Lab Rat: A Reckoning

by James Heldt

Overview

The Barnes & Noble exclusive paperback and hardcover editions include full-color images not available elsewhere.

Lab Rat: A Reckoning is a raw and uncompromising memoir by James E. Heldt, chronicling a life shaped by abuse, medical trauma, systemic betrayal, and unrelenting survival. Told with poetic grit and emotional precision, this is not a tale of neat redemptions or soft conclusions-it's a confrontation with the truth many would rather ignore.

From a childhood marked by cruelty to adulthood battles with illness, erasure, and injustice, Heldt's story traverses the darkest corridors of human experience while fiercely reclaiming identity and voice. At once vulnerable and defiant, Lab Rat does not ask for pity. It demands to be seen.

For readers who appreciate memoirs that challenge comfort and speak boldly where silence once reigned, this is a reckoning long overdue.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798317678999
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	05/23/2025
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.49(d)

About the Author

James E. Heldt is a survivor, creator, and truth-teller. A licensed barber, accomplished silversmith, lifelong artist, programmer, florist, and SEO copywriter, he has spent decades turning pain into purpose and crafting beauty from what others tried to destroy.

Born into a world that tried to erase him—through abuse, chronic illness, betrayal, and systemic neglect—James chose to speak. To create. To endure.

His writing, like his life, pulls no punches. It is defiant, poetic, and unapologetically raw. Whether behind a barber’s chair, at a jeweler’s bench, or on the page, James channels resilience into every detail.

Lab Rat: A Reckoning is his first memoir—a battle cry for the silenced, a mirror for the forgotten, and a living archive of a life refused to be buried.

He currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his black cat and creative companion, Sayuri-ko.