2021 Edgar Award for Best First Novel
Winner of the 2021 Edgar Award for Best First Novel
This ‘beautifully written, thoughtful page-turner’ (Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists) set in Atlantic City blends noir suspense, a missing persons mystery, and female friendship into a haunting, literary page-turner, as two young women become unlikely friends during one fateful summer when 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 lie hidden in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel. Only one person knows they’re there.
Meanwhile, Clara, a struggling boardwalk psychic, gives tarot readings to make ends meet—until she begins experiencing disturbing visions that feel all too real. As reports of missing women spread through town, Clara suspects her clairvoyance may be tied to the growing danger. When she meets Lily, a former Soho art gallery assistant now working at a nearly abandoned casino spa while grappling with personal loss, the two form an uneasy bond. Together, they begin to uncover a pattern—but getting too close to the truth may put them directly in harm’s way.
This ‘heartbreaking…riveting thriller’ (Paul Harding, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Tinkers) explores the intersection of womanhood, power, violence, and survival, as two women confront buried truths and risk everything to stop a pattern of disappearance before it claims another victim.
Genre: Mystery
This ‘beautifully written, thoughtful page-turner’ (Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists) set in Atlantic City blends noir suspense, a missing persons mystery, and female friendship into a haunting, literary page-turner, as two young women become unlikely friends during one fateful summer when 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 lie hidden in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel. Only one person knows they’re there.
Meanwhile, Clara, a struggling boardwalk psychic, gives tarot readings to make ends meet—until she begins experiencing disturbing visions that feel all too real. As reports of missing women spread through town, Clara suspects her clairvoyance may be tied to the growing danger. When she meets Lily, a former Soho art gallery assistant now working at a nearly abandoned casino spa while grappling with personal loss, the two form an uneasy bond. Together, they begin to uncover a pattern—but getting too close to the truth may put them directly in harm’s way.
This ‘heartbreaking…riveting thriller’ (Paul Harding, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Tinkers) explores the intersection of womanhood, power, violence, and survival, as two women confront buried truths and risk everything to stop a pattern of disappearance before it claims another victim.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Please See Us is riveting, the rare book that unpacks and deplores violence against women even as it depicts it. In Caitlin Mullen's hands, everyone has a voice, and the dead speak as loudly as the living. Please See Us is a beautifully written, thoughtful page-turner, as well as a tribute to the women-- not just victims, but full human beings--who so frequently go unseen." - Chloe Benjamin
"Please See Us is so good I don't even know where to start - it's brilliant and it's dark; it's heartbreaking and it's defiant; it's a riveting thriller and it's a literary gem. Here are true, beautiful portraits of girls and women whose lives might well otherwise pass by without notice, without proper human value. Caitlin Mullen brings us those lives magnificently- with subtlety, compassion, and utter dignity. This book is a stunner." - Paul Harding
"A dark literary thriller about women who slip through the cracks. Disturbing, powerful, important." - Robyn Harding
"A tense journey through the crumbling, seedy casinos and boardwalk of Atlantic City. Try to put this book down. You won't be able to." - Susan Scarf Merrell
"Please See Us is so good I don't even know where to start - it's brilliant and it's dark; it's heartbreaking and it's defiant; it's a riveting thriller and it's a literary gem. Here are true, beautiful portraits of girls and women whose lives might well otherwise pass by without notice, without proper human value. Caitlin Mullen brings us those lives magnificently- with subtlety, compassion, and utter dignity. This book is a stunner." - Paul Harding
"A dark literary thriller about women who slip through the cracks. Disturbing, powerful, important." - Robyn Harding
"A tense journey through the crumbling, seedy casinos and boardwalk of Atlantic City. Try to put this book down. You won't be able to." - Susan Scarf Merrell
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