Jessica is a bored, impoverished make up artist who makes a choice one day to assume someone else's identiy. When she shows up for a psychological study about moral with the mysterious Dr Shields she is drawn into a complex web of deception and manipulation that makes her doubt everyone and everything around her.

I found this book a bit erratic and found it hard to connect with Jessica's character. I felt some of the characters fell back on standard tropes and I wasn't surprised by certain elements of the novel. The writing was solid but this one wasn't for me unfortunately.

Seeking women ages 18–32 to take part in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. Sounds harmless enough doesn’t it? Answer a few questions, take the money and run, tempted? Perhaps you should read An Anonymous Girl before you decide. Authors Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have written a tense psychological thriller, that explores the worst traits in human nature and then turns them into a complex and tense tale that involves manipulation, jealousy and deceit.

Jess, signs up for a psychology study conducted by the intriguing Dr. Shields. The first interview sets the scene, the questions seem straightforward, and the compensation appears to be a gift from heaven, but as the study progresses the questions become invasive and personal. How far will Jess go in her pursuit of money? As for the evasive Dr Shields, does she have a hidden agenda? that’s all I will say about the plot it’s one of those books that reads better if you don’t know the ins and outs of the plot.

The Anonymous Girl is told from the duel perspective of Jess and Dr Shield, two very different woman their relationship is one based on subterfuge and manipulation. Dr Shields is a nasty piece of work, but she’s such an intriguing character, beneath her cool exterior is a very troubled woman a woman who has her own hidden agenda. The authors have created characters that are unreliable, but it’s the constant questioning of the characters narrations that make this novel such an intense read. Add to the mix a third person and the psychological manipulation used by the characters in the moves to a whole new and very unsettling level.

I feel some readers will find this read far fetched, even implausible, but that’s the beauty of fiction boundaries can be pushed. An Anonymous Girl is a dark, chilling psychological thriller that’s filled with surprises, some you may see coming, but others you won’t. There’s a sense of malevolence that intensifies as the three main character's stories intertwine into a web of deceit and mistrust. I thought this book had all the elements that turn a “good” psychological thriller into an “exceptional” one. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s writing goes from strength to strength, they make a fantastic pairing and I’m eager to see where the author’s twisted story telling takes them next. Highly recommended.

Review maybe altered slightly and edited prior to publication on my blog

As far as psychological thrillers go, can it get any better than this??!

I thoroughly enjoyed An Anonymous Girl with the super twisted plot. I did not find even one dull page in the book, each chapter, each sentence was there for a reason, keeping me on the edge of my seat.

For me, the extra icing on the cake were the moral and ethical dilemmas posed in the novel. They made me think of what I would have done in the situation where there probably isn't a right or wrong answer.

Lastly, I am thrilled to know this is going to be a movie and I hope it lives up to the standard of the book!

Many thanks to Pan MacMillan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cracking read!
At what point does the relationship between therapist and patient start blurring? Is it possible for your therapist to subtly influence you... To do things, that you never before thought you might do.?
At what point does morality stop meaning anything?
All of these tricky questions are answered and played with in this tense and atmospheric novel, which let's us in to the cool and detached mind of a sociopath, and the person she has entangled in her many games.
I loved this. It was fun to read, had moments of real gripping tension, and resolved into a neat and complete ending. Lovely.
My criticism would be the character of the husband. I'm not sure even now I understand what he was all about, his motives, and even what he did or didn't do. But to find out, I'll just reread it.
Recommended!

I really loved The Wife Between Us when I read it earlier this year so I was quite excited to get my hands on this book, especially as the blurb sounded so enticing. I wasn't disappointed either as, once I started it, I simply whizzed through it, devouring every delicious twist and turn as the story progressed and more of the shocking truth came out.
Jessica, Jess to her friends, is a freelance make-up artist who gets jobs through a beauty agency and it is during a visit to one of her clients that she overhears a phone message about a paid for psychological research study being conducted on ethics and morality. Her client decides she doesn't want to take part which gives Jess a chance to inveigle herself in instead; she needs the money after all. So, she takes over her client's appointment and soon starts to realise that maybe she's bitten off more than she can chew when she is singled out for further studies with a far better remuneration. But what will it really cost her as she finds herself caught between the psychiatrist conducting the research and their philandering other half? When she starts to realise what she's really got into, will she be able to get out and get safe before things go way too far?
I do have reservations about certain aspects of this book and I suspect it will split opinion and indeed ratings depending on whether the reader is able to accept certain things along the way. Personally, I thought that the plot was so well crafted, even with the things that I had to swallow, and, although I wasn't quite wholly convinced by the ending, the overall ride was so thrillingly outlandish that I was more than willing to take one for the team and read on, gripped. Talk about dysfunctional characters colliding with a bang!
Characterisation is tricky to explain without revealing some of the, shall we just call them, interesting things that the three main characters get up to along the way but they are a bit on the complex side to say the least. To be honest, I really didn't like any of them, even with the redeeming things they did along the way. Jess was the most likeable, mainly due to her ongoing guilt about an incident in her past but even that didn't manage to tip me over to #TeamJess when things were going awry. The less said about the behaviour of the other two the better I think as the more I learned about their shenanigans the more I wanted to just eradicate them from my mind! But, as I've said before, I don't have to like characters in a book, I just have to connect with them and that can be in either a positive or negative way, I just need some emotional connection and, even though here it was pretty much all negative, it was there nonetheless.
The book is told alternately by both Jess and the psychiatrist. Jess's parts are much easier to read than the psychiatrist's as they are written to Jess rather than narrated and did take me a while to get to grips with but there is a reason for this method of storytelling and that does become evident by the end of the book and, with hindsight, it really does work but, on the flip side, I can appreciate why it could possible irk others.
As already mentioned the plot overall is not completely plausible but it does explore some really great psychological themes along the way, well the initial study was all about morals and ethics and there's also the addition of control thrown into the mix along the way too. Oh and it's rather dark too and does contain quite a few of the hard hitting things but nothing more than you would expect from a book of this genre.
All in all, despite some credibility issues, this was a good solid read that I thoroughly enjoyed. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Just finished this read and found it slightly monotonous. Flipping between just two characters voices was ok but became tedious by half way through. The second half quickened up and became more engaging, I thought the storyline had some nice twists but was also a little bit predictable and I didn’t really like or particularly care about any of the characters. I actually found the main character slightly annoying and also the worst dog owner in the world. Just felt a bit unbelievable and intense in an indulgent way that had to be persevered with.

When Jess Farris sneaks into a study on ethics to ensure her next rent payment, she didn’t anticipate how caught up in a web of lies and deceit she would get.

The second novel from the duo behind The Wife Between Us delivers pace and punch from the word go. I finished this in a matter of hours because I was desperate to see where the story led.

There are so many ‘bad guys’ and so much subterfuge throughout this story that it’s honestly difficult to decide who to trust, and poor make-up artist Jess, weighed down by a devastating secret of her own, is embroiled in cheating and lies.

I don’t want to reveal anything about the story - this is definitely a blind read, in order to fully appreciate the gasp moments, and the story flips elegantly between the two narrators, building up a narrative of just how far you may go for love.

A slight publishing error jarred throughout, every word requiring a double-f was reduced to a single letter f, making for a disjointed flow of prose and I am hopeful this will be rectified before final publishing. The only negative in a tale I lived and breathed every second of. Definitely one to keep an eye out for!

I was given a copy of this book by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Reading the other reviews it seems that I am in the minority as I couldn't get into this book and gave up on it. Sadly it wasn't for me

Loved this! Full of twists and turns and very unpredictable. Would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to get stuck in to a real page turner.

Holy moly this novel took me by surprise.
I'm not usually the biggest fan of thrillers but this one kept me totally engrossed and had a satisfying ending.
great read!

An intriguing concept of deceit and manipulation. Really enjoyable with horribly addictive characters and many twists and turns. The story will lead you down one path only to make a dramatic turn down another. Fabulous!

An extremely interesting read with twists and turns you don't see coming. I love the way the story lets you into the psyche of both the psychologist and the subject taking part in the survey. What would you do for money? How much trust would you put in a psychologist and how much would you let her control your life? When the experiment is ended and the subject and psychologist become close things become very interesting - their lives become entwined but the question is, how much of it is fate and how much has been controlled...?

An obsessive story full of deceit and jealousy. Well told it draws you in to the end.
Jess becomes involved in a lucrative morality study run by a glamorous psychiatrist, Dr Shields. However as the questions become more invasive and move in to the field Jess becomes concerned for her own safety. She cannot tell who is telling the truth or who she can trust. Unaware initially that she gphas met Dr Shields estranged husband things start to become even more complicated.
I found I was completely drawn in and thought the whole concept was original and a bit different. Definitely recommend giving this a go.

A slow start, did not think I could carry on reading, pleased I persevered as really enjoyed this, what turned out to be a well written book, full of twist an believable content, with real twist at the end. Excellent!

I usually read in bed, either in the mornings or at night before I go to sleep, or when I'm travelling. Rarely do I set aside time to read when I'm up and about during the day and have chores but that's just what I did in order to finish the last 25% of this dark psychological thriller, as I was too impatient to wait until bedtime to complete it.

At one point, eminent therapist Dr Shields refers to doubting her husband, Thomas, and I briefly wondered why the writers hadn't named the novel Doubting Thomas, which I congratulate myself for thinking would have been a better title! However, title notwithstanding, this was well-paced, exciting and introduced an oft-neglected type of villain as well as a nicely gutsy heroine. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the twists and turns and would definitely recommend this to fans of the genre. I also enjoyed hearing about other real-life psychological experiments.

My one criticism is the heavy-handed use of the passive voice instead of using 'I' and 'me' when one of the two narrators gives their side of the story. I'm not quoting from the book - but as an example, imagine telling someone about your first hour of today but never using personal pronouns. So: 'a cup of coffee was drunk; a shower was taken and an outfit selected before breakfast was prepared.' I realise it was meant to underscore the formality and emotional void in the character but after a while it got so overwhelming that I wondered if there was to be a gender-reveal twist.

I’m always a little wary of novels that are co-authored because, from experience, I’ve found them a little uneven. However, due to the positive reviews of their first book I decided to give this one a go.

Jess is a make-up artist, working in New York, when she seized the opportunity to take part in a psychological study about morality. Initially the study seems unremarkable but as time goes on she is drawn under the spell of the enigmatic Dr Shields and events take a darker turn.

This book was really compelling. The alternating narrative worked really well and there are several satisfying twists. An undemanding and absorbing read.

Another great read from the authors of The Wife Between Us. So many twists, don't try to second guess what's happening, I did and I was wrong!

I loved this book - the author did a great job in building up the tension as the story moved along and I thought it was a good ending. The second book I've read by these authors and I'll certainly be looking for a third - recommended

One of the best books I’ve read this year!!! Had me gripped, could not put it down until I reached the end!! So many dark twists that kept me guessing! Absolutely brilliant read!!

Enjoyed this book. It had me intrigued from the very first page and I was eager to discover more secrets with each chapter. I enjoyed the psychological aspects of the book as we looked at different character traits - body language and mannerisms that might give away clues that someone is lying. Great story line with strong characters. I had not read previous books from these authors but will definitely look out for them now. Thoroughly recommend.