My week at the Blue Angel and other stories from the storm drains, strip clubs, and trailer parks of Las Vegas - Matt O'Brien

A rendezvous with a strip-club owner who starts a church based on the writings of Thomas Paine. A savage journey into the heart of Hunter S. Thompson's Las Vegas with the Good Doctor as guide. A Lord-of-the-Rings-like adventure into the city's underground flood channels. A seven-day stay at a seedy motel on East Fremont street. The stories in My Week at the Blue Angel aren't about Steve Wynn or Cirque du Soleil, and they aren't set in Caesar's Palace or a picture-perfect 2000-seat showroom. They're about prostitutes, ex-cons, and the homeless, set under Caesar's Palace and in trailer parks and weekly motels. In this creative non-fiction collection, Matthew O'Brien and veteran photographer Bill Hughes show a side of the city rarely seen; a side of Las Vegas many are curious about but few ever explore.