Paul Tremblay has built a career writing clever, terrifying horror novels like A Head Full of Ghosts, The Cabin at the End of the World, and Horror Movie. Time and again, I've been impressed by his ability to pair horror with richly drawn characters, making him one of my automatic "must-read" authors. His latest, Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep, explores a very different kind of horror. This isn't the supernatural, keep-the-lights-on kind of terror readers have come to expect from Tremblay. Instead, he sets his sights on artificial intelligence and the unsettling ways our growing reliance on it could reshape what it means to be human. It leans more toward science fiction than horror, but it still packs quite the punch.
Julia is a down-on-her-luck twenty-something and former semi-professional gamer who's struggling to figure out what comes next. She lives with her uncle while juggling two jobs, neither of which she particularly enjoys. Then, out of the blue, her estranged mother calls with an unexpected opportunity. The tech company where she serves as CFO is looking for temporary help, and the paycheck is too good to ignore.
She's hesitant. Her relationship with her mother has never been easy.
But money talks.
After flying to the company's West Coast headquarters and breezing through an interview that feels more like a formality than an actual hiring process, Julia lands the job. It's just not the job she was expecting.
Her assignment is to chaperone a man in a vegetative state on a cross-country trip. Only he isn't lying in a hospital bed.
The company has implanted an experimental AI-powered chip into his brain, allowing employees to control his movements with what's essentially a video game controller. Perfect for Julia, right? Her task is simple. She just has to escort him safely from the West Coast to the East.
What could possibly go wrong?
While the title Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep is clearly inspired by Philip K. Dick, the novel imagines a future that feels much closer to the present day than we'd probably like to admit. Artificial intelligence has already worked its way into many aspects of our everyday lives, and it's impossible to know what its long-term impact will be. As the novel progresses, Tremblay alternates between Julia's perspective and that of the man she's controlling. The effect is fascinating, forcing readers to wrestle with questions of consent, morality, and whether we've really stopped to consider the consequences of handing so much of ourselves over to emerging technology.
Spoiler: we haven't.
Tremblay also includes brief interludes written in his own voice, stepping outside the narrative to reflect on artificial intelligence and the act of writing itself. AI may be able to generate words, he argues, but writing is about far more than stringing sentences together. It takes iteration. It takes wrestling with ideas, throwing them away, and reshaping them until they become something meaningful. As if determined to prove that point, Tremblay fills this novel with moments that feel unmistakably human. They're strange, inventive, and unlike anything I've encountered before. You'll know them when you get there.
The result is a novel that's fun, chilling, occasionally absurd, and ultimately a thoughtful cautionary tale about our race toward an increasingly automated future. It's another original, thought-provoking work from an author who continues to surprise me with every new release.
For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2026, 57)
I just finished a book that took on AI. Seems like a hot topic for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt's here whether we're ready or not!
DeleteThat sounds creepy. The thought of something like that happening is kind of horrifying.
ReplyDeleteThe idea is more horrifying than the execution. I think I was more unsettled than anything else.
DeleteI gather that the parts where the author inserts himself in the narrative aren't jarring? Because this one sounds like something I might enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find it jarring. I appreciated his perspective!
DeleteWow. This does sound like a very thought-provoking read. And I do love the title and its reference. I'll have to check this one out.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed it!
DeletePretty sure we are going the way of Terminator
ReplyDeleteI think we're already there!
DeleteMy husband just told me about an article he read recently about AI and it was chilling! The AI was told to solve a problem and it was specifically disconnected from the internet and "they thought" had no way to access it, however it found a way around it and completely ignored its precise instructions to solve the problem an easier way by being free. All the AI needs is a body or robot and we're getting into Terminator (the movie) territory!
ReplyDeleteI fear we don't fully grasp what we've already unleashed!
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