Member Reviews

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a great debut novel and look forward to reading more by this authors. I felt like this book came together as a whole with the characters, the story and the ending.

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I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

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Thank you so much for this ARC!

Instead of reading this, I was able to listen to the audiobook. I found it a bit difficult to go back and forth from the different characters and the different points of view.

Ultimately, I did not finish.

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Please See Us is a great thriller and I was surprised to find out this was a debut! Caitlin Mullen did a great job at bringing together 2 unlikely characters. I found this book very atmospheric, heart-wrenching and overall wonderful. Highly Recommend!!

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This moved a little too slow for me to be considered a traditional suspense and just barely missed the mark being a good character driven suspense. It's a personal issue, but I didn't feel the connection I wanted to with the story or the characters, especially considering the issues it addressed. I did appreciate the attempt at exploring the challenges and struggles of women. If you like a slow burn, this might be for you. Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the advance release copy.

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I trudged through this one even though I really wanted to like it! The story never gripped me, the characters were pretty much all unlikable and the whole thing was just kinda DEPRESSING. Maybe it's the timing, with the virus and other stresses adding up all around me, but it put me in a head space that was very unwelcome.
Thanks to Caitlin Mullen, Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

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OH MY!...WOW!... AMAZING!... A REAL EDGE OF THE SEAT TYPE OF STORY!... COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!...From the characters to the story to the setting, it really had me in its grasp! Recommend? MOST DEFINITELY!!!

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Summer in Atlantic City is quiet, casino lights have dimmed, but a short distance down the road 2 young women- Jane Doe's are dead. Only one person knows they are there. Clara a boardwalk psychic and Lily a SOHO artist soon find themselves working together to solve the murders. Can these two unlikely friends find the murderer? Read Please See Us and find out for yourself.

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This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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Please see Us is a multilayered story of women in Atlantic City and the danger and grittier elements that pervade their lives. As someone living in the Mid-Atlantic, the realness this story had of the decaying Atlantic City made the horror that was written about all the more scary. I have also been fascinated with the Long Island serial killer case and the theories that he is connected to real life murders in Atlantic City and enjoyed reading a fictionalized case.

The story begins with multiple Jane Does and their pleas for someone, anyone, to see them. They have been left in the marshes behind a flea bag motel where sex workers stay and manage to scrape by. A decaying city with a sagging economy is a breeding ground for corruption and lack of empathy and Atlantic City is no different. The Jane Does aren't deemed important in their community due to their perceived lifestyle of drug use and promiscuousness so these crimes go unnoticed. But as a reader we know the dangers and that there is someone watching our main characters, picking women off one by one. Who will be next?

Our two main characters Clara Voyant a 16 year old girl who is living with her addict “aunt” and running a tarot card reading/escorting hustle and Lily, a former art dealer local returning home after a bad break-up. They befriend each other and get sucked into the dark underbelly of sex, violence and murder. Will they end up as victims as well?

I know that the ending had some readers frustrated with the murders of the Jane Does not being solved but as someone still hoping they catch the Long Island serial killer, I know that an uncaught killer is more realistic ending.

I enjoyed this slow burn thriller and enjoyed the little bit of supernatural elements involved but I do have a criticism of the sex scenes. Sometimes it felt as if too much was shared and that things that were very dark were unnecessarily shared for titillation. Sometimes less is more.

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i really enjoyed this debut novel, the characters were great and I really enjoyed going on the mystery through the book.

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I enjoyed this read.... it was engaging and kept me pulled in. I look forward to reading more of this author's and appreciate the opportunity to review this one!

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Atlantic City is desolate. Two bodies, Jane Does, lying in a marsh behind a sketchy motel hoping to be found. Clara, a teenage psychic, and Lily, a young twenty-something art gallery girl recently moved from NYC, form an unlikely friendship. They find themselves in some dangerous situations as they try to figure out what Clara’s recent visions mean. More Jane Does join the first two in the marsh and Clara and Lily find themselves getting closer to the same fate.

This story started out a little slow but picks up pace after the first quarter or so. At first I thought that there was just too much unnecessary dialogue/character side stories but it all comes together.

I particularly liked that the author had chapters giving a voice to all of the Jane Does and how they met their end. It’s actually a pretty sad story of women trying to make a living so they can get out of the life they’ve been stuck in.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC. This book is already available and I recommend it to anyone that likes a well-planned and detailed suspense novel.

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This book started off slow and a bit confusing for me. It wasn’t until part way through that I made the connection between all the Janes.

It’s a dark look at how men abuse and take advantage of women down on their luck, it’s definitely an honest look at the seedy underbelly of poverty, homelessness, prostitution and murder.

The story did build as it went on and I became invested in the characters however it didn’t blow me away. I felt as though Des didn’t really impact the story and Luis’ was left with some loose ends.

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Please See Us was a great read by Caitlin Mullen. It is summer time in Atlantic City but there are no tourists on the boardwalk. Behind the Sunset Motel there are two Jane Does. Clara is a young psychic on the boardwalk who is struggling for clients. She begins experiencing very disturbing visions and thinks that they may be related to the missing girls. She meets Lily who she believes may be able to help her but Lily is battling her own demons. They work together to try and save the young girls. This was a great psychological thriller.

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I did not finish this novel because I simply could not stay engaged and did not find it interesting enough to continue.

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I'm not a big fan of hard core murder mysteries but I picked this up because it was set in Atlantic City, New Jersey where I used to spend some time. I was familiar with many of the places Ms. Mullen described. This book highlights the forgotten segment of society that just gets by. The characters are likable but distasteful. I think the murder thriller fan will enjoy this book. It's gritty and well written. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! IF you’re looking to go some place while you’re on social distancing, why not consider the dirty, grimy, hopeless Atlantic City?

My biggest note on this book: don’t read it at the same time as Know My Name by Chanel Miller. It just kind of makes you hate men and have no hope that anything will be okay. That being said, I generally loved the atmosphere of this book. Despite having lived in NYC for nearly 5 years, I haven’t gone down to Atlantic City. I don’t know if it’s really how it is described in the book, but Mullen does a great job of painting the downfall of a city.

I overall enjoyed this book. Its pacing is a bit slow for me through out -- I am coming to find that I like my mysteries cozy, or action packed. This one fell into a slow crawl of a mystery, likely because a good portion of the book's focus is on Atlantic City itself.

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Raw, gritty mystery that kept me on edge and guessing until the last page!

This story covers multiple women and their stories in the once glamorous Atlantic City. Their connections are expertly interwoven with the individual stories slowly coming to the surface. It's a grim tale that includes grisly details of the horrible abuse, physical and sexual, these women suffer. The writing style is unusual, with each chapter focusing on a different character, including the Jane Does.

"Enjoyable" does not seem an appropriate word to describe my feelings of this book but it was an eye opener and I'm glad to have the opportunity to read it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Mullen shows a unique style and talent in this her debut novel. It is a dark story that shines a light on women who go unseen and unheard in our society - women dealing with poverty, drugs, and prostitution - a harder side of life. The characters are well-developed with voices that allow them to have a human value that they deserve and so often don't get. Mullen's writing style is amazingly innovative and haunting - giving voice to both the dead and the living. It is not a run of the mill mystery - it is disturbing as well as powerful - a very different kind of read to be sure! Caitlin Mullen is an author to follow!

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