The life of Suzie, a young college student with Schizophrenia. As if the 'mean girls' weren't enough for a regular student. She hears voices, sees things that aren't there. The medication has side affects she doesn't want to deal with so she runs.
She can't find peace as her demons follow her. She finds herself underground in Vegas, the storm sewers where the lost and fractured live. A life of drugs and criminal activities to survive.
Will her family manage to bring her home or will she die like others down there?
An intriguing tale of life and mental illness.

Such an emotional amount of a girl suffering with schizophrenia and addiction. The everyday struggles and torments were not easy to read. It's always frustrating when someone has loved ones trying to help and failing. There's not always happy endings.

Well I saw Mole People living under Las Vegas and I assumed it was going to be a spooky story. I think I should have read the description better. Suzie is schizophrenic, she is from a wealthy family, attends college and has a great, supportive boyfriend. Suzie really needs medication to block out the voices and crazy urges but is not a fan of being medicated. She travels through streets and cities alone using any drugs she can score until she enters the community of Mole people called that because they live in the storm tunnels under the city of Las Vegas. It was an interesting read because out west this is definitely a real thing. Good book!

Posting 9/5/24
Suzy’s battle with schizophrenia is so sad, and feels so real. This book truly feels like it’s non-fiction. Unlike a lot of people Suzy has support of her mom and her boyfriend, but it’s not enough. There isn’t anything that can be said to convince her to stay on her medication. And, that is another issue. She likes how she feels on the medication, she can feel it working, but she doesn’t like that it makes her gain weight. When did we starting putting out appearance before our health mental or physical?
The challenges that Suzy goes through are hard, but her loved ones never give up on her.
If you are looking for a book that dips into the underworld of the mentally ill just trying to survive in the world, this is a perfect read.

2.75 stars

I was contacted by the author about his book and it sounded great. I fast noticed that it's not quite a book I would really enjoy - but as it was not a long book I thought " come read, maybe you'll like it in the end ". It follows Suzie who suffers from schizophrenia, how she leaves everything behind and goes to Las Vegas. Some people there are good, some are not. It tackles mental health, drugs and the daily struggles.

It's actually a well researched book highlighting a lot of topics that usually are not talked about - therefore it's actually a good book.

For me it was just not it as it was too depressing and dark and left me deflated.

Thank you Kevin and Netgalley!

This book was a hard one to read. Not because it’s not good but because it’s about mental health, addiction, the hard life of being homeless. Sadly, these situation are too real for some families. The book was raw, well written.

It’s the story about Suzie who is battling schizophrenia along with other mental health problems, and addiction. She’s in college and has a really hard time admitting to herself she has schizophrenia and decides to not take the medication because in her mind, it was a way for the therapist and her family to spy on her. Finally, in a last attempt to not be rejected from college, she decides to take the medicine.

It did help. It did… but it was short lived when she tries drugs for the first time and realizes that it dims the voices. She decided to stop the meds and do it her way and run away. She end up being invited to be with the Mole People who live under Sin City. They take her in to protect her, but at what cost?

Will she be able to find what she’s looking for? Will she be protected as they say? Will she be able to finally gain balance with her mental health?

This was good. It made you feel like you were there. Fearing for her. Have anxiety for her. Be sad for her. And have hope for her.

TW: mental health, violence, struggle with homeless

I definitely recommend.

Thank you to Keven Landt and Netgalley for this book.

Content warnings: self harm, drug use, SA, schizophrenia, suicidal thoughts, bullying
This was a very dark story about a young woman who has trouble treating her schizophrenia. I do not have experience with schizophrenia and I'm unsure if this is portrayed realistically. After finishing this book I googled The Mole People and found that there was a book written about those in NY in 1995.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Ryland Publishing and Kevin Landt for a chance to read The Mole People in advance. This book is one that I had a hard time putting it down. It is a excellent story and one that I found to be relatable to real life. The way the main characters story was told is one that I could imagine happening. This is a heavy but must read book. If you want a story that makes you think and feel for the character this is the one. I didn't expect the ending but it was excellent.

This book turned out better than I thought. I am a mental health professional, and can be very critical when books cover psychiatric illnesses. But, I feel that the author was able to describe the fractured mind of a schizophrenic quite well. I don't think most unmedicated schizophrenics have as much insight as Suzie does, but it's hard to truly know. This book was very fast paced and I finished it in a day. I would say that I wish all of these stories came with a happy ending, but sadly most do not.

I was given this ARC by Kevin Landt in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own.

The Mole People by Kevin Landt is the story of Suzie Franks who is Plagued by Schizophrenia and has now left school and has started collage. Sadly, the voices in her head get worse once she is in classes and Suzie finds it harder and harder to sit in and listen to her English Tutor. Suzie's boyfriend Robbie and mum start to see how much Suzie is struggling but when Suzie throws a chair at a girl and ends up in the heads office, they both tell her she needs to start taking her medication.
Sadly, Suzie starts putting on weight as a side effect of the medication which leads to Suzie stopping her medication and she starts with Marijuana then Cocaine and spirals out of control as the voices get worse in her head. When Suzie wakes up in hospital instead of listening to the thoughtful caring people talking to her Suzie's delusional mind believes her mum and boyfriend are conspiring to have her committed if she does not take her medication.
This leads to where Suzie cannot fight her mind playing tricks, so she decides to run away and packs up and starts heading Thousands of miles away sleeping rough, taking drugs, and doing whatever it takes to stay alive. Suzie ends up in L.A. and ends up going underground after being approached by a man the Mole People call Wonderman. Thousands of people live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels that form the bowels of this labyrinth.
This book is about Suzie and the so-called mole people and Suzie journey with her delusional mind as she tries to fight the darkness that engulfs her. Will Suzie survive to get out or will she join all the other people whose lives have unravelled until they succumb to their demons forfeiting life up above to the living in hell underground that swallows so many from drugs and mental illness.
This is the first book I have read by Kevin Landt, and it is professionally written, and I found it a fascinating topic to read. I toughly enjoyed this book as it is thought provoking and a topic which sadly so many people suffer from. “Utterly addictive and should come with a warning – once you pick it up, you will not be able to put it down until the final page.” Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was not an easy read for me. At times this book was unsettling and dark. It was a unique look into the mind of a woman dealing with schizophrenia. The characters were likable and I had a soft spot for Suzie throughout the book.

Thank you Kevin Landt and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give my feedback ☺️

The Mole people is quite hard to review – but not because there is anything wrong with the book, its just a relatively straightforward solid piece of writing. The structure is a little bold and interesting: the first half is predominantly about the MC and their mental health struggles, before we even get to the ‘Mole People.’ However this works well as it helps build attachment and grounding for our MC although it does feel more like a biographical genre, whereas the second half is more like a cult thriller.
I’m not sure much about Landt’s background but the author seems fairly in touch with mental health struggles and what that can be like for our MC and how such vulnerabilities can lead a person into a dangerous situation. There are also some interesting albeit brief subplots with the ‘Mole people’ that to my mind just elevated the story beyond being melodramatic or stereotyped.
Finally the last scene gave me a phobia of drowning, Landt can sure pen a vivid sequence of events, which can be used for terror, or sympathy or whatever the story needs!

“POWERFUL, Staggering, HAIR-raising tale… Of a young woman’s mystifying journey through life, mental illness in tow.”

Kevin Landt impresses with his illumination how typical behavior for many college students can alter the whole trajectory of life for a person with mental illness.

“Suzie Schizo! Suzie Schizo”! taunt the voices in her head as they urge her away from the comforts of the only life she knew until college.

Suzie is diagnosed (repeatedly) with schizophrenia. However, Suzie is NOT an innately bad girl either in spirit or because of her diagnosis. She is no different than a lot of other college girls. In fact, she is more reserved than most girls her age.

It begins when Suzie notices two FACELESS, disheveled girls from her 6th grade class. One is garbed a pink dress, while the other wears a yellow dress. Both have dingy, white ankle socks and their hair falls from pigtails as they trill the familiar refrain.

Suzie’s struggle to quiet the girl’s voices is often unsuccessful during periods of stress. Casual drug and alcohol use during campus life further affected her brain chemistry. The result was a loathsome, mercurial, just plain erratic version of Suzie.

Reflection

I hated witnessing the places Suzie’s illness drove her.

However, someone close to me was affected adversely by mental illness and the repercussions of self-medicating like Suzie. Therefore, I tip my hat to Kevin Landt. Landt offered a superb service to those affected by mental health by writing this piece.

In the narrative of “Suzie Schizo’s” life, he offers the audience context regarding the main character’s struggle to accept and cope with her illness. He also demonstrates, by presenting us with The Mole People, the surplus of shady characters who exist solely for the purpose of preying on the vulnerable—regardless of how or why that vulnerability exists.

THEMOLEPEOPLE #Netgalley #SuzieSchizo #AlteredTrajectory #MentalIllnessAwareness #Goodreads @KevinLandt @BookShell_F

Buy THE MOLE PEOPLE click the link:
https://books2read.com/u/4jEP0l

This was a quick read but not an easy one. It was dark and unsettling at times, which matched the subject matter nicely. It was an interesting look into the mind of a young woman dealing with schizophrenia.

I liked the characters in this one and was rooting for Suzie throughout. There wasn't much of a plot here, but it was an interesting, well-written character study.

I read an copy of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

First off, I enjoyed the writer's clear, coherent approach to the narrative. I rarely had trouble following the storyline or keeping track of the characters. It also introduced me to a subset of people that I hadn't known about; I looked up "mole people" and discovered that this is a real thing.

The trouble was the detachment. The story was told in a dispassionate manner. Everything was explained and described at a very surface level, without ever digging in to find what was below the surface. Ironic, considering this was about a group of people who literally lived below the surface of the Earth. The main character would act out of anger, without us actually feeling her anger. we were told that she needed a hit, but her drug addiction was never described in any way that made us understand what she was experiencing. it was all text with no subtext… All tell, no show.

Using an omniscient narrator gives us the opportunity to take on different points of view from side characters, but this was only utilized in the first few chapters of the book. Unfortunately, no matter whose point of view was being offered, the voice never changed. This may have been because the alternate POV was used inconsistently… even the chapters that began from Robbie or Dana's perspective would end up shifting back to Suzie's POV in short order. This added to the feeling of detachment, because there was never really any personality infused into any part of the narrative. Descriptor words would be used… Somebody would say something "desperately", or "with annoyance", but that was never depicted within the character, only explained to the reader. This event eventually led to a sense of TDM with the story, is there was never really any emotional investment in the outcome because we never really got to know any of the characters on a personal level.

I also found it troubling that the only experience that is really described in detail is an attempted rape. There's a lot that is glossed over when it comes to the things Susie is experiencing after she runs away, but a detailed description of a man trying to rape her is given lots of narrative attention. (Although it's not written to be titillating.) Then, there is no follow up in the aftermath of this experience… Suzie's thoughts and emotions are never unpacked and the story just continues as if it's no big deal.

I think the author is talented. I think the plot has potential. But I don't think everything came together in a way that felt compelling.

I appreciate NetGalley and the author for access to a digital ARC. My honest review is my own opinion.

An interesting read, not one I would usually be drawn to but I did enjoy it.

It opened my eyes to mental health struggles and I did connect to the characters easily.

It was a thought provoking read.

My apologies but I was only able to read less than two full chapters of this book. The writing was sophomoric at best. The author had requested ARC readers on FB or I wouldn't have requested this book as the title is a major turn off. I wasn't drawn in by anything. I was going to try and push through to up my rating with NetGalley but I couldn't. I do hope the best for the author on their ventures.

The Mole People follows Suzie who is dealing with schizophrenia, the loss of her parents and growing up. Suzie ends up engulfed in a tough situation surrounding drugs, SA attack, ED’s, physical harm and deeper mental health battles. Suzie feels there’s no way out than in the world the mole people have created until Suzie finds some people never stopped fighting for her.

I recommend the author include a trigger warning page as this book does talk about triggering topics on multiple occasions.

If you are interested in reading this please be aware of potential triggers surrounding parental loss, bullying, self harm, prostitution, SA, physical violence to others, drugs usage, mental health, and eating disorders.

The Mole People isn't generally a book I would pick up and read. I generally trend towards light reads. But that being said I really liked this book. I connected with the characters early in the story and the main characters journey through her mental health struggles. It really showed the other side of people who are homeless and the stories behind how they got there.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the eArc on this book.

The Mole People by Kevin Landt

This was a very interesting book about a college-aged woman who has schizophrenia. She tries to lead a normal life, but the voices inside her head won't let her. After several bouts of trouble in college, her mom makes a comment about possibly having her committed, and that leads her to run away, insisting she can handle herself. Then she finds herself with the self-proclaimed Mole People in the flood tunnels under Las Vegas. Will they help her reach a normal life?

First off, I want to say that this book has several triggers, including s3lf harm, already mentioned drug use, thoughts of unaliving oneself, and eating disorders.

As far as my thoughts on the book, I flew through it. I enjoyed Kevin's writing style, and it was set at a pace that always made you want to keep reading. It was emotional and heartbreaking to read Suzie's story. While I have no personal dealings with schizophrenia the way the book was written made me feel as if that's exactly how it would be and it was terrifying. Whenever someone truly cared about Suzie, her voices would convince her otherwise. It made me realize just how easy it is for a person like Suzie to get caught up in drug use and end up homeless because of exactly what happened in the book.

This is a 4 star read for me and I'm glad I read it, even if it broke my heart.