 2nd person perspective chapters. I think that because of this some of the more horror-tinged elements didn't quite hit for me.
This book was scary more in a "technological horrors beyond our comprehension" existential dread kind of way than a traditional horror way, but that is not a bad thing.
As a closing statement, fuck gen AI forever and don't let Elon Musk put a chip into your brain.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep blends sci-fi and horror elements to create something reminiscent of a Black Mirror episode. Julia, the daughter of a tech company CEO, gets tapped for a last minute favor for her mother. The favor just happens to be using her video game prowess to pilot a braindead man like a mech from one side of the country to the other. The book alternates between a standard 3rd person perspective (Julia) and a very surreal 2nd person perspective (You, aka aforementioned braindead man). As Julia makes her way across the country with the man she dubs "Bernie", she wrestles with her place in this experiment.
I really need someone who has potent mental imagery to read this and tell me how these chapters felt for them. I have aphantasia and have a hard time visualizing regular novels let alone the vivid fever-dream imagery described in the 2nd person perspective chapters. I think that because of this some of the more horror-tinged elements didn't quite hit for me.
This book was scary more in a "technological horrors beyond our comprehension" existential dread kind of way than a traditional horror way, but that is not a bad thing.
As a closing statement, fuck gen AI forever and don't let Elon Musk put a chip into your brain.
February 4, 2026
I love you Paul and I'm so sorry and ashamed to admit that I didn't click with this one.
As always, the prose was impeccable; no one else publishing in my preferred genres is giving me a vocab list like Tremblay does. The idea was solid as fuck, and the true horror of it lay right there: the absolute likelihood of this tech existing in our real world. It probably already is ffs. Maybe this world is my own nightmare consciousness realm the whole time.
Alas it was the very thing that sold me (besides being a Tremblay stan) that broke me: the Philip K Dick stuff was a very cool idea and I didn't care about it at all :( The nightmare POV was difficult to read through, grasp what was happening, and yes that was the POINT, I get it... alas. It didn't work for me. Especially when it was just a twisted lens into what I already read in the "normal world" POV. Like, interesting experiment, but I could have used less of one or the other.
Also I don't like the Coen Brothers stuff lol so, yeaaaaaaaaaaah.
As always, the prose was impeccable; no one else publishing in my preferred genres is giving me a vocab list like Tremblay does. The idea was solid as fuck, and the true horror of it lay right there: the absolute likelihood of this tech existing in our real world. It probably already is ffs. Maybe this world is my own nightmare consciousness realm the whole time.
Alas it was the very thing that sold me (besides being a Tremblay stan) that broke me: the Philip K Dick stuff was a very cool idea and I didn't care about it at all :( The nightmare POV was difficult to read through, grasp what was happening, and yes that was the POINT, I get it... alas. It didn't work for me. Especially when it was just a twisted lens into what I already read in the "normal world" POV. Like, interesting experiment, but I could have used less of one or the other.
Also I don't like the Coen Brothers stuff lol so, yeaaaaaaaaaaah.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Paul Tremblay’s latest is perhaps his first non-horror novel. It’s a really dark comedy, horrifying but not horror per se. You could call it a technothriller, I guess, if it was wasn’t for the fact that the rock-ribbed Competent Men who are the heroes of those books are explicitly this book’s bad guys. That title obviously pays homage to two titans of genre writing, and Dick’s ontological queasiness combined with Lovecraft’s view of humans as ants are both very much in play here, as Tremblay lambasts the AI craze and where it might take us.
This one continues his recent experiments with form, which might be a barrier to entry - I found the first few pages fairly difficult to read but when it clicks that problem falls away. Once things get going, the plot motors along and the pages keep turning. It’s fired up and passionate, and reinforces Tremblay’s position as one of the leading genre writers of today.
But, you know, that’s just my opinion, man.
This one continues his recent experiments with form, which might be a barrier to entry - I found the first few pages fairly difficult to read but when it clicks that problem falls away. Once things get going, the plot motors along and the pages keep turning. It’s fired up and passionate, and reinforces Tremblay’s position as one of the leading genre writers of today.
But, you know, that’s just my opinion, man.
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.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you Netgalley for my Arc copy. I stopped reading my current read as soon as I got approved for this book, im so glad I did. Im a huge Paul Tremblay fan and this book did not disappoint. I absolutely loved every moment of it. Binge read it in 2 days and would highly recommend giving it a read. Still an autobuy author for me.
March 22, 2026
Very much enjoyed this one. Felt like I was watching a movie play out in my head.
Fun, AI, horror / thriller with a likeable main character.
Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Fun, AI, horror / thriller with a likeable main character.
Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
tbr-arc
January 27, 2026surprise me, mr Tremblay! i'm sure you will. can't wait to dig in.
*thank you to William Morrow for the ARC*
*thank you to William Morrow for the ARC*
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is one f$&@€d up book. But way too close to being real. Advance copy suppled by the publisher for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Full review and podcast coverage soon.
-David
-David
Want to read
March 16, 2026Rec. by: A Goodreads Giveaway, via Craig; PKD hommage...
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for providing me with the ARC.
Pub Date Jul 02 2026
Paul Tremblay is and always will be my favorite author. Being approved to read his new sci-fi novel is an honor. This book was way more bleak and dystopian than I’ve expected. It has strong commentary about AI, this is a big part of the narrative. I can only describe it as very meta, like a dream within a dream. Very self-aware and satirical. The descriptions were a bit convoluted though, and as a visual reader I found some scenes hard to imagine. I give that to the way AI slop is illogical and absurd. It all felt like a hate letter to the AI.
There is an element that made me audibly gasp with excitement, but I won’t spoil it, I want you to be as thrilled as I was, especially if you are fan of the author’s previous works. The main two characters that we’re following were very interesting and layered, although I wanted something more from Julia, because she is a gamer, also playing my favorite game Overwatch, this was something that made me love her instantly. So I had so high hopes about her arc and the way she could end everything. But overall, the ending was somewhat unsatisfying to me. I did not expect it to end that way and I would say that it left me a bit disappointed, but I loved the intention of it, not the execution.
I expect this to be respected, but not widely loved, just like The Pallbearers club, which is my all-time favorite Tremblay book.
Pub Date Jul 02 2026
Paul Tremblay is and always will be my favorite author. Being approved to read his new sci-fi novel is an honor. This book was way more bleak and dystopian than I’ve expected. It has strong commentary about AI, this is a big part of the narrative. I can only describe it as very meta, like a dream within a dream. Very self-aware and satirical. The descriptions were a bit convoluted though, and as a visual reader I found some scenes hard to imagine. I give that to the way AI slop is illogical and absurd. It all felt like a hate letter to the AI.
There is an element that made me audibly gasp with excitement, but I won’t spoil it, I want you to be as thrilled as I was, especially if you are fan of the author’s previous works. The main two characters that we’re following were very interesting and layered, although I wanted something more from Julia, because she is a gamer, also playing my favorite game Overwatch, this was something that made me love her instantly. So I had so high hopes about her arc and the way she could end everything. But overall, the ending was somewhat unsatisfying to me. I did not expect it to end that way and I would say that it left me a bit disappointed, but I loved the intention of it, not the execution.
I expect this to be respected, but not widely loved, just like The Pallbearers club, which is my all-time favorite Tremblay book.
March 9, 2026
Jesus Christ, Paul?!!
Why don’t you just drive the knife of inevitability in even further with that last line?!
Fight the future, indeed.
Why don’t you just drive the knife of inevitability in even further with that last line?!
Fight the future, indeed.
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