Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas

The catacombs of ancient Rome served as houses of worship for Christians. When surveyed in the early 1800s, the sewers of Paris yielded gold, jewels, and relics of the revolution. And thousands of people lived in the subway and train tunnels of New York City in the 1980s and ’90s.

What secrets do the Las Vegas storm drains keep? What discoveries wait in the dark? What’s beneath the neon?

Armed with a flashlight, tape recorder, and expandable baton, Las Vegas CityLife writer-editor Matthew O’Brien explored the Las Vegas flood-control system for more than four years.

Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas chronicles O’Brien’s adventures in subterranean Vegas. He follows the footsteps of a psycho killer. He braces against a flood. He parties with naked crack-heads. He learns how to make meth, that art is most beautiful where it’s least expected, and that there are no pots of gold under the neon rainbow.

Features

• offers rare and compelling insights into the true dark underside of Las Vegas
• has timeless social and human-interest appeal that resonates far beyond Las Vegas
• many of the stories of desperation and homelessness are nonetheless uplifting and hopeful
• high-caliber journalistic and literary prose is complemented by haunting B&W photography that brings an added dimension