Please See Us

Please See Us is a slow-burning thriller about all the invisible women of seedy, run-down Atlantic City. In the A-plot, there’s a killer stalking the boardwalk bars and motels, preying on women who are addicts, prostitutes, and just drifters in general, unlikely to be missed. But that A-plot quickly becomes secondary to the women’s lives and experiences.

“Clara,” a young boardwalk psychic is gifted with actual supernatural visions, when she’s not pickpocketing or shoplifting. She lives with her aunt, Des, and they run small cons and try to drum up business for their fortunetelling booth. At first, they seem to be struggling together, but as the book goes on, imbalances begin to show.

Lily is back home after a terrible breakup with her boyfriend in New York. (Matthew is horrifically believable, turning their relationship into garbage performance art, and then refusing to acknowledge that this was anything other than pure genius branding.) She takes a job at what seems like a high-end salon. At first, this seems like a world away from Lily’s fortune-telling stall, Des’ boardwalk scams, and Georgia’s street work. But there’s a different, quieter exploitation of hourly workers, upselling fake luxury and bowing to a capricious, controlling manager.

There are some too-true moments of power imbalance highlighted in this novel. At one point, Matthew, Lily’s obnoxious ex, is convinced that a waitress is into him. It’s clear to Lily and every woman who’s done service work, that smiling is just part of the waitress’ job, and being harassed or pawed at by dudebros like Matthew is also an unspoken part of her job.

Emily, Lily’s coworker, snaps into customer service voice for the rich ladies at the spa, and then snaps back into showing Lily a spot away from the security cameras, for secret phone-checking and snack-eating. (Because of course eating a snack or checking messages is forbidden at work.)

Georgia decides she wants a new life, and she makes it through rehab, only to have no money, no friends to help, and no place to go on release. There is a quiet desperation here, as she realizes she has one source of possible income left, back to the familiar streets.

The drama in Please See Us is not in discovering who the murderer is, or what his motivation is. We know, we know, he’s just another man who hates women and wants to punish them. The drama is whether the girls of the city will survive. Will any of them make it out of Atlantic City? Will anyone ever pursue the murderer? Or are they all just washed-up girls with no one to care?