A visit to New York’s creepy, actual underground where the “mole people” live. Underground New York is riddled with abandoned subways and tunnels, so many that the city has lost track of them all and has no real documentation of their existence. There, under the city, is where the “mole people” live—some in complete communities with appointed “mayors,” schools and children who have never seen the sun.
The author, a young Columbia University student, becomes obsessed with writing about these elusive people. She befriends a few “mole people” and goes underground with their help to learn more. There she meets a tunnel dweller they call “Satan,” and barbecues some fresh rat meat (“track rabbits”) with another. She also comes across a gang of drug-dealer hit men but manages to get away unharmed by offering to tell their story in her book—a close call. She also brings to the attention of many what the city describes as a “few homeless” living underground and finds the actual numbers to be in the thousands. She helps a few, but others threaten her life and things get scary for her aboveground. DW

Publisher: Chicago Review
Paperback: 280 pages
Illustrated