Twisty, thrilling story of a young woman who gets more than she bargains for when she participated in a psychological study. Kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time!

I really enjoyed The Wife Between Us, but I liked An Anonymous Girl even more. It was an addicting read. With all of the uncertainty in every direction, I didn't find anything to be predictable. I also liked that there was a lot of gray area explored.

An enjoyable, fun,twisted, unbelievable, addicting book. I look forward to reading more books by this author and highly recommend this book!

This is one of those books that I can't quite wrap my mind around how I feel about it. I didn't really care for any of the characters and I did feel frustrated at times at the pacing but at the same time I just couldn't stop reading it. I'd think "when I turn on my Kindle I'm going to find something light and fun to read and take a break from this one" but somehow I found myself reading this one every single time and what's more I had to make myself put it down. Yes, I wanted the plot to go faster and while I didn't care about any of the characters I found myself needing to know just what happened next. I also found myself incredibly relieved that I never participated in any of the studies that the psychology department were always advertising in college.

Jess and Dr. Shields were both incredibly frustrating. Their decisions were puzzling and maddening and I never felt particularly connected with them. Since I typically read character driven books this took some getting used to. However, I felt compelled to find out just what was going to happen next. I liked the changing POVs - especially with Dr. Shields' chapters feeling like journal entries. This was a compelling read that kept me reading far into the night even when I didn't like any of the characters in it.

This book was riveting, and original. When I say I had no idea what was going to happen, I mean it. This book kept me turning the page. This is such a good psychological thriller to read, and if that’s your cup of tea, be sure to pick it up!👌🏼

Second week of January and I’m guessing I’ve already read my favorite book of 2019. The Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is everything I hoped it would be when I requested/received it from Netgalley/St. Marten’s Press.
Jess is very relatable as the hard working 28 year-old living in NYC as a makeup artist trying to make her way while also trying to help her parents care for her mentally challenged younger sister back in Philly. She would jumps at the chance to make some easy money in a professor’s research project even if she came upon it a bit underhandedly. She soon finds out the research is answering questions about moral dilemmas. She soon begins to realize all the moral based decisions she encounters every day. Promised for even more money if she continues on in the study for Dr. Shields, she quickly agrees. And from here the shadiness begins. Dr. Shields has a greater purpose in mind for Jess and the money may not justify the means.
As characters come and go we are left with a match between Dr. Shields, her husband and Jess. Cheating, lies and control all take center stage as they sort out who knows who’s secrets. I really could have used a tally sheet to keep up. It was a tightly woven plot with all of my questions answered by the end. What more can you hope for in a mystery/thriller!
I thoroughly enjoyed this unique storyline. Greer and Pekkanen have dazzled me once more with their plot, characters and twists. While reading I wanted to shout at Jess to not make the wrong move but secretly hoped that she would just so I could see what would happen.
I'd like to thank St. Martin’s books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Come into my lair, said the spider to the fly.

Jessica Farris is under a lot of stress, and she has a head full of secrets that she is afraid could bury her. It’s a lot to carry around, especially at such a tender age. She’s constantly worried about money, and so when she sees an opportunity to make easy money by taking a psychological survey, she leaps on it. And at first, it seems too good to be true.

I was invited to read and review this hair-on-fire novel by Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press. It’s for sale now.

The study involves morally ambiguous questions. When is it acceptable to lie? When is it acceptable to know something that’s important to someone you care about, yet choose not to share that knowledge? At the outset, the study appears to be scholarly and philosophical. And when Dr. Shields, the study’s author, invites Jessica to participate in field work for additional compensation, she can’t believe her good luck. But from there, things escalate, and before she knows it, Jessica is perched on the edge of the inferno, and Dr. Shields is inching up behind her with outstretched fingertips.

Just at the moment that I grow impatient with Jessica’s helplessness and naiveté, she clues in and tries to work out a game plan, but it’s an unfair contest, because Dr. Shields has so much more money and knowledge. It’s like watching a heavyweight and a Bantam weight in the ring together; all that the smaller, less powerful contender has on her side is agility.

The story is told using alternating narratives, primarily between Dr. Shields and Jessica with occasional input from Thomas, Dr. Shields’s husband. The chapters are quick ones, and the pacing is accelerated to where I sometimes forgot to breathe. Every time I think I see where the authors are headed, it turns out to be a red herring, and yet there are no gimmicks or unfair tricks used to deceive the reader. It’s all right there.

Highly recommended.

The beginning of the book is fast paced and cloaked in mystery. I found myself flipping pages faster than I could read trying to discover the next step of Dr. Shields test. Once the reader discoverers the reason behind Dr. Shields test the book slows down. The writing and psychology is still top notch but the mystery element no longer exist. Over all I enjoyed the novel and look forward to the next book by this duo. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

An Anonymous Girl was highly entertaining, a little twisty and perfect for a quick thriller read. While it wasn’t anything unique, it still had me guessing. I loved all of the unreliable characters and the back and forth of trying to figure out who the unreliable one actually was.

Thank you to netgalley and st martins press for the free ebook.

Wow, this story intrigued me from page one. This is about Jess, who gets involved in a morality experiement..that gets out of control.

I read The Wife Between Us last year and quickly become a fan of this writing pair. They definitely delivered with their second novel. I liked the way the story was set up- giving you just a little bit of information at a time. This alternates between two perspectives and definitley keeps you guessing. The only problem I had with it was that I didn’t love the ending. I felt like the final actions of the main character (Lydia ) was not consistent with her prideful nature that was portrayed through the book.

A manipulating psychological thriller

An Anonymous Girl starts with Jessica Farris, a makeup artist, going to a client’s house. She is having a very ordinary day when she hears her client talking about a survey that pays a lot of money for answering a couple of anonymous questions. Her client says she won’t be attending and Jessica decides to go in her place, taking advantage of this chance to earn some extra money.

Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.

Jessica enters the study. She doesn’t receive a lot of information, only that she is about to enter a study by Dr. Shield’s and she’ll be asked to fill in a questionnaire about ethics and morality. Her answers will be completely anonymous. Jessica walks into a room with only a chair and a desk with a computer. The questions appear on the computer screen.

Question #1: Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt?

Jessica answers the questions truthfully and it doesn’t take long before she starts to tell some of her deepest secrets, feeling safe and anonymous. But what happens when the person typing the questions begins to respond to her answers? It is like Dr. Shield’s is talking to her personally. During the second session, Dr. Shield’s asks Jessica if she is willing to expand her participation in the study. Significantly more will be asked of her, but this would also mean she will earn a lot more money. When Jessica decides to take the study to the next level, she is pulled into a web of manipulation, revenge and jealousy and it’s making her paranoid.

Question #2: Have you ever deeply hurt someone you care about?

The chapters of An Anonymous Girl alternate between the story of Jessica and the story of Dr. Shields. We get to know both women, their motives and the way they think. Dr. Shields is a renowned psychologist ans Jessica is a young woman who carries a big secret. The moment they meet each other, Jessica’s life changes. Is Dr. Shields dangerous or just really interested in her? And what are her plans exactly with the answers Jessica has given?

Question #3: Should a punishment always fit the crime?

An Anonymous Girl is a fast-paced thriller about trust, obsession, betrayal and manipulation. The characters have depth and as a reader you feel like you’re getting to know them quite well. The story is dark and suspenseful and the book was impossible to put down.. I had to know what motives drove Dr. Shields. The ending wasn’t what I hoped it would be, but the story itself was amazing.

4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC.

Definitely very suspenseful thriller, I have a feeling this book will do well on the market. It was not in my personal taste because I felt no sympathy or involvement for any of the characters. Dr. Shields was crazy and frightening and Jess' involvement in the whole testing thing after the first round was just stupidity.

Jessica Farris, a make up artist trying to make it in NYC, decides to go to a psychology study in place of one of her clients, thinking that she'll just have to answer a few questions & she'll make some quick cash. The questions get deep, and then she is personally chosen by Dr. Shields to participate in outings & counseling sessions. Things start to get really weird, and Jessica realizes she doesn't know who Dr. Shields truly is ... and is she going to be able to escape her study?

I liked this book! The pace was good, and I kept turning pages because I had to know what happened. I enjoyed the characters & how Dr. Shields was portrayed through her research notes. Psychology is fascinating, so it was really neat to see the encounters through both sets of eyes, and see how the situation was being manipulated. I felt that the end was a little bit lacking (it felt like it just fizzled out & ended), but I did really enjoy it!

When you're reading thrillers, the characters usually excite you in some way. They give you this rush - this vibe that allows you to grow attached to them, which was missing for me this time around. In An Anonymous Girl, we follow the point of view of Dr. Lydia Sheilds, the professor/therapist, and Jessica an MUA. As a way to strengthen the author's message behind ethics and morality, the two come from completely different worlds, Lydia successful and wealthy and Jessica, struggling and . . . idk, [don't get me started] yet they share a similarity bound by secrets. Both Lydia and Jessica were iffy characters, Lydia just did too much sometimes for my liking, and Jessica, once you found out the whole shebang, was kinda of useless and not needed. I found myself being more intrigued by the side characters. I would've been if the authors didn't overcook his ass, but it was Noah, poor sweet Noah who had 10 mins of storytime before he got the boot, and April, who should have had her own point of view, not Jess, that were sort of a saving grace. Jessica definitely was meant to serve as our King to this chess game, but sis wasn't the smartest tool in the shed, and well . . . it just didn't work out. Everyone else of importance was flat and one-dimensional. Most definitely a cast that will be easily forgotten . . .

Full review @fangirlavue.blogspot.com

I could not put this book down once I started it! If you want a book to keep your interest from beginning to end, this is it!
Jessica is barely making ends meet living in New York and working as a makeup artist. She hears of a questionnaire that is being offered by a psychiatrist that pays a nice chunk of change! She decides to check it out and before she knows it, she is Subject 52. Dr. Shields finds Jessica very interesting and starts offering her more jobs as part of the study she is conducting. Jessica finds herself over her head and is faced with some uncomfortable circumstances. As things start unraveling, Jessica wants out of the study. But how? Dr. Shields has her reeled in for the long run. Jessica is starting to wonder, “Is it really worth it?”. What do you think?

This book kept me on the edge of my seat by the end of the first page. Adult thrillers is a pretty new genre to me, but this book didn't let me down. What a wild ride. There were many twists and turns that I never saw coming and that ending threw me for a loop. This is a well written book that will hook you and you'll soon find yourself reading into the wee hours of the mornings with the age old mantra of 'Just one more chapter!'. 4 out of 5 stars.

Rating 3/3.5. Our main character Jess decides to participates in a psychology study conducted by a Dr. Shields, which quickly becomes something else entirely. I really enjoyed the focus on psychology and morality in this book and we finally get a thriller where the main character isn't an alcoholic and unreliable so that was a nice change . This was definitely a wild ride about deception and manipulation. I did find the overall plot predictable, and thought they should have gone in a different direction....i was a little disappointed when we find out a major driving force behind a main character motives. but overall it was good thriller. While there were no huge surprises for me, I still liked the ending enough.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story was well plotted and creepy! Jessica’s narrative was interesting, but Dr. Sheild’s narrative is the one that sinks it’s hooks into the reader, heightening the tension with each new chapter. I loved the ending, loved the characters and would recommend this to any thriller lovers. What a bar to set for 2019!

I am over it. Over it. All these thrillers lately seem to only serve one purpose: to see if they can top each other on creating empty, soulless characters that have no redeemable characters in order to be total Edgelords and An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is no different.

I mean, I get why this one is so popular, I guess. It has a lot of twists and it is super fast paced. The tension is so well crafted that as a reader I actually felt it: fast heartbeat, catch of breath, sweaty palms. The writers are really good at pacing, which is kind of amazing because I would think it would be hard to get that down so cohesively when you have two writers working together.
The writing is good here. The elements of good writing are mostly there. There’s even a nice symbolic falcon that dares the reader to be careful to notice any movements below the surface... It’s just the characters that had me over this book and that isn’t even the fault of Hendricks and Pekkanen. honestly, it’s not. That seems to be a new genre convention of the thriller. I just don’t like it. It has honestly gotten distracting because it really does feel like a competitive sport to see which author can create the worst cast of characters. The problem with that is there’s no one to root for because everyone’s so awful and listen, I’m no preacher over here. I had a crush on Hannibal Lecter. I totally empathized with Tony Soprano. I like a villain—-if they’re well crafted. If you see more underneath it all. I don’t expect perfection, I expect authenticity. There is not this much bad in the world and most people have more than one side.

3/5

https://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/2019/01/everybody-sucks-and-people-are-awful.html?m=1

A very twisty, psychological thriller. Very well-written and crafted. I can't wait for the next title from this writing duo.