Intense story about mental illness and inner demons. Having family members with mental issues, this was an eye opener for me. Author shows the tortured life of a young woman with schizophrenia. Her struggle with running away and being led into the life of the Mole People of Las Vegas..

I was caught by this book because of the title, I saw some documentaries about the Mole People and so far never saw it covered in a novel. The author really mixed three big and sensitive topics here, Schizophrenia, drug addiction and the society of the Mole people, this gives you a lot of ground to work with and cover. Due to the length of the book though, it felt a bit rushed mixing it all and giving it proper attention, I would've liked the book to be longer and go more into detail. Some endings just got tied too fast and too convenient.
The main character was quite flat, her Schizophrenia was tangible in the beginning, it drizzled out towards the second half and became less relevant, same as she became less relevant as a character, her point of view lessened and got replaced by overall description and views of other characters. I found that a missed opportunity, not making her the full unreliable narrator. To me, it was always too clear what was her illness and what was reality, for a topic like this, I would've loved some more mix and twirl and guessing. She also barely takes action, and it's mostly the people around her doing things. One last 'twist' at the end felt unnecessary, and I would've liked the characters of her mom and boyfriend to be more developed, maybe even switching the pov to them at times.
Overall, it is a quick read that sadly just brushes very interesting and complex topics. 2.5 - 3 stars from me.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Ryland Publishing for the copy!

I want to thank Ryland Publishing and the author for providing me a copy of this ARC.

Suzie is our main character. She seems troubled, avoids her peers and hears voices in her head. After a few “anger control issues” the College and her Mom wants her to take medication to calm down the voices in her head. She also develops a relationship with a blonde athletic type and can’t understand why he likes her.

Through a series of unfortunate turns, Suzie runs away and end up in Vegas. She has no money, she hasn’t slept for days, she needs a fix and Wonderman just happens to find her and gives her a place to live-in the flood tunnels. The residents in these tunnels are the Mole People. It’s gritty and dark and everyone has a price on their back.

You’ll have to read the book for the ending. Suzie was a lovable character and the author gives you a great look into someone that has schizophrenia. I certainly will carry Suzie with me

I gave this book 4⭐️‘s. I wished the book had just been a little longer. I would certainly read more from this author.

It takes a bit of reading to get to the part about The Mole People that eventually encompassed Susie. After doing an internet search, I was surprised to learn that there is an actual population living beneath the streets of Vegas. Kevin Landt writes in such a way that I was down in those putrid and dangerous tunnels, strangely, a place of refuge for some folks. As I came to know Susie, Jazz, Judy, Lady and the other characters, I felt it read more like a documentary. A documentary of folks trapped in a life where your only thoughts are where and how you can get your next fix, not caring what you might sacrifice to get it.

The first part of the book tells us of Suzie's home and college life as she attempts to apply herself to her studies while battling her rapidly degenerating mental illness. She is being treated with medication that helps her, but she stops taking it because it causes her to gain weight. Without the meds, she spirals downwards into a world far removed from reality and filled with paranoia.

She abandons college, family and friends in exchange for the drug life. Now, homeless and at the mercy of unscrupulous people, she finds her way to Las Vegas and becomes one of The Mole People living under the brightness, and excitement of the luxury above her.


Cities have communities in which the unfortunates and forgotten homeless population take up residence. In Las Vegas these are the Mole People existing in the flood control tunnels.

This book is an enlightening page turner with a solid storyline that reaches into your heart.

Short but full of feelings. I’m not sure if this is an authentic presentation of schizophrenia but lovs, you *must* take your medication. I have real life experience with that at least.

I don’t want to knock on “The Mole People” as it carries its message & the situations Suzy experiences get pretty harrowing.

My further life experience tells me the devil’s lettuce isn’t going to satisfy addicts, sorry. Worry about opioids & fent—that’s what’s killing people at tragedy level.

This story was very interesting. The character is schizophrenic, and the reader is quickly learning how that condition affects the person every day. Health is taken very lightly in this country sometimes and it’s clear that resources are very limited I enjoyed the story because I learned more about the condition from the perspective of a schizophrenic, but it was very uncomfortable because it rang very true based on what I have come to see happen in my work. There are trigger warnings for sexual assault and drug use. Very raw and very well explained, but probably not for younger readers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one’s been in my NetGalley shelf for a while! WHY, did it take me so long to get to this one!

I read this in a few days, it was a fast paced page turner! Trigger warning, this one hits on a run away young adult who gets herself mixed up on the streets, so some details (although not super detailed) may be bothersome to some. Drugs and abuse talk.

This story line was unlike most thriller books I have read recently and it was soooo nice to read a book that felt/read different to me.

I really, really enjoyed this one a lot! I think part of it was that I went with our church youth group to L.A. and walked the streets to reach out to the homeless. So this one felt kinda special like I got a peek into how and/or why someone might end up on the streets.

This was an advanced readers copy and I appreciate having the opportunity! My first read by this author and I know I’m a fan already!

Blurb: Alone and tormented by her own mind, a young woman must confront her darkest fears, or be swallowed by them--forever.

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 glamor, 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?

#read #netgalley

The exploration of the main character's mental illness was well done and heartbreaking. I would have liked more development of the mom and Robbie, to better understand what happened in their pasts to better understand their motivations.

'Ther Mole People" is a story of a young girl battling mental illness. This would be a somewhat easy way to sum up and describe this book and yet it is so much more.
The first part of the book tells us of Suzie's college time as she attempts to apply herself to her studies whilst simultaneously battling an ever present and rapidly degenerating mental illness that has her well and truly in its grip. Given her ever increasing delusions and the fact that this illness for the most part goes untreated, we see her spiral downwards into a world far removed from reality. As her paranoia grows, she finds herself in Las Vegas, homeless and at the mercy of unscrupulous people. Navigating her growing madness, alongside her drug addiction, it is hard to imagine that this will end well.
In most major cities there are underground communities in which the unfortunates and forgotten homeless population take up residence. In Las Vegas these are the Mole People of the flood control tunnels.
We could be forgiven for seeing this book as a tale of the life of a down and out and the consequences of lifestyle, and yet it is a complete expose on untreated mental illness and the depths this can take someone to firstly, and secondly, it is a revelation as to how these underground communities, which are all too real. exist ironically under the glitz and revelry of a town like Las Vegas in which money flows freely. and without regard.
This book is an absolute page turner and whilst a little farfetched in places, the overall storyline is solid. It is very well written by Kevin Landt keeping me reading due to its easy flow and steady pacing.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and would read anything else by this author

I liked the premise of this, and I felt the first half or so of the book was pretty interesting -- I could feel the schizophrenia through the words and actions of Suzie. I think her thoughts and thought processes were pretty well portrayed. However, once the Las Vegas section started, the book veered from Suzie 's perspective to a more multiple POV, which I couldn't really identify with. I could relate and empathize with her but I didn't feel like she was a sympathetic character at all. The last 1/3 of the book was tough for me to get through -- it felt a little rushed in an effort to tie up some loose ends, which didn't successfully come together for me, either.

All in all, a good effort -- a great premise and a very good first half of the book.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the author and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

DNF at 25%-I was really excited to read this book and had high hopes for it despite the mixed reviews. To me, the main character, Suzie absolutely her boyfriend, Robbie felt very flat. I do not want to write an entirely negative review of this book just because it was not for me, so I will leave it at that. Props to the author for taking on such a tough subject. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc. All opinions are my own.

Thought this one would be right up
My alley with all the “real world issues.” It was written with such respect to those issues. I was hoping for more though somehow. It was a good read for sure but won’t fall on my favorite list.

Between 3.5 - 4 stars. Rounded to 4.

We go on a journey with Suzie, a young college girl that is navigating her mental health, particularly as she hears auditory hallucinations. Suzie has a loving mother and boyfriend however her voices challenges what she knows to be true. Suzie abandons college and runs off to Las Vegas to see if she can start a new life, only to be challenged with daily survival.

What I loved about the book is you can tell the research that was put into this regarding the Mole People and about Schizophrenia. I was immediately drawn into the story with Suzie and how she would navigate the world with her mental health.

Where it fell a little flat or I was disappointed was the ending. I wanted more. I feel like Robbie and Dana were under-developed and we didn't get a lot of back story or storyline on them. There was a bit of a twist at the end and we didn't get to see how that affected Suzie or how Dana was affected really. It felt heavy with no debrief amongst the characters. I wish Suzie's mental health was show more in the tunnel where I feel like her voices might be the most active. Or at least as active as they were in the beginning. I was left with a lot of questions regarding the characters and their development.

With that all being said. I did really enjoy the book and even with my slow reading, I wanted to keep coming back to see what happened to Suzie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kevin Landt for an opportunity to review an advanced copy of this book. I received an review copy of this book for review via Netgalley for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Decent book; 4 out 5 stars.

Convinced by her own mind that everyone she loves is out to get her, Suzie runs away. However, instead of finding peace, solace, and freedom, she finds herself in the even more suffocating and incredibly dangerous underbelly of Las Vegas. Here she quickly discovers she's got more to worry about than the voices in her head, but who can she trust and does she even want to?

I enjoyed this fictionalized look inside the fractured mind of the young lead character. It's enough to grow up and go off to college without any mental struggles. Trying to understand yourself and the world around you is a right of passage. Yet for this story's main character, struggling with mental illness on top of everything else, it was anything but.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC and review opportunity.

This is an amazing story that touches on mental health, trama, family ties and addiction. It was beautifully told right up until the last word. You will not want to put this down!

This is a crazy, fascinating look at schizophrenia and its ravages on the mind! Starting in 6th grade, Suzie is teased by her peers and begins cutting herself. Now in her 20's she's been diagnosed with the illness and is on medication which she often chooses not to take. Boyfriend Robbie is kind to her even after she throws a chair at roommate, Andrea. Discovering pot and vodka makes her happy and she flushes her meds and heads to Vegas where she inadvertently meets Wonderman and the tunnels beneath the city where darkness lurks and anything goes! The novel is dark, often creepy, but it's a clever look at the mind and all its memories and fluctuations--and a message to us all: get help if you need it!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This is a very interesting book. It is realistic fiction which isn’t my normal genre I read. It has drug use, mental disorders, homelessness, attempted sexual assault, and prostitution. I read it very fast and it definitely kept me wanting to know what was going to happen. The main character is very interesting and definitely someone you feel empathetic toward. This tells the fictional story of one character, but I am sure there are many people with the same experiences. Great read!

This book had such a wonderful promise to be an enticing read - the main character is adrift, in the throes of mental illness and addiction. She takes off one day and her boyfriend and mother spend months looking for her. She has episodes, meets people that both harm and keep her safe, and she tries to cure her schizophrenia with multiple drugs. Sounds good, right?


This book did not hit. It was so fragmented, Suzie was the flattest main I’ve ever encountered, the ending was stilted and none of the characters were developed enough to make this book really pop. It needed about 200 more pages, but not like that. I hate to give it a low rating but it’s a 1-star read for me. I wanted so much more from the book and it just didn’t happen.

Suzie struggles greatly with schizophrenia and the resulting paranoia every day of her life. She rarely agrees to take medication which will help stabilize her moods, hallucinations and the voices in her head. Unable to accept the help of her boyfriend and her mother, Suzie leaves college in Oregon and finds herself in the tunnels of Las Vegas, where, now drug addicted and still self-harming, she tries to live with others who are also struggling (called The Mole People). This is a short but very powerful book. Suzie lives in a frightening and dangerous place, both inside her head and in the tunnels. This is a stark reality in our society, the ongoing struggles for many with severe mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness. Suzie is well portrayed, as are the other mole people, the tunnels are visually disturbing, and as a reader I could feel such raw emotion and empathy. The book also reflects on the difficulty family members and friends face when trying to help. I highly recommend this deeply moving book. With thanks to Netgalley and Ryland Publishing for this ARC. My opinions are my own. susanh_bookreviews

Thank you for this ARC! I was really excited for this book based on the synopsis, but the writing fell flat for me. I was not able to get into the story and ultimately DNFed. I may come back to it in the future, as it is an important and interesting topic.