This story sounded like a million other mysteries, but turned out to be so much more. The author does an excellent job of character development, including making the setting feel like one of the characters. Atlantic City is fleshed out on the pages as much as the protagonists, Lily and Clara. This is quite the debut novel. Definitely plan on picking it up when it's released! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Please See Us is a women-in-peril murder mystery written in a haunting, lyrical style.

The book opens with a prologue in the voices of the dead silently calling Please See Us. But no one does. The dead are forgotten women, murdered by a sadist and abandoned in a Jersey City marsh between a dilapidated motel and bridge.

Jersey City is a character…in fact, a metaphor for the deterioration of place and soul. Forces of fate and poverty and lack of resources work against women in this once flourishing city on the shore. Women are forgotten, unseen, easy prey.

Other major characters include the unnamed villain, a bullied deaf man, a disgraced New York art agent, and a sometime psychic. The heart of the story revolves around the blossoming friendship between two young women⁠—the art agent (reduced to working in a day spa) and the psychic (whose reduced circumstances impel her to petty theft). These two unlikely friends band together to search for the missing and murdered women.

Overall, I have to say, this was not the book I was expecting. I was expecting a straight-up, intelligent mystery, maybe along the lines of I’d Know You Anywhere (Goodreads listed Laura Lippman as a comp writer on the Please See Us blurb) or a psychic drama similar to the series Medium. However, Please See Us was far darker than I imagined it would be. In fact, in the middle, I had to take some time off and read…cough, cough…a romance. Maybe even (true confessions, here) more than one romance.

Thus fortified with fluff, I returned to Please See Us, heart pounding, nails a-bitten. The climax was, well, climactic…and also perfect. And the writing is so beautiful and haunting. As is the lingering message about the choices left to women in a city depressed both economically and morally. The title itself, while it refers to the women murdered by a sadistic man, also speaks for the forgotten, live women fighting to survive and even thrive in dismal conditions.

When I finished the book, I went back and re-read the prologue. And I was even more dazzled than I was the first time I read it. Because what I glimpsed the second time around was an homage to Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Just me? In the prologue of Please See Us cars and trucks delivered filet mignon to the casinos just as cars and trucks delivered bootleg and oranges to Gatsby’s home—both juxtaposed beside grim, dying landscapes. And the eyes of the murdered women in Please See Us was so very reminiscent of the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg—ever-present eyes in both books seeing all.

I highly recommend Please See Us to readers who enjoy an intelligent (though dark) mystery with that something extra, that something which will remain in your mind after the last page is turned.

I received a copy of Please See Us from the publisher via Netgalley.

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This story is told from multiple view points which gets confusing sometimes. It was hard for me to stay interested in the story. The plot is slow moving. It takes place in Atlantic City where someone is stalking women. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I tried really hard to get into this. I found it to be slow from the beginning and trying to keep up with the characters was difficult, especially with all the Janes mixed in. I wish there was more about Luis... A deeper understanding. Just felt something was missing.

This book was received as an ARC from Gallery, Pocket Books - Gallery Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I almost collapsed with over excitement at the end of this book and I was left speechless and at first was not expecting the result of this book but the more I think about it, I love that! Please see us tells the story of Summer who ends up in Atlantic City not knowing who she is and what she is doing. Meanwhile there are two girls lying dead in the marshlands with nobody knowing who they are and how they ended up there. Then comes in Clara a up and coming psychiatrist who struggles with clients and then she meets Lilly who is a former art deco soho girl and she uncovers secrets that not even a brave mind like Clara wants to get involved. Everyone has a story and they all connect to the girls one way or another. This book reminded me of the show Blindspot on ABC how Jane Doe ended up in the middle of Time Square with Tattoos painted all over her as a map to solve a murder mystery. Similar feeling of anticipation and I know a lot of our community and book clubs will appreciate this book.

We will consider adding this title to our Mystery collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

This was a very visually developed story. Even if you've never been to a place like Atlantic City with all the casinos you really get a sense of what this place has fallen too. Like any city atmosphere you will find closed down shops and people living paycheck to paycheck. Clare/Eva one of the main characters in this story has what people would call a gift to be able to see or predict what's going to happen. She has a tarot card booth in Atlantic City boardwalk but times are very hard so business is slow. She has learned to grow up with little positive influence in her life and has to resort to ways to stay in her apartment without an eviction notice stamped on her door each month. Clare begins to see visions of bad things that are happening and she's not sure what to do or who to talk too. This story has several twists that you don't see coming and keeps the story moving quickly. If you like thrillers and mystery then I recommend this story.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. This review is in my own words.

This book is engrossing and authentic to the Atlantic City experience from a local's perspective, especially in its current decline. I lived in Pleasantville, on the border of AC, for the decade encompassing the actual serial murders. My family and friends all worked in the casinos. Caitlin Mullen reflects all of the soul-sapping grind of the industry and the sad, pointless deaths of women you get to know within the pages of the book. Although these murders are fictionalized, the author uses many details from the original botched investigations and the book reads like true crime with a heart.

This book was definitely better than I thought it would be. This is a fiction story that gives us an inside look into prostitution and the lives of the women who turn to it. These women live bad lives, good lives and somehow they turn to prostitution to make some extra money to get them out of a bad life or just to get them along on their journey somewhere else. It definitely makes you realise bot to be so judgemental of those women. It could happen to anyone. Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Pocket Books for my honest review

I received this book "Please See Us" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. I wanted to read this based on the location of Atlantic City which I had been to many times but a long time ago. The book had a lot of twists and turns. I found it hard to read at some points because of the nature of the story. I would say it was an okay read.

This book was a good read. It held my interest and kept me guessing. I liked how the world of art tied in with the downfallen boardwalk and casino life of Atlantic City. Having visited Atlantic City when it was thriving, it was easy to imagine the details put into describing the area. I will certainly recommend this book to patrons at the local public library where I work.

This book could define the term "atmospheric fiction". The emotions that Mullen is able to evoke, both for the living and the dead, are intense and real. The only thing that some readers will find difficult to deal with would be the pace. In the interest of delving into the emotion of the story, the author has kept the action fairly calm and low-key. But it was definitely a captivating read even if the end does leave you a bit unsettled. This was the first book I've read by this author but it will definitely NOT be the last.

In its heyday, Atlantic City was a popular destination for holiday makers and beach lovers, and - when casinos were legalized - also attracted visitors who liked a game of chance. In its golden days, the Atlantic City boardwalk was lively, restaurants were full, shops were bustling, and jobs were abundant.

With the rising popularity of other vacation sites, Atlantic City lost its cachet - and the once rocking boardwalk is now almost empty, half the casinos are closed, work is hard to come by, and there's a scent of decay in the air.

Worse yet, there's a LITERAL smell in the marsh behind the deteriorating Sunset Motel. There, two murdered women are posed so their fingers are almost touching and their heads are facing the city lights. By the end of eight weeks there will be five more bodies, victims of a serial killer who preys on women who trade sex for money. The deceased call out in their spectral voices, but almost no one hears them.

Atlantic City is a promising hunting ground for a vicious predator, since damaged females flock to the area - which is rife with drug abuse, prostitution, and lawlessness.

Over the course of the story we meet several murder victims, who are running from bad husbands, abusive homes, troubling circumstances, or their own inner demons. Moreover, the unlucky women - who vanish suddenly - hardly make a blip on the radar. At best a relative may ask around and put up missing person posters, which generally render few results.

The story focuses on three troubled residents of Atlantic City: Clara, Lily, and Luis.

Clara is a 16-year-old high school dropout who works as a Tarot card reader in a shabby boardwalk shop. Clara's mother ran off years ago, leaving the girl in the care of her Aunt Des, who taught Clara to hustle, steal, con, and more.Nevertheless, Clara has a real psychic gift, and she 'hears' the cries of the murdered women - though she doesn't realize what they are. Clara is desperate to leave town, and is saving money to join her mother in California, whom she hasn't heard from in four years.

Lily is an Atlantic City native who graduated from Vassar and moved to New York City to work in an art gallery. After a devastating betrayal by her sculptor boyfriend Matthew, Lily returned to Atlantic City and got a job in a hotel spa. Lily plans to stay in Atlantic City for only a couple of months, until she has enough money to return to New York and restart her career. Lily still mourns the tragic death of her beloved father, who perished after a terrible accident.

Luis is a deaf and dumb, mentally challenged janitor who works at the same hotel spa as Lily. Luis is constantly bullied by local toughs, right under the noses of the cops, who just laugh. Luis often thinks about his deceased grandfather, who raised and cared for him.

Lily and Clara come together when the Tarot card reader and her Aunt Des mosey into the spa to solicit clients for readings. Lily is instructed to throw the intruders out, but Clara impresses Lily with a 'psychic insight' before she goes. This leads to a friendship between Lily and Clara, and to an eventual alliance to 'help' the missing women.

In the meantime, Lily becomes acquainted with her mother's neighbor Mildred, who has a stash of Atlantic City paintings acquired by her late husband. Lily is immediately taken with the pictures and determines to find the artist - whose signature is indecipherable.

As Lily and Clara go about their business, they're observed by deaf and dumb Luis, who's taken an innocent interest in both ladies. Luis sees things that aren't obvious to everyone, like a strange man lurking around. When Luis tries to communicate this, though, he can't make himself understood, which is unfortunate all around.

The story exposes the sleazy demimonde of Atlantic City, where women - especially prostitutes - are used and abused. There's one harrowing scene after another as females repeatedly put themselves into frightening situations, and scumbag men take advantage of their neediness.

This is a well-written story that grabbed my attention and held it from beginning to end. The book also provides a realistic portrait of a once vibrant city that's succumbing to unemployment, drug addiction, and felons - and it's a sad thing to see.

This is more of a crime novel than a mystery, and I'd recommend it to people who enjoy that genre.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Caitlin Mullen), and the publisher (Gallery Books) for a copy of the book.

This book was a perfect representation of the psychological thriller genre. It moved quickly, had twists and turns in just the right places, and was not too predictable. I loved the suspense woven in, would definitely recommend to a friend!

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery/Pocket Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Atlantic City, 2 women become unlikely friends. There is 16 year old Clara, who lives with her flighty aunt, Des. They struggle to make ends meet as Clara tries to make money reading people's fortunes and actually has some legit visions. Then there is Lily, who has left New York and her art gallery job after some drama and returned home to Atlantic City to work in a spa. Meanwhile, there are 2 and counting dead women in the swamp behind a shady motel on the outskirts of town and Clara starts to have visions about them.

This was NOT my thing. It took me over a week to get through it. When I put it down, I had NO interest in picking it back up. I like mystery, suspense and thrillers. I didn't find this to be any of those things, despite it being listed as a mystery/thriller on Netgalley and called a "fast paced psychological thriller" in the blurb. What this book certainly was not, was fast paced. I was bored stiff. I requested this book because I thought the setting of Atlantic City would be interesting, since despite never having been there, it seems to be a glitzy place on the surface that is actually depressing and shady underneath it. Initially I thought the author did a good job of describing it and capturing the essence of the area, but then the book just got so bogged down in descriptions that I completely lost interest. I had to skim the last 50% and honestly I should have DNF'd it. There was no great revelation at the end. I am giving this 3 stars because despite it being way too long on descriptions, it is a competently written book that had obviously appealed to many readers based on the high star rating. In my opinion, it was totally miss-marketed, which does a real disservice to the book, because people like me read it thinking it will be something different than it is and end up giving it a lousy review. If this was marketed as women's fiction with a tinge of suspense, I would have passed and probably would have read 4 books in the time it took me to plod through this.

The depressing degradation of Atlantic City is the setting for this book by Caitlin Mullen. Women are being left dead in a marsh and no one except their loved ones seem to care. Gallery girl Lily and psychic Clara, both who’ve been dealt difficult circumstances by life, form an unexpected friendship and seek to find answers in the disappearances of these women.

First off, this was extremely well written with exceptional imagery and beautiful flow. I do not know anything about Atlantic City, but the author creates a living, breathing entity through her words. Everything about this is extremely depressing, which isn’t to say I didn’t like it. The descriptions of abuse, neglect and decay masterfully created heavy tension. Overall, a difficult but worthwhile read.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Gallery Books and Caitlin Mullen for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

So rich in detail and amazing storytelling abilities!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This book is so different from the scores of other murder mystery and murder crime thrillers that are out there right now.

Rich in vivid detail, Mullen showcases her amazing storytelling ability as she intricately weaves a story that is heartbreaking yet so very addicting.

We see much of the story through the eyes of a teenage seer. We meet some of the victims and understand their lives and their desperation, sadness, and despair.

This is not your typical thriller so be prepared to spend a lot of time reading between the lines and getting to know all of the players in the story.

I love the fact that the author did not give us an open and shut case at the end either. Maybe there’s more to come. Maybe the victims have more to say.

If you’re looking for a compelling, disturbing, and highly intricate story, Please See Us is one to put on your list.

Two young women become unlikely friends during one fateful summer in Atlantic City as mysterious disappearances hit dangerously close to home. Clara a tarot reading psychic and Lily an art gallery worker piece together the disappearances of these girls. Using artistry and psychic abilities these two main characters piece together the disappearances of girls in Atlantic City.
Atlantic City was once a thriving city, now its a dying city. Over the years, the town has had opioid epidemics, the casinos have shut down and gang violence was at an all time high. There were so many issues plaguing this city: corruption, addiction, recession that the ugliness seeped into your pores. Living in this oppressive town as a woman left limited options to earn money.

Overall:
The latest victims were known as Janes giving voice to them prior to being killed. While I appreciated this execution of details it was a bit extreme to delve into the minute details of life prior to being taken. It did aid in understanding why they were chosen?
Limiting the details to hours before being taken would have been preferable not years of life.
It was confusing switching back and forth between Lily and Clara’s point of view and then to the Jane’s backstories. The beginning didn’t lend the ground work very well to establish Lily and Clara’s interest in the case so I was still processing these characters.

Caitlyn Mullen released Please See Us as her debut suspenseful thriller. Unfortunately, for me Caitlyn didn’t possess the writing style I crave when reading a suspenseful thriller. This book didn’t hit the marks I look for in a suspenseful thriller. I look for dialogue driven stories with fast paced activity.
This is labeled a fast-past psychological thrillers, yet I found it slow-paced with little suspense.

This story captures the history of Atlantic City from a time piece where casinos were built drawing in crowds of tourist to a time where casinos were left vacant and worn down. Stepping into a different world where the successful men left Atlantic City when it crumbled leaving behind women to pick up the crumbling pieces.
It’s a character driven story delving into the lives of victims, women, and one man who has been brushed aside by society.

I thought it had the potential to be something great but it failed in its execution. I appreciated the process of developing each Jane Doe by recognizing them as an individual prior, yet the details were too much. Trying to give voice and reason to each individual character crowded the story with unnecessary details derailing the entire premise. Too much going on between the failing city, the men, the women, the Janes, the art, and the readings. The whole story was tied into too many layers.

With all its moving parts it’s one of those stories where I want to go back and reread the story to gather information that was once overlooked in order to fill in the pieces.
The ending was anticlimactic. I’m left with more questions than answers.

Really interesting book that took me a while to get into, but ended up having a nice slow burn to it.

The most unique feature of the book were the voices of the Jane Does--the murdered women lying in the marsh. It's through their memories of their lives (and their deaths) that you're able to start piecing together the mystery that unfolds. These Greek chorus-like memories also provide a nice tie-in to the psychic visions that also drive the story.

In addition to the Janes, we follow the story through Lily and Clara, narrators who (like most books) were a bit uneven interest-wise for me personally. I was a bit more invested in Clara and found the story of her trying to figure out if her visions were prophetic or not to be really compelling. It's hard not to feel protective of such a vulnerable character. (I was less jazzed about Lily's adventures in the art world.)

This should go without saying for a book about dead young women, but this is a dark tale. Not just the act of killing the women, but how men treat young women in general. There is some very tough stuff to get through in this book and it doesn't necessarily have a tidy ending. In that respect it reminded me a bit of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,"-- looking at the seedy underbelly of a world that's just a TINY bit removed from our own and will likely continue to be seedy long after we've grown weary of looking and turn our eyes to more inspiring sights.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book takes you into the lives of people in the seedy side of Atlantic City. It sucks you in and makes you care about what happens. Keeps you interested till the end.

This is the story of a grisly murderer in Atlantic City. Two girls, Clara, a psychic on the boardwalk, and Lily, in the city only to get over a broken heart, join forces to try and stop the killing of young ladies. Very well written characters.