{"id":7353,"date":"2021-04-04T17:01:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-04T17:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeculture.com\/?page_id=7353"},"modified":"2021-04-10T10:32:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T10:32:38","slug":"please-see-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeculture.com\/?page_id=7353","title":{"rendered":"Please See Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Caitlin Mullen, Please See Us<\/em> (2020)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Review by Lee Horsley<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Please_See_Us_Mullen\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As readers of Caitlin Mullen\u2019s Please See Us<\/em>, we are drawn into the lives of women who are unseen \u2013 consigned to the impoverished underside of a decaying city, vulnerable to casual abuse and unspeakable violence. Mullen\u2019s lyrical, suspenseful psychological thriller compels our attention, telling their stories with both precision and compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mullen\u2019s protagonists, Lily and Clara, are very unlike one another, but both struggling to build new lives for themselves. They are brought together under the extreme pressure of violent events, desperate to work out what has been happening and terrified that they may themselves become victims. Lily reflects, \u201cI was so tired of being afraid. And yet, it seemed that was all this summer was: learning all of the ways that dread could creep into my days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the reader, the sense of danger that haunts the two women is known to be a grim reality. Much of Mullen\u2019s narrative alternates between the perspectives of Clara and Lily, but we also hear the voices of \u201cthe Janes\u201d, dead girls whose as yet undiscovered bodies have been posed by their killer in the marshland behind a seedy motel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey sense the shift in the wind during the final stretches of July\u2026Then, 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\u2019s left. They think this means they\u2019re running out of time. Time to tell their stories, time to be heard. They plead again for someone to see before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clara, a teenage psychic who gives tarot readings on the boardwalk, has real and disturbing visions – glimpses of the deaths that haunt Atlantic City, fleeting images of a girl called Julie and of the Jane Does who lie waiting for someone to find them. She feels transported outside of herself, to the mud and grass of the marsh, where she sees the bruised arms and legs of the women\u2019s bodies, stray sparkles of jewelry, and the flies that swarm everywhere. She thinks about leaving Atlantic City, but feels compelled to stay until she has \u201cfigured out what these visions meant\u2026It seemed wrong, unfair to all of the women, to take off like they didn\u2019t matter. Like I wasn\u2019t carrying around pieces of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caitlin Mullen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The backdrop of Atlantic City is powerfully created, giving us an affecting sense of this fading, crumbling, once glamorous place. The image of the city is partly conveyed through the paintings of an unknown artist whose work Lily discovers. His art captures the past of the city in the eighties and nineties \u2013 \u201cthe big hair, the bulky costume jewelry, bright as candy, the saturated colors\u201d \u2013 and also the city as it has become, \u201cthe entropy, the slow creep of decay,\u201d a place plagued by \u201ccorruption, addiction, recession\u201d. We ultimately also enter the perspective of the artist, who knows he can\u2019t save the women, but who wants to \u201cshow everyone just how cruel, how ugly and wrong this city has become.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please See Us<\/em> is an extraordinary debut novel. Caitlin Mullen has shown herself able to create a literary thriller that contains both a completely absorbing crime narrative and a beautifully nuanced reflection on the \u201cruined dream\u201d of a city in decline. We\u2019re very much looking forward to her future novels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caitlin Mullen, Please See Us (2020) Review by Lee Horsley As readers of Caitlin Mullen\u2019s Please See Us, we are drawn into<\/p>\n

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