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.

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.

What a unique, dark, and fast-paced thriller! Please See Us is distinctive in that although it is about the victims of a serial killer in Atlantic City, these victims and their stories seem to take a back seat to the stories of Lily and Clara.

Lily and Clara are two young women whose paths wouldn’t normally cross. However, Lily has returned to Atlantic City after a dramatic break up in an attempt to reset her life, and Clara comes into the salon where Lily works, attempting to find new clients. Lily believes in Clara’s psychic visions, and together, they work to decipher what Clara’s visions are showing her. Young women that they both know seemingly go missing, Clara’s dark visions are increasing, and Clara’s living situation continues to decline. This story shows the underbelly of gambling and prostitution, and how easy it is to get sucked into some deplorable situations with a few poor choices.

Most of the book alternates between Lily and Clara’s points of view, but accounts of the murder victims are interspersed. The author ratchets up the tension by increasing the frequency of the victim accounts towards the end of the novel. Please See Us is a nail biter that will keep you up late, reading to find out who survives and who is lost to either the serial killer or to their own decisions.

Thank you to Gallery Books and Simon and Schuster for the advance copy of Please See Us!!

Oh gosh, this book was too DEPRESSING for me. All the women seem to be doom and gloom in Atlantic City. Nowhere to run or survive. All women had to become some type of prostitute to make a living. Very sad characters indeed.

Please See Us narrates the story of a serial killer who is disposing of the bodies of his victims in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel during a summer in Atlantic City.

The "Janes" want to be found. They are all together, all alone without a voice and no one is trying to find their bodies until Clara, a psychic teenager starts having visions about the women. She begins a friendship with Lily, a Casino spa receptionist. With her help, Clara believes she can put together the visions the women are sending her.

Clara's life has not been easy. Her mother left her with her aunt, Des. Des has no scruples. She has made Clara a thief and a con artist. Soon she begins manipulating Clara into agreeing to prostitute herself.

Lily is from Atlantic City but she was living in New York City. She has an eye for art and was dating Matthew, a sculptor until he betrays her in the worse kind of way affecting her work. Lily runs back home to lick her wounds and to create a new her after losing everything.

One more important character is Luis, a janitor who's deaf and blind. Luis has his own demons. He's constantly made fun of and attacked on a regular basis. The police can see it happening but they don't do anything to help him.

Like I said earlier, Please See Us was too depressing to enjoy. It also left me with too many unanswered questions. I know I'm in the minority since so many of my book friends love it. It was just not for me.

A word of advice for readers, this book has many scenes and forms of abuse towards women.

Cliffhanger: No

2/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Gallery Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Please See Us tells the story of a serial killer in Atlantic City preying on vulnerable women. Lily is one of these women. She strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young boardwalk psychic, Clara, and they attempt to figure out who is responsible for the killings before it is too late.

Please See Us was a great read. It was not a typical fast paced thriller, but rather took its time to build up and intensify. I liked the portrayal of the friendship between Lily and Clara and also appreciated the supernatural undertone. I would definitely recommend this book!

Essentially this is the story of an unlikely friendship, a serial killer, and many vulnerable women.

Clara was taken in by her Aunt Des when her mother took off to California. Due to the financial down slope of Atlantic City’s tourism, Des has forced Clara to do many nefarious things (and sadly she has adapted to this) – conning people as a psychic, stealing, and working as an escort.

Lily was living the good life in New York, a great SOHO job and a boyfriend who is an accomplish sculptor. Needless to say, she was blind-sided by their break-up. Now back in her home town of Atlantic City, she finds a temporary job at a casino spa.

Currently two “Janes” lay in a marsh on the edge of Atlantic City, put there by a serial killer who’s needing to add to the collection. These Janes (and the ones to come) tell us their story and what brought them to this wet, smelly, and bug infested place.

Clara's life and focus changes when she starts to see and hear things. She soon realizes that everything she is sensing is actually coming from the missing women. She teams up with an unlike person to find the missing women, all the while trying to avoid being next on the serial killers list.

I have to say, I quite enjoyed this book. I was fascinated by Clara’s character, and I really think it was her story that kept me reading through. For some reason when I imagine Clara, I see a young Natalie Portman from the movie The Professional. Everyone has a back story of what brought them to Atlantic City and this novel is even more richer for it. Not all settings are meant to be written in glitz and glamour, some are written for dark shady places where you do what you need to do, a place where darkness hides in every corner. In this instance, it takes two brave women to expose the person lurking in the shadows.

The debut novel Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen was a good book. It did not grab me and demand my undivided attention and I am not sure why. It was dark, scary, twisted and all of those things you think about when you think of psychological suspense. The ending made the whole book worthwhile and I loved how the author brought it all together.

Her writing style was spot on. It was a book with many characters but she made it easy to keep up with who they all were. I didn't forget who they were, their back stories and how they wound up in Atlantic City.

If you like psychological suspense, you will like Please See Us!

Please see us by Caitlin Mullen didn’t hook me from the start but gave me something that made me want to continue. I am so glad that I did. The unease that this book gave me was great but wrapped itself up with a light at the end of the tunnel ending was great.

I thought the sex work throughout this book was done okay, but it was a bit cliche. I can’t decide exactly how I feel about this as far as if it was tasteful or not. I plan to sit with this for a bit...
Overall I think it’s a good book and I would definitely read Mullen in the future.

Thank you to Gallery, Pocket Books via Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen is a dark, gritty suspense about women who often go unseen.

Clara, a young psychic, is struggling to stay afloat in the quickly dilapidating town of Atlantic City. Now that the casinos are closing and the bright lights are fading, Clara is struggling to pay rent and knows that if she doesn’t leave soon the town will swallow her up. Clara begins to have dark, disturbing visions that she believes are connected to the women who have gone missing in town. When Clara makes an unlikely friend, Lily, the two work together to try to find out what happened to the missing girls while still battling their own demons. Will they be able to find answers before the next victim is claimed, or will Atlantic City swallow them up?!

This was a slow-burning suspense that gripped me from the very first page. Please See Us was a hauntingly tragic and gut wrenching story about addiction, violence, and power. What I loved most about this dark tale, was that the author chose to give every single woman a voice in this story. Often times these female victims get zero coverage in the media, a sick and disturbing fact in itself. So, I was incredibly grateful that the author took the time to share the stories of these victims. My heart completely shattered for each new victim we came across. I rallied around the main characters, wanting them to crack the mystery before another woman met her cruel fate. If you’re looking for a powerful, suspenseful read that sheds light on deeper issues in today’s society, I would highly recommend this read.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Gallery for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.