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.

I found this a very hard book to rate and review.  I was lost for most of the book.  The flow in the story just wasn’t there for me.  It was a bit disconnected, it confused me and I had a very hard time figuring out where the story was going.  With all the 4 and 5 ratings, I’m wondering if I read the same book🤷🏼‍♀️.  
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was a slow burn, with richly described characters, including the landscape of Atlantic City. There wasn’t a gory horror story, but a deeply moving story of the murdered Jane Does, and the people who crossed their lives. Some happy surprises were included to balance the raw sadness of the plight of the girls whose spirts begged “Please See Us”.  Recommend for fans of  Mindy Mejia, Megan Miranda  and Wendy Walker.

3.5 stars

   A summer in Atlantic City that is crumbling with casinos closing and businesses struggling and 6  girls who live on the edge on society end up dead in a marsh. A friendship between Clara, a young Tarot card reader, and Lily, reeling from a failed marriage who has returned home to her mother, is the focus of the book. 

  Clara has visions of the murders but doesn't know what to do with them. Clara investigates half-heartedly but is bogged down in despair. The story is told from their point of views and also the Jane Doe victims and a spa maintenance man. It makes it difficult to keep up with the story with so many points of views wanting attention. Who gets more? The victims or the living?

  This was a debut novel that shows great promise. The author really brought the decay of Atlantic City alive for me. The multiple point of views was a little hard to navigate but the story ends on a satisfactory note. I can't wait to see what she writes next.

  Thanks to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This is a fast paced psychological thriller. I found it to be very entertaining and well written. There are lots of twists and turns to keep it interesting. The storyline and characters were very well developed. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen is a highly recommended debut psychological thriller set during a summer dangerous to women in Atlantic City.

There is a serial killer on the loose in Atlantic City. We know this as we are introduced to the Jane Does numbers 1 through 6; some of the women we meet in the story before they are killed and left in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel. Two young women meet in Atlantic City during this uneasy time. One, Lily, is just there for the summer, working at a casino spa, hoping to make some money and recover from a bad experience in NYC where she worked at an art gallery. The other is a teenager who goes by Clara Voyant. Clara is living with her aunt and working as a boardwalk psychic reading tarot cards. Neither woman knows that there is a killer loose, but, after a reading for a prostitutes nicknamed Peaches, Clara begins to have visions and suspects it. She hopes Lily could help her, but Lily is struggling with her own problems.

Atlantic City is as much a character as the people in this dark, gritty, heartbreaking story. Both Clara and Lily are well-developed characters while victims and other minor characters are also well defined. The narrative is told through different first person points-of-view, including Clara, Lily, Luis (a janitor), and the victims. I will admit being very angry at Des, Clara's aunt, throughout the novel. Truth be told, I could rant about all the residual anger I have at her for stealing from Clara while expecting Clara to use her sex to earn rent their money from older men. Clearly, violence against women and the fates of women living on the edge of society and becoming victims is at the forefront of this plot - but, then, Luis is also a victim at the hands of violent men.

The fact that I became emotionally involved in Please See Us, makes it evident that Mullen did an excellent job writing her debut novel. There are so many wounded, hurting people in this novel. They all have secrets, but feel they have no one they can trust, and Mullen does a good job describing these people living on the edge. The novel is atmospheric and sets the time and place at the beginning. This makes it a little slow to start and takes a while to get the plot rolling along, but once it reaches about the half-way point it takes off. Clearly, Mullen is an author to watch.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
Review on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

A fantastic read! The authors writing is so completely engrossing you will not want to put this book down. 
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher. My review opinion is my own. 

This is a compelling atmospheric mystery with a outstanding story. Set in Atlantic city two women who are unlikely friends join together to solve the murders of women that are unfortunate and in bad situations. The women were forgotten by society and no one cares about their murders. One of the two is a psychic who has visions of the murders. As the visions increased in detail she is driven to find the suspect. 

The clues, and  the well crafted writing kept me turning page after page. A outstanding read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I had a very hard time getting into this book. It just did not hold my interest. I felt the story could have been great but the writing needs some work. I'm sure there are others who will love it. Enjoy! 📚

This is another new to me author but I will look forward to reading more by her. 

“A feral cat winds its way around your ankles, its whiskers holding the light from the moon. Something lost recognizing one of its own.”
“They sense the shift in the wind during the final stretches of July. They know that this new month will bring warmer water, longer nights, cooler breezes. Then, the ocean will brew storms, hurricanes that surge their way up the coast. Wind that tears at the grass, tides that could scatter them, wash away what’s left. They think this means they’re running out of time. Time to tell their stories, time to be heard. They pleas again for someone to see before it’s too late.”
“The scream starts as a pain in her gut that buckles her in two. It roars up through her lungs, rips through the air, horrible and animal. She couldn’t keep Georgia happy, couldn’t keep her home, couldn’t keep her safe.”
“The women hover above it all, presiding like ghosts. Even now, they, like everyone else in town, still believe in luck, in the change of tides, in the upswing, in the chance that they’ll hit on the next deal. That something else will happen, something beautiful, wonderful, something that will turn it all around. They choose to believe that this isn’t the end.

This book is very sad in so many ways. It’s about a serial killer. He preys on women who are lost souls. Some might think they get what they deserve. They are wives, mothers, someone’s child, all come to Atlantic City running from something. Each woman’s story is heartbreaking. Each has something going on in her life that she feels she can’t deal with in any other way. A mother who believes she doesn’t really deserve her baby. A young eighteen year old who does not believe she deserves the good life she is given. Each feels like they do not deserve anything good in life. Each story is unique yet in some ways the same. They are drug addicts, prostitutes, working girls from different walks of life. No one deserves to have their lives taken from them. 

Each story, each woman in this book has problems. Two befriend each other and together they survived this crazy town. This book shows how a person can become so desperate that they will do anything to get away and anything to just survive. To get their next fix. Their next meal. I felt so sorry for each Jane in this book. There are six Janes plus one more. The six are together. Wondering what is gong to happen next. Will he be caught? Will they be found? Will they be there for the weather to claim them for all of eternity? 

Sometimes a book comes along that really makes you stop and think. Makes you stop and wonder. Makes you believe. This book sure made me do some deep thinking. What ifs. What if it was my child. What if it was me. You just never know what your life holds deep down. You have no idea what can happen in your life that makes you do things that you never, in your deepest thoughts, would do just to survive. People are not born this way. Life does it. Yes we have choices but sometimes those choices are not clear. We just do not see them. It can and does happen every day. All we can do is try and help each other. Be a friend. Have empathy towards our fellow humans. Don’t always assume that people are doing what they are doing because they want too. It could be circumstances that brought them to that life.

Thank you #NetGalley #Caitlin Mullen and #Gallery Books for this ARC for my complete and honest review.

I gave it 5 stars. It’s worth each one in my opinion. I highly recommend this one. It’s a mystery/thriller you won’t be able to put down until all of your questions are answered.

This is what I would call a literary masterpiece. I read alot of thrillers. ALOT. This one will stick with me. This author was able to take a mystery/ thriller and make it as impactful as a contemporary fiction novel. Her prose is so dynamic you cannot stop reading. She does a masterful job with her writing style that is just so unique. 

This book focuses on women and what lengths we must go sometimes to succeed. I felt so many things while reading this novel. I felt despair, disgust, angst, desperation, and, most of all, drive. These women fought so hard within the confines of this society and I was so moved by their struggles. I was so enraptured by the narrative but I couldn't stop. I had to find out the outcome. True crime lovers, this is a book for you to. The end matched the book so beautifully and, sadly, it mirrored society. This is the best book I have read in a long time!!

This is NOT what I’d call a fast paced thriller as stated in the blurb. It’s dark and slow to the point where I had to put it down several times.
Clara, a psychic and Lily a AC worker work together to catch a serial killer..
I was disappointed with this read.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. Extremely slow moving thriller, and I was looking for more of a page turner.

It's summer in Atlantic City and there are 2 dead women behind a hotel on the Boardwalk but no one seems to know about them. Clara is a young psychic having visions that may be related to the victims. She joins forces with Lily a young woman working at a casino spa. They try and figure out what's happening but are they  putting themselves in danger as well? If you enjoy compelling fast paced and twisty thrillers this book is for you!
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While Please See Us is a well written debut novel, it just wasn't for me. I had high hopes from reading the blurb- my family is from NJ and we'd visit AC on occasion when I was younger, so I was intrigued with the idea of this story. But sadly it didn't live up to my expectations.

I can't say I agree with the last line of the blurb for this book, as Please See Us, in my opinion, is not a "fast-paced psychological thriller". Rather, it's a slow-moving, melancholic, at times downright depressing, suspense novel. I'm not sure I'd categorize it as a thriller, as, according to that definition, it would need to be "a novel, play, or movie with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage. It does have the crime element, but I didn't find it exciting. I'm not sure I even really liked this book, to be honest. I felt like I was trudging through the marshes of Atlantic City just to try and finish it. It's very bleak, and with no true resolution it left me feeling pretty meh about the whole thing.

I absolutely loved this book, even though it completely broke my heart. The writing is phenomenal, the structure of the book is different but easy to follow, and the characters are all such broken, true to life people that your heart just aches for them. It’s dark and twisty and bleak and painful but has moments of joy that melt your heart in all the best ways. It speaks volumes about the human condition and our inherent desire for connection with one another and all the the ways that can go horribly wrong. And yet, amidst all the darkness and fear of this book, a tiny glimmer of hope shines and that is what ultimately makes it all worthwhile. I would definitely recommend this to fans of thrillers, as long as they don’t mind a book that makes them sad from the first page and leaves them with an ache in their chest. All the best books make you feel, and this is definitely one of the best.