I enjoyed reading this one. The characters were easy to connect with. You can just picture and imagine being there with them while the untwist what's going on.

Deep and twisty mystery that paces perfectly! The setting is so well done, the gritty parts of the fading Atlantic City is the perfect spot for a serial killer.

Lily, after dealing with a very public humiliation at the hands of her artist ex-boyfriend, has returned home to Atlantic City to lick her wounds and figure out her next move. In the meantime, she takes a job at a local spa, where she meets Clara.

Clara is a teenage psychic offering tarot readings in an effort to help her aunt pay the bills. Eventually, she hopes to travel to California to find her mother, who left Clara with her aunt years ago.

Women have been going missing one by one in the once-bustling beach town, which has been reduced to a shell of its former glory. Can Clara and Lily figure out what's going on before one of them becomes the next victim?

Initially, I wasn't super crazy about this book, but even days later I find myself thinking about it. The atmosphere of a sleepy, broken-down beach town that is so past its heyday comes through so clearly, and I had no problem picturing these two lost girls struggling through their day-to-day life in this environment (I could practically smell the salt air). This book explores the many different ways that women suffer at the hands of men, and I appreciated watching the main characters experience and grow from these offenses in such a realistic manner. I've seen this book compared to those of Laura Lippman, and I would say it is an apt comparison. I look forward to reading more books from this author in the future :)

Please See Us is an absolute harrowing tale of women in peril. I was spellbound by the way the storyline intertwined the characters. This is an edge of your seat read. I was equal parts devastated and intrigued, always invested in the outcome.

I am certain, I will never step foot in Atlantic City. A tribute to the author’s ability to set the scene of a desolate, decaying area.

These characters, Clara especially, are compelling. Despite their circumstances, I found myself routing for them. Their vulnerabilities fill the pages. I cannot wait for more from Mullen. This debut, while dark, was everything I hoped for and more.

This book was so beautifully written. The authors words perfectly brought to life from off the pages the sound of the summer breeze on an empty boardwalk and the the FEELING of despair and loneliness on that same empty boardwalk. I could just picture the whole scene so vividly as the author walked us past closed up stores, empty souvenir shops and straight into casinos with a few desperate locals trying so hard to win big on that spin while sipping free well drinks in their track suits. It was all so sad but so real and raw.
The characters were so real and raw as well. They became REAL for me and I felt for them.
I loved how this book was set up in the voices of the girls that had been taken and in the present by Claire.
I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did and I highly recommend it. It was dark and sad and it messes with your heart and head. But, it was so good. I especially enjoyed the other theme about friendship between women and a very important message: Don't judge someone on their looks alone. You never know what gift you will find when you unwrap that person's outer shell and get to know them.
Cheers to Caitlin Mullen!
Thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
5 star from my heartstrings.

A slow burn, mystery/thriller with a unique dual perspective. Really entertaining and well written. This book took me a little longer to become invested as compared with my usual taste in this genre, but overall I really liked it.
Definitely would recommend.
#Netgalley #PleaseSeeUs #GalleryPocketBooks

This is definitely a unique reading experience for me. For Caitlin Mullen’s debut novel, I thought that this book was pretty good. The story and writing was enticing and kept me wanting more. The characters were complex, flawed and also beautifully written, in a sad way. The pacing kept me engaged and I truly wanted to read faster (if only I could, I would have). The only main downfall for me were the number of characters that we are introduced to in this book, as a personal preference I really can’t enjoy more than four main characters. (I’m looking at you Game Of Thrones). It had me quite confused and having to go back and reread things to make sure I knew who I was reading about. At times, throughout the entire book, I got really annoyed with myself, for not being able to remember everyone and their individual stories. Overall, I love a really good, engaging thriller with lots of suspense and that’s what this was. A great story with broken and abused characters who show us the depths that they will go just to be able to get by and stay as sane as possible in a crazy messed up world.

Solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Please See Us is an eye opening novel by Caitlin Mullen. Mullen brings her reader into life behind the glitter one summer in Atlantic City. Clara, a young boardwalk psychic, lives with her aunt and they are months behind on their rent. Clara is troubled by disturbing images in her mind that she can not escape. Lily, a Vassar graduate, has returned home for the summer after her NYC life unraveled. The women form an unlikely friendship and become confidants. At the core of Mullen's plot are murders that go unnoticed. All of the characters in this thought provoking novel beg to be seen.

Told from multiple points-of-view (including the victims after their death), Please See Us tells a tale of a desolate and dissolute Atlantic City and the people who are trying to survive there.

Clara is a boardwalk psychic working with her absent mother’s best friend Des on scamming the tourists five dollars at a time. However, when the uncle of a missing girl asks for a reading, Clara starts seeing real visions of his niece.

The best part of Please See Us is the atmosphere of decay. As a new employee in a high-end spa, Lily describes the feeling infused throughout the book. “The entire town was like a dreamscape tilted toward nightmare.” The evocative writing style is also extremely effective in creating the mood of the book though it does slow down the pace a bit. Overall, it’s a slow-burning yet compelling book. 4 stars!

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Please See Us is a thrilling mystery that grabbed my attention from the first page. The book opens with a chapter from an unknown person's point of view. In the next we meet the main characters - Clara Voyant, a very young boardwalk psychic who is starting to doubt her sanity. She begins having strange visions and feels like flies are crawling over her skin. Lila is coming off a humiliating break-up and has to resort to working at a high-end spa for one of the casinos. She meets Clara (real name Ava) when she and her sister try to do "readings" in the spa. Even though the two sisters were asked to leave, Clara feels she can trust Lily so confides the visions and weird feelings she's been having. Fighting an increasing sense of urgency, the unlikely pair use their intelligence and resources to find out more about the visions. In the midst of this, Clara's Aunt is selling Clara's virginity, then her body. Clara and Lily could be in real danger if they can't figure out what the visions mean.

Caitlin Mullen gives us an excellent suspense story with incredibly unique and well-developed characters. I read Please See Us in a sitting. The end of the story was satisfying but - hopefully- leaves an opening for Lily and Clara to work together again. I appreciate the chance to read the ARC!

Two interesting women in Atlantic City become friends and work together to solve the mystery of two women found behind a motel. One is a receptionist at a casino spa and the other tells fortunes. She really does have the gift though and visions which seem to be connected to the case fill her thoughts. I like the transition from first to second to third person in the writing. Not all novels do this successfully.

My Thoughts
I struggled a bit with this book. Here are my pros and cons for Please See Us:

Pros
1. The description of Atlantic City – desolate, abandoned, forsaken – was one of the best things about the book. It certainly wasn’t an inviting description, but it was so well done that I really felt like I was experiencing the hopeless and weary atmosphere while reading the story.
2. The title is haunting and has multiple meanings in my opinion. Excellent title.
3. Clara was the most well-developed character in the book. She was the most human to me, probably because she felt fragile and forgotten.

Cons
1. This story is dark. It is depressing, sad, demeaning, violent, and hopeless. Everything is a tragedy. Even a bit of happiness once in a while would have been nice.
2. In general, I thought the characterizations were lacking. Even though I thought Clara was the most well-developed, even she felt a bit lacking to me. We get a smidgen of backstory for the two main girls – Lily and Clara – but not nearly enough. There wasn’t enough information about Lily for me to like or even care about her and the other characters in the book were essentially unnecessary. There are Jane Does in this story that I was supposed to sympathize with, too, but even their stories didn’t really impact me. Of course, I hated they were dead, but that is about it. The story needed a lot more character development.
3. This isn’t a thriller and the mystery part isn’t that interesting. You know that women are getting murdered, but you don’t know why and the story doesn’t seem to want to know why either. There is no active investigation because the book isn’t about that. And honestly, I’m not 100% sure what the book is supposed to be about.
4. The pacing is slow!! Almost nothing happens until the last 25% of the book and even that wasn’t thrilling or exciting at all.

Summary
It took me a long time to finish this book. I can typically read a book of this size in 2 days max… this one took 19 days. 19 days!!! It just wasn’t holding my interest because nothing really happens through a lot of the book and everything is so dark and sad. This is described as a fast paced psychological thriller and that is simply not the case.

This particular book was only just okay for me. I appear to be in the minority with that opinion, and honestly, I am glad other people enjoyed this book more than I did. That said, I do see a glimmer of promise in the storytelling ability of this author and I will very likely read future books she writes.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Against the gritty backdrop of an Atlantic City that has fallen on hard times, there are dead women lying in a salt marsh behind the Sunset Motel.

Although it took me a little while to sort out characters, this slow-burner pulled me in. Mullen’s approach to exposing the vulnerabilities of her characters is so well done. I especially loved the voices of Lily and Clara, sympathizing with these bright yet unlucky victims of circumstance. This is one of few books that I have continued to think about days after finishing. A captivating debut.

This was a gritty look at the dark side of those living in Atlantic City after its heyday, when what is left is a dying gambling town where the locals are trying to survive after the exodus of the tourists, resorts and all the money that went with it. Left are those scraping by, and this novel digs into what is left for a group of un-related young women who see no future: prostitution, sexual abuse, alcohol, key among their primary influences. As a twist, one of the main characters, Clara is a fortune teller, reading tarot cards which gives her visions about other victims but she cannot envision a clear path for her own future. Together with Lily, a twenty-something trying to escape a failed career and love life in NYC as an art dealer, they try to solve a series of tragic murders of other young women who are below the radar, unseen with their struggles to survive in what almost feels like a post-apocalyptic American city. The different POV of the multiple victims, along with their post-death voices shared from their burial in the marsh serving as a disturbing but somewhat hopeful Greek chorus made this a powerful read. That being said, it was hard to enjoy reading this novel and at times, the slow burning pace of the serial murders made me want to put it down versus plow through to the end. I also appreciated the ending but felt it left a few too many threads unfinished. A worthy debut but not an easy read. Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A haunting story that stays with you. This story is real, its real life. Thats what left an impression on me. The events that took place in this story really happened. They also have taken place on Long Island not far from where I live. I was so interested to read this because of those facts and this book did not disaapoint! It kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an advance copy of this book for an honest review

4 ⭐️

It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel . This very dark novel of a run down and seedy Atlantic City is not for the faint of heart and deals with quite a bit of hot topics drug addiction, abuse, mental health, disability, and the list goes on .- without being preachy - it’s just life . For me, it was a bit too dark at times but I still enjoyed it . I also really liked that the author gave each of the Jane Doe’s their own voice and made them more “human” to the reader and not just another body count.

I would definitely recommend this and look froward to other novels by this author in the future

The story builds very well, with just the right amount of tension. The pieces slowly fall into place in a way that does not make the story seem forced, but still ties up loose ends. The comparisons to Laura Lippman are particularly apt as she utilizes the same slow build that makes her work so compelling and satisfying. This book includes well crafted characters who have depth and pathos and pull the reader into the story.

Women have been disappearing and a teenage psychic begins having real, scary visions of the women. There is a serial killer in the Jersey boardwalk area. Clara meets Lily, who just got a job at a spa, and the girl feels she can help her. But Lily is trying to battle her own demons from her past in New York. Not only is the story told in their points of view, but through some of the murder victims too. The killer is an icy enigma, at home in the decaying environs, who preys on the desperate and meting out his own twisted justice.

Nail-biting, haunting suspense knee-deep in horror set in a vacation spot once revered for its casinos, but now is dying, due to the economic downturn. Gritty and realistic, there are no saints or heroes. The atmosphere is bleak, but it ends on a hopeful note, although not all the ends are tied up in a neat manner.

WOW! The author did a very masterful job of bringing to life the stories of the women whose lives have been on a downward path, and who have turned to to prostitution as a last resort, just to have money to get by. For some, having money to get by meant having enough to buy alcohol, drugs or even pay for a place to sleep. Added to this, is the paralleled decline of Atlantic City, New Jersey, where feral cats are found everywhere, and once glamorous sites where the famous played has become a rundown area where bad things happen.

The chapters tell the stories of the different women affected by this way of life, and those who were murdered, their bodies left grouped together. It also talks about friendships and family relationships. There is a good bit of depth to each of the characters making them seem so real, I couldn’t help but wonder how the author did her research.

Please See Us was an interesting read, but it didn't wow me the way I thought it would. It opens with a creepy vibe, but then it slows down more than I care for. Things do pick up as the story progresses, and I did find myself getting more and more invested in the characters. I did like the perspective (For lack of a better word) of women in the marsh. It added an element to the story that I didn't expect. The biggest downfall for me was that so much of this book was just sad and depressing that it was hard to stay with it. I will say that the author shows great talent, and there were passages that really stood out. In the end, there were things I liked and things I didn't, landing me somewhere in the fair to middlin' range. It was an okay read, but it's not something I'll think much about later.