Please See Us

Caitlin Mullen

Mar 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Winner of the 2021 Edgar Award for Best First Novel

In this “beautifully written, thoughtful page-turner” (Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists) from “the next big voice in crime fiction” (Susan Scarf Merrell, author of Shirley), two young women become unlikely friends during one fateful summer in Atlantic City as mysterious disappearances hit dangerously close to home.

Summer has come to Atlantic City but the boardwalk is empty of tourists, the casino lights have dimmed, and two Jane Does are laid out in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel, just west of town. Only one person even knows they’re there.

Meanwhile, Clara, a young boardwalk psychic, struggles to attract clients for the tarot readings that pay her rent. When she begins to experience very real and disturbing visions, she suspects they could be related to the recent cases of women gone missing in town. When Clara meets Lily, an ex-Soho art gallery girl who is working at a desolate casino spa and reeling from a personal tragedy, she thinks Lily may be able to help her. But Lily has her own demons to face. If they can put the pieces together in time, they may save another lost girl—so long as their efforts don’t attract perilous attention first.

“You won’t be able to stop turning the pages of this heartbreaking” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and compelling psychological thriller that explores the intersection of womanhood, power, and violence.

Ratings and reviews

Please See Us Caitlin Mullen My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Content Rating: 18+ Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense Publication Date: March 3, 2020, by Gallery Books Please See Us, by Caitlin Mullen is a dark, edgy, psychological thriller that grabbed me from the first page of the prologue, and then slowly got under my skin. This story twisted my head and heart inside out and then spat it out in the dirt. I am blown away that Please See Us is Ms. Mullen’s debut novel. I am giving this book 5 stars rounded up from 4.5. The setting of Please See Me is in Atlantic City. AC is a place that will always be near and dear to my heart. I spent many a summer at AC and remembered fondly what AC was like before the casinos took its pound of flesh from the city. As a child, I remember AC as a magical place, and then as an adult, I bared witness to its decline. Caitlin Mullen captures AC perfectly. Ms. Mullen’s writing is clear and concise, painting a picture of the violence and grittiness of Atlantic City. Still, she also gives us a glimmer of its past beauty. Her writing style flows smoothly, and the pages turn quickly, seeming with no effort at all. The pacing of the story is perfect. What made this different from other serial killer books is that the emphasis is not on the serial killer, but on the victims. Mullen makes the reader care about these women by giving us a glimpse into not only their hopeless troubled lives but also their hopes and dreams. She gives these women a voice. They cried out to us from where they are posed, waiting to be seen. “Look, they try to say” “Look. Look. Please see” “The man has turned their heads, so they both look in the same direction: east, toward the lights of Atlantic City. They have been placed there to watch, to warn. Their eyes are open. They wait.” The two main characters, Clara and Lily, could not be more different; however, in some ways, they are similar. Clara is a sixteen-year-old clairvoyant that has dropped out of high school to help support herself by doing tarot readings. Later she seeks out a more lucrative but dangerous way to support herself. Lily is an ex-Soho art gallery girl who has fled New York after her boyfriend does the unforgivable. Lily finds herself working in a bleak casino spa where she meets Clara, who is trying to hustle her way into the spa. The two women develop an odd relationship, a friendship of sorts. When Clara begins seeing ominous visions about the missing women, she turns to Lily for help. That is all I want to say, no spoilers in my reviews. The ending was not at all what I expected, and I was not sure how I felt about it; however, it did fit the story perfectly. “Seven women, seven warnings.” “Not so lucky after all.” Please See Us is original, well thought out, and well written. It exposes how women can be used up by society and then forgotten. It tackles difficult social issues that uniquely affect women in a hard and straightforward manner. There is no fluff in this book. I highly recommend this book, and I am looking forward to reading more by Caitlin Mullen. ** Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published** *** I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Caitlin Mullen. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. ***

About the author

Caitlin Mullen earned a BA in English and creative writing from Colgate University, an MA in English from NYU, and an MFA in fiction from Stony Brook University. While at Stony Brook, she taught undergraduate creative writing, served as an editor and contributing writer for The Southampton Review, and worked as a bookseller at WORD in Greenpoint. She grew up in upstate New York and the Jersey Shore and currently lives in Brooklyn. Please See Us is her debut novel.