Reflections of the Mole

by William McDaniel

Based on Bill McDaniel's experiences as the Mole on the reality TV series The Mole II. Using extensive notes taken during the show, he brings a unique perspective and timeline of events including never before released contestant interactions and behind the scenes subterfuge. He seamlessly blends the way the producers and fellow contestants used different strategies including what they thought and WHY they acted the way they did with what was actually seen by the viewers on the hit television show. Bill is a medical doctor and retired Rear Admiral, a career he confesses did NOT prepare him for the future job of misleading and sabotaging people. His writing style is witty, cogent and humorous, and maintains the mounting tension while the show is unfolding. The book also includes chapters on his growing up in rural Oklahoma, and how his family, friends and events during that time influenced his strategies on The Mole II. REVIEWS have read 100 pages of Reflections of the Mole. It is a fine book. I would like to take it on the whole before I talk to you about it but there are several things I can say now from a critical viewpoint. It has style. You have style. Your writing in this book is conversationally you. Anyone who knows you will feel like they are having a talk with you. Your writing, like your conversation is lifted with a soft, not cynical, sense of mirth that does buoy a person's spirit. Your narratives have a common characteristic that makes them literary and that is the revelation of the human condition. I believe that it's not what you or someone else saw, where you went or what you did that makes a great book, it's how you feel about the emotional content, the hopes, the fears, the struggles to make sense and sensibility out of an uncertain world, that's the important thing. You beautifully illustrate your perspective born out of your life's experience. As someone moves through the book, they get to know you and that gives them a reason to pick up the book again. What will happen? How will he handle it? How does he feel about? The other characters in your book are real or important to us when you tell us how they feel, otherwise they are props on the stage of life. Your sensitivity towards them and their perspective is a good thing. I have only very limited negative criticism for your book. I do believe that a book needs to be allowed to stand on its own legs. It works or it doesn't depending on the strength of its successes, not the triviality of supposed shortcomings. Your book works, in fact, it supersedes expectations. The book is marvelous, so much better than it has to be. When I finish it, we might talk about some things that I think you might have done differently or that you might reconsider. I would only be willing to share this kind of dialog with you because I believe that your readers, who have gotten to know you now, are going to want to see another book. So do I. --Librarian Bill the book was wonderful I cant say enough good things about it. I stayed up all night reading it because I couldn't put it down. I think I even read it all faster than Heather did lol. If anyone is at all questioning if its worth it it is beyond worth it. I am going to talk up the book to my friends so they get copies. I'll check back in here again later. Again loved the book & wish you all the best in sales." --Fan from the web site Just wanted to let you know that I just finished the book, and it was just spectacular. I was amazed at the lack of assistance you received from the producers (I thought from the Mole I that the producers had a more active role). I was even more surprised at your initial lack of confidence, because you certainly played the part well, I had no idea until towards the end that it might have been you. But what a great look at what went on behind the scenes! Excellent book! --Email to Author

292 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Katie SPRKLZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived it, I loved it.
Not the best view of me as a player or a human, but it was how I was at 25 years old.

[kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Due to the nature of the book, I'm just going to leave my rating at a 3/5 and not worry about the more detailed rating out of 10.

This offered some really awesome insight into one of my favorite tv shows of all time, and is definitely a must-read for any mole fans out there.

HOWEVER, I wasn't really interested by some of the pieces of back-story and found myself skipping over a few of those chapters. And, on top of this, the writing was sometimes a little painful to drudge through. Bill definitely writes the way that he speaks, and after watching his season MANY times, I could almost hear his voice as I read the book. But this definitely made the book feel slightly amateurish and unpolished. I understand that this just an individual recounting their experience on a reality show and not someone trying to write a master novel. However, I don't typically notice the quality of a book's writing unless it's really great or pretty cringe-worthy, and this fell more along the lines of cringe-worthy. Not downright AWFUL, but enough-so that I paid attention to it. For example, as you can see in my updates on this book, I tracked how many times he used the word "inasmuch" (starting at about 100 pages in-- there were also a PLETHORA of uses before that point, I just hadn't decided to track them yet). The reason that I did this was because the word was SO overused throughout the book, sometimes showing up twice on a page. For some words, this is to be expected, but "inasmuch" is not one of those words. This book really could've used an editor to clean it up just a little bit.

Another brief note-- he says at the beginning of the book that he tried to recreate everything as far as quotes/incidents/etc. to the best of his memory and that not everything may be exactly accurate. I definitely found this to be true. As someone who has seen this season at least 3 times (maybe more-- I don't really keep track), there were definitely moments where I said "That's not how it happened." While I understand that his memory isn't going to be flawless, I wasn't even there and noticed inaccuracies. I wish he would've tried to do a little bit of a refresher by re-watching the show or something before writing this.

Despite my grievances about the writing, I would like to reiterate what I said at the beginning: hardcore fans of The Mole will really enjoy the insight that they get into the show. After the beginning, when it goes back and forth between chapters on his past & chapters on The Mole, it gets into the actual gameplay and challenges, and that was really fun to see. Each contestant (save 1 or 2) wrote a little blurb about their thought process/strategy/etc. that was inserted after their execution was discussed. That bit was really cool. Plus, we get some more insight into what life was like for the contestants during the show. Overall, it's got some really cool stuff about the show in it, and it's definitely worth a read for Mole fans, but be prepared for some slightly amateurish writing.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A definite five-star read for any fan of Mole Season 2. Even better if you can hear Bill's voice saying everything!

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mole II is/was the best television show ever. It is safe to say that when this show was on...2001...then summer of 2002 the show took over my life. I was a fan obsessed. Luckily, I was not alone. My sister and goodreads friend, Kim, also loved the intellectual plot, casting job, and host as much as I did. From there, we were systematically able to get our whole family to watch as well as many unsuspecting friends. We threw an elaborate Mole Finale Party, created a MOLE book, helped our friend apply to be on the new version of the show, and continue to wait faithfully for the incredible day when Mole 2 is finally released on DVD. However, this book was the next best thing. The Mole SPOILER ALERT! wrote this book detailing how he was selected as the Mole, behind-the-scenes look at each episode and his efforts at saboteur, and narrating all of this in his classic Bill style. Each chapter (with the exception of one) also contained commentary by each eliminated player entitled "what was I thinking?" and an update on what that person is currently doing. I loved the update on Bob, Lisa, Ali, Patrick, Myra, Rob, Elavia, Katie, Bribs (ahhhh), Heather, Al, Dorothy, and Darwin. I thought it was fascinating and couldn't put it down, but wanted it to never end! Bill also included a little background information on himself, I found his hurricane story every interesting. One day (childbirth recovery, old age) I'd like to watch the episode, read the corresponding chapter, watch the episode, read the corresponding chapter until the season is out in a blissful cycle. This truly, for me, is as good as it gets!

Favorite Quotes: VERY hard to pick just these!
"Just in time I managed to roll my corpulent water logged body from the pool while Anderson looked on with bemusement."

"We moved to Lucca, Italy, and en route got to stop for a couple of hours at an Italian beach, with the ever present cameras recording our every move. Mostly they concentrated on a bikini clad Heather, showing the infinite wisdom of the camera crew. At one point Katie got exasperated with the attention being showered on Heather, and heatedly demanded, "What am I? Chopped Liver?" To no avail."

"Can't believe I'm going home. Anderson escorts me from the players to a waiting car with sad music playing in the background (I hear it in my head). Wow. It's over as fast as it began." –Myra executed player.

[RaineDayReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such amazing insight for obsessed Mole fans! I’ve loved the show since I was a kid and this only fanned the flame! Bill is such an intelligent and funny writer!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Mole" was one of the earlier-- and better-- reality TV shows. The premise was that a group of contestants had to work together to perform a series of tests and earn money to go into a communal "pot". At the end of each episode, contestants took a difficult quiz guessing which other player was the "mole", working against the rest of the contestants by trying to keep money OUT of the pot. Unfortunately, this show only lasted 2 seasons, at least in the U.S., and only season 1 was ever released on video/DVD. This book is written by the man who served as the "Mole" in season 2, Bill McDonald, a retired miltary man and surgeon who lives in Western Washington State. He discusses the players, anecdotes from the month he spent with the host and the other contestants, and the difficulty of keeping his double-agent role secret from everyone else. A very fun book, but only if you saw the show. (I did.)

**#74 of 100 books pledged to read/review during 2015**

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly enjoyable companion piece to the show Mole II (which lives on in our hearts and memories and on Youtube, thank God!) Mr McDaniels is a wonderfully compelling writer with enough snark, personality, and humor to keep pace with the best of them. Of course this is memoir, not literature but any true fan who bitterly regrets the demise of the show will enjoy this book and Mr. McDaniel's style as well as his hilarious and brief biographical reflections. There truly was not enough air time devoted to this interesting and likable man's journey to stay under the radar and sabotage the efforts of 13 strangers to make a million dollars. Long live the mole!