I really enjoyed this suspenseful psychological thriller but my enjoyment was slightly marred by the many typographical errors which littered it, particularly the missing "f" in just about every double f word through it (cofee, afair, bufet, of instead of "off" etc.). That aside it was an interesting story with a strong likeable central character. The twists and turns kept coming and the ending was satisfying yet unpredictable. I would recommend this to lovers of this genre and would certainly buy other books from these authors.
If like to thank the authors, publisher and netgalley for giving me an advance digital copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Jess is struggling to get by in New York City on her wages as a make-up artist. So when the opportunity to earn money as a subject in a morality study lands in her lap, she doen't think twice about pretending she's somebody else to gain a place. Her forthright answers lead her to a more in-depth study and to more money - but she's not sure the money is worth the effects the study is having on her work, her relationships and her own wellbeing. But is it too late to escape?

This book raises interesting questions about honesty and how far we might go to prove that someone is lying. But is it difficult to sympathise with any of the characters, and the conclusions they jump to as the story progresses often jar with the how they were previously presented and are there simply so that the story can progress in the desired direction. And because the main theme is honesty, the ending is extremely disappointing.

Good book. It did draw me in and I wanted to keep reading to find out what was gonna happen.
Jess signs herself up for a psychology study on ethics and morality. She needs the money to help her parents with her disabled sister.
Soon she realises the study is not quite above board. What is Dr shields up to? Is jess in danger?

An Anonymous Girl's title had me frustrated once I started reading. I thought Subject 52 would be fitting and more intriguing. Unfortunately I didn't gel with any of the main characters, finding Jess rather shallow so I couldn't summon up enough sympathy or interest in her. As the professor became more controlling and situation more duplicitous, it was more compelling and I did wonder how it would transpire. I was interested in reading the authors previous book, but am getting second thoughts now. With so many books to read, the standard has got to be high to get my attention. A good idea but didn't grab my imagination as I'd hoped.

I could not put this book down! It was unpredictable and completely compelling. Its starts out as a psychology research study about morals and a way to make some extra money, but it quickly spirals out of control. Jess is young and vibrant and fascinated with the polished, glamorous Dr. Shields. But she gets sucked into her increasing pressure and unusual requests.
I loved how the authors took us through the clever, analytical thoughts of the characters as they sought to take control of the situation. All the characters were well painted and believable. The story gave just enough clues to make in interesting. There is always a trail! A clever, captivating read that I cant wait to recommend.

Having loved The Wife Between Us I was excited to read An Anonymous Girl. It didn’t disappoint and this collaboration has just scored another 5 stars from me. The writing is tight and the characters unfold deceptively brilliantly. I can’t wait for the next book from this talented collaboration.

I started reading this novel with anticipation but I am afraid the initial anticipation didn’t continue. The concept was good but I didn’t really care about the characters and I got bored of them.

There were no thrills or excitement, no page turning or staying up late at night to find out what happened next.

I am sure it will be a bit bit but not for me.

2.5 stars!!!

Jessica is a makeup artist struggling to get by, her parents live in another state with her sister whom is disabled due to an accident which Jessica blames herself for. Upon entering one of her jobs she discovers that their is a morality test, an anonymous survey being held and for your time and some questions you would be paid. Jessica jumps on this but what she doesn't know is dr shields is about to enter her life and make her question every choice she makes and become some what obsessed with her.

Did I enjoy this book? The first half of this book was terribly slow and I found myself going back to it only ever now and then and reading only a few pages then putting it down. I think you'd enjoy this book a lot if you like physiology because it goes into a lot about mortality issues. The other down fall i had was the characters, I really disliked them Jessica wasn't someone I found myself having much sympathy for given she basically cheated on the man she was dating and the rest of the characters were just awful.

The overall plot was slightly bland and forgettable and just predictable so it wasn't my favourite. I would read something else by these authors because the wife between was better than this book in my opinion so I'd like to read more to see if I could really love something by them.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What a brilliant thriller with many twists and turns. Would highly recommend

A psychological study on morality turns into a game of cat and mouse.

We’re introduced to Jess, an aspiring makeup-artist who is strapped for cash. With the promise of anonymity and a paycheck, she signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields. Answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. Simple, right? However, as the questions become more intense, it’s not long before the study takes a turn. It morphs into something dangerous. Jess is caught in a web of deceit and jealousy and desperately tries to find a way out.

The first third of the book had me in its grip. However, it lost its pacing slightly and I wasn’t as engaged. There aren’t any major twists, just subtle ones that take the plot in an unexpectant direction. That being said, every time I thought I had it all figured out, there were more revelations and I didn’t know who to trust.

Like Jess, Dr. Shields intrigued me, and she was the perfect unreliable narrator. A modern-day wicked-witch, with her pleasant façade and generous gift-giving, wrapping Jess around her little finger. Her manipulative scheming is what kept me turning the pages, leading towards a satisfactory ending.

If I took one thing from this book, it’s to read the fine print before taking a survey. You really don’t know what you’re signing yourself up for.

3.5 stars overall!

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am gripped! I was initially interested in this novel because it involves a psychological study. My background is psychology, so naturally I was intrigued, but that wasn't what kept me hooked.

This is one of those thrillers where the twists are actually surprising. It's so rare to find a novel that keeps you guessing, and this one did so from the very beginning. When we meet Jessica she appears to be a hard-working, conscientious woman. Someone without any secrets. Once she steps into Dr. Shield's experiment, however, we quickly learn many things about Jessica one would not expect. I won't go into the details here, but there's more to Jessica than meets the eye, and she's not shy about sharing them with Dr. Shields.

Dr. Shields herself is another very intriguing character, who takes a strong interest in Jessica. To know what motivates this interest though, you'll have to read the book. We learn most about Dr. Shields through notes reflecting on client/participant sessions. This means we're viewing all these situations through the lens of a professional psychiatrist, where emotion is dampened and logic is king. It is a really clever tool to ensure the reader doesn't know how Dr. Shields really feels about these interactions; these emotions are only revealed at the perfect moment.

The novel has a rather complex plot, tying lots of different characters and situations together in ways I wouldn't have imagined. This can sometimes cause issues with both relevance and continuity, so I'm very impressed that the thread of the story doesn't get lost through all the twists and turns. I didn't notice anything contradictory, explanations were provided just when they needed to be, and relationships were not obvious enough that we'd guess at them before the authors wanted us to.

An Anonymous Girl is a thrilling exploration of morality, marriage and the strength of the human psyche. I could not put it down...literally, I was sneaking it at work because I had to know what was going to happen next. Highly recommended!

An Anonymous Girl is due for publication on Feb 7 2019; a galley of this novel was provided by Netgalley for review. You can connect with both Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen on twitter at @greerkh and @sarahpekkanen, or at their websites http://www.sarahpekkanen.com/ and http://greerhendricks.com/.

Wow! I couldn't put this book down. It was very uncomfortable to read - always a good sign of a great psychological thriller. It drew me in, just as Jess was drawn into the research study of morality. My book of the year.

What a great psychological thriller. Refreshingly different to others I’ve read recently, this one drew me in right from the start and kept me gripped till the very end. It had lots of twists and turns along with some unpleasant characters and good unreliable narration.

Greer and Sarah obviously make a brilliant writing duo as I loved this book as much as their last one, The Wife Between Us. I’m very much looking forward to the next one.

read The Wife Between Us last year and loved it, so when An Anonymous Girl came up for review I jumped at the chance.

The story follows Jessica who manges to talk herself in to a study on ethics and morality. The fact that she lied to get in to the test in the first place is pretty telling and that – amongst other reasons – rouses the interest of Dr Lydia Sheilds. As An Anonymous Girl unfolds, the story becomes more twisted as it becomes increasingly unclear just who – if anyone – is actually telling the truth.

I have to be honest, this one missed the mark a little with me. Although I thought Hendricks and Pekkanen did an amazing job with such a limited cast, it just fell a little flat and got more and more ridiculous as the story progressed. The relationships between Jessica, Lydia and her husband became so twisted and controlled. Although I loved the tension and Jessica’s inability to tell which one was telling the truth at any time, it made the ending just so much more unbelievable to me. Nothing fitted right with any of the characters I had just spent a book getting to know.

That being said, this is a psychological thriller that is expertly written and does a fantastic job of making the reader squirm as the tension builds. I loved the added dimension of the morality study as it raised some fantastic questions that make me as a reader think too.

Just as good as the first book, if not better.

I was lucky enough to review the first book, The Wife Between Us, by this amazingly talented writing team and said it was one of the best books with the best plot that I have read in 2018. I was wary that the second book would be a disappointment as they often are, but this was just as good if not better!

These authors are the masters of the psychological thriller but this second book, although still dealing with similar issues as in the first one has an entirely different storyline, one that ultimately involves you and keeps you reading determined to discover what happens in the end.

Jessica Farris is a struggling make-up artist rushing from job to job trying to make ends meet and always taking on extra work to contribute to her younger sister's medical bills. When she inadvertently stumbles upon a study about morality which pays $500 for answering a few thought-provoking questions, she jumps at the chance. However, the questions become more intense and eventually Jessica is drawn into the life of Dr Shields, the psychology professor conducting the survey.

Jessica is asked to meet up with various men to test her powers of seduction and soon becomes uneasy at some of the things she is asked to do. However, Dr Shields is an expert on manipulating people and uses emotional blackmail on Jessica by sending her family on an all-expenses-paid holiday with the threat that anything could happen to them if Jessica does not continue.

The character of Dr Shields is brilliantly written and told in alternate chapters from the viewpoints of both Jess and Dr Shields. You are caught up in both their stories and the tension is maintained right until the end with yet another fantastic twist.

I would recommend this book to anyone with interest in psychological thrillers, but in fact, this is such a good story it is totally worth reading for the plot alone. I cannot wait for their next book.

Dexter

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

I have had Hendricks' and Pekkanen's first book on my reading list for a while so I was really excited to read their second. The premise of the story sounded brilliant - a mysterious professor is searching for young woman to take part in a research study on ethics and morality. Jessica manages to sneak her way onto the list and her answers to the questions make her the perfect candidate.

The study soon becomes more involved, with Jessica meeting the professor and getting paid increasing amounts of money to put herself in precarious situations. As the professor becomes more and more controlling, there is clearly something she is not being told.

I really enjoyed the start of the book but unfortunately I quick found it to be predictable and struggled to finish it. I suspected this may be the case when Jessica kept referring to the professor, Dr. Shields, as 'he' despite their gender never being revealed. Of course Jessica is then shocked when Dr. Shields turns out to be a woman. I'm not sure if the reading was supposed to also be shocked by this, but it was a twist I saw coming. This left me feeling frustrated as it felt so obvious (and I'm usually really bad at spotting twists!).

This definitely hasn't put me off reading The Wife Between Us and any future books though. The premise was excellent but it just wasn't for me.

If someone offered you $500 to answer a few personal questions and stay anonymous, would you do it?

The makeup artist, Jessica Farris goes into a client’s house to do her job. Just the usual. And then she hears her teenage client mentioning the survey that gives you huge amounts of money for a few anonymous questions. When the teenager says she won’t be able to attend, and she is too lazy to let them know, Jessica decided to use this chance and go instead.

But what happens when after a few simple questions a woman starts telling her deepest secrets? And the money will increase, but so will the difficulty of the tasks she needs to do.

”It’s easy to judge other people’s choices.”

I was hyped about this book before I even started to read it. I read the synopsis, and it intrigued me from the very first moment. Of all the mysteries and thrillers, I have enjoyed the psychological the most. Something about how a twisted mind works triggers my pleasure senses. It’s creepy, but I wish you all get that feeling for a genre.

Right after the first chapter of the book I was satisfied, and happy. This book was all I needed right then, and it just kept getting better and better.

We get to meet Jessica and see how she thinks, follow her as she answers question after question, revealing secret after a secret. With each question, and each task, and each secret being revealed, the book kept becoming darker and darker, better and better.

It reminded me of the Harry Potter series, with the content getting darker after time. If you remember the first Harry Potter book, it is Children’s fiction, but the significantly darker compared to the first. Same happens with the movies as well.

I loved the questions that were asked on the survey – they are really meant to make you think through and try and give your answers.

Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt?

Have you ever deeply hurt someone you care about?

The relationship between the people in this book is twisted. It’s all about playing games. It’s all about the cat and mouse chase. As much as I loved it, it also annoyed me at times, as I wanted it to stop.

The twists, cliff hangers and unexpected moments were brilliant. Pure skill, I tell you that. I haven’t been so surprised, excited, thrilled at the same time by any book I’ve recently read.
And with such twisted moments, and thrills throughout the book, and chapters ending leaving you breathless, you would expect the most thrilling ending.
I did. I expected it.

And I was very disappointed. It ended… rather bland. Like a Sunday Roast without gravy.

”We all have reasons for our actions. Even if we hide the reason from those who think they know us best. Even if the reasons are so deeply buried we can’t recognise them ourselves.”

I have a hard time judging this book now, as it was all hype and thrill, until it stopped dead. Maybe the authors wanted to ensure that we experiences exactly this feeling – I am not sure. Maybe for such a twisted book, calmness is all it needs to end with. I’ll leave this judgement up to you, as you experience the book and its ending on your own.

At this time, I feel like giving it 4 stars, as the ending was the only things that bothered me. This book is still a gem, and deserves to be read by people that enjoy psychological thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for giving me a free copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review

Dishonest writing, scam chapter titles. A real disappointment.


Note: An Anonymous Girl optioned by eOne TV


My face stings in the cold air and I reach up to touch a tender patch on my chin from where Noah’s stubble rubbed against it when we kissed. The discomfort is somehow comforting.

How strange... I'm reading the chapter "Thursday, 22 November" which is today for me here, and also Thanksgiving here and in the book.

Page 111
The chapter name-dates do not show the years, and some sequential chapters show misaligned dates, e.g. chapter "Wednesday December 6th" followed by chapter "Wednesday December 5th". These must be different years, therefore different plot lines.

What a scam. The writing is good enough to not have to use time scams to generate tension/confusion.

It's dishonest.

It took a while for me to get into this book.
As it’s written from the perspective of 2 people it took a bit of getting used to as the way the Dr’s part is written is kind of odd.
On the whole it was eventually a very gripping read.

Once again, I am furious with these pair of 'authors'. I am angry at their lazy writing, I am angry at their use of typical thriller tropes to try and appeal to mass audiences, and I am especially angry about their cavalier attitudes towards mental health and particularly, suicide.

'An Anonymous Girl', like every other thriller written after 2012, is trying to be Gone Girl. But no one can be Gone Girl, because all of these books lack the intelligence and excellent writing that made that book so brilliant in the first place. This novel pretty much uses the standard format for writing women in a psychological thriller: the crazy woman who doesn't quite have a grasp on reality, the scorned woman avenging a previous wrongdoing. Endlessly pitting these women against each other until you get a mess of misogynistic pages strung together by big twists. It's trope-y and, oftentimes, confusing. The plot is basic, but is shrouded in so many alternative thoughts and avenues that you struggle to find a core to it at all.

There's a sincere lack of motivation through both of the main characters. We're supposed to believe that someone's love for their partner would push them to do horrific things, even though that partner is interchangeable, depending on the timeline. I'm trying not to give away spoilers, but it feels like a bad Bond villain became a psychiatrist in this book and started preying on young women. A good villain needs a strong story behind them- and this had nothing. This endless cat and mouse becomes boring after 200 pages and I think this book is in serious need of a sharp edit.

Now to talk about my personal pet peeve- suicide. Personally, I am very sensitive towards mentions of suicide and mental health, and to have it used as an out just to wrap up your book? Get the fuck out. TWICE is suicide used as a plot point, and twice is it done by toxic influences. You read about a girl overdosing because one of the main characters gave her the drugs to do it. And then, in a throwaway sentence, the same character orders herself the drugs to kill herself. I am sick and tired of suicide being the answer to all of this, a way to finish things up easily.

It's lazy writing. Shame on you, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

This book has just made me angry and I never want to read one of these mass-audience thrillers again. Good luck to it.