In the glittering city of Las Vegas, where fortunes are won and lost on a single roll of the dice, there exists a world unseen by the pleasure-seekers above.

There, a community of outcasts can be found. They dwell in the shadows, beneath the thin veneer of glamour, far from the twinkling lights and towering casinos.

Plagued by schizophrenia and alienated from her loved ones, Suzie Franks abandons her college life in Oregon, ending up in this dark world beneath Sin City. Here, amidst the threats underground, her struggle for survival becomes its own high-stakes game, with escape the ultimate prize.

But the odds always seem to be stacked against her, or perhaps that’s just her troubled mind playing tricks. Faced with adversaries both real and imagined, can Suzie find a way out of the tunnels and overcome her demons? Or will she succumb to the crushing darkness of her new world among The Mole People?

My Review

I read this book in six staves with my online book club The Pigeonhole. It’s only short – there are usually ten staves or more. After the first stave I thought – this isn’t for me – a young woman battling schizophrenia and refusing to take her meds. Aggressive, paranoid, thinking everyone wants to lock her up and throw away the key. The meds are only there to control her. But she relents, the voices start to go away, but she is putting on weight, so she stops.

By now I was frustrated. Take the meds Suzie, just take them please. I wanted to be fully sympathetic, but it was a struggle, which made me feel awful. I didn’t even like her at this point.

But then it all changed for me. When Suzie arrives in Las Vegas after a very harrowing journey, I became totally invested. Not just in her, but in Jazz and Judy who live underground in the tunnels with the other sad souls who have nowhere else to go. Suzie meets a man who calls himself Wonderman and Lady, who appear to run the place. Incidentally, the Mole People are real, and not just in Las Vegas. There have been documentaries about them on TV.

In the end, I loved the book. I even cried (though that’s not unusual). But while there is always hope, parts were very dark, but do persevere – it was worth it.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Kevin Landt devotes one third of his life to lying horizontally in an unconscious state. The remaining time is spent obeying his publicist, who insists that every contemporary author must send out a newsletter. Kevin has a dog and a cat.