Caitlin Mullen | PLEASE SEE US

Plot (via Goodreads):

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. Can they break the ill-fated cycle, or will they join the other victims?

Review:

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen is a stunning serial killer thriller with an ensemble cast of fantastic women, alternating chapter perspectives, and a prose that is not only lyrical, but paints this novel as what I would consider an instant-classic. I hate when people say, "oh this is the next..." and compare novels to Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, etc. but I think that Please See Us has the outstanding presence to be the next big thriller that people will react to like they did with those two titles. The setting, the case, and the entire novel just was beguiling from the beginning. As soon as I opened this one, I immediately found myself immersed in Mullen's writing and this story. I cannot believe this is a debut novel and I am saying right now, Caitlin Mullen - I will follow your work no matter where it goes and what you do from here on out.

The characters in this story are vivid and sensationally written. I was astonished at how they really just came alive on the pages so early on; I felt like I knew them right from the beginning. This novel is really harrowing and suspenseful at the same time. Some of the issues that are dealt with in this one could definitely be triggers for sexual assault and prostitution, but the way Mullen writes it makes it so devastating and it really gets under your skin without being too violent or explicit. Alternating chapters feature "The Janes", which are murdered women who have been killed by the same man that is lurking around Atlantic City and it added such an eerie level to the story that was saddening and mesmerizing at the same time. I loved how this one wasn't overly graphic with what happened to them, but gave enough detail for the reader to toy with their own imagination. A poignant and thrilling story that is beautifully written, Please See Us is the thriller that we need; a novel that focuses on the victims and who they were compared to a police-procedural that focuses on who the killer is and their motive. I absolutely loved this about the story. Usually in a serial killer thriller, you have the victims and so much time is spent on getting to know the killer and why they murder and what their lives were like that the victims kind of fade into the background, but with this story they are ever-present and Mullen did a phenomenal job with this aspect of the story.

As the novel progressed, the slow-burning pacing of this one entered terrifying territory and I couldn't stop flying through the alternating chapters and wondering who was safe and who wasn't. This was such an amazing book that I found engrossing the entire time. A dangerously sharp and harrowing prose, fantastic characters, and an ending that was sensationally done, Please See Us is easily one of the best books of 2020.

Special thanks to Gallery Books for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5