"A final question: If you truly love someone, would you sacrifice your life for theirs?"

Holy shit on a cracker was that good. I'm sure how, or if I should even try to describe how great I found this book.
Twist and turns abound when Jessica Farris sneaks into a study about morality and ethics her life is turned upside down. Even though it's told in alternating POV's you still never fully grasp what goes on in Dr. Shields mind, you feel as lost and disoriented but yet like the subjects in her study absolutely trusting in her. And nothing truly starts to fall into until the end.

Okay. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are officially auto-buy authors for me. I loved The Wife Between Us, and I think I loved An Anonymous Girl even more.
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I think you should go in pretty blind, but know that the main character, Jess, sneaks into a study on ethics and morality and everything changes from there. So. Very. Good. I highly recommend you pick this one up if you haven’t already.
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an egalley in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow, oh wow, oh WOW!!! Let me go on record now as saying this book could and should be one of the best-sellers of 2019. What's more, it would make a terrific movie! Greer Hendricks masterfully spins a tale that pulls the reader deeper and deeper into the lives of the main characters until they find themselves on the edge of their seat. Oh, the mind games this book plays with the reader!!

Jessica Farris is a 28-year-old make-up artist, struggling to get by. When she overhears a client telling a friend that she signed up to be part of a paid two session study on morality and ethics at the local university but plans to ditch the session because she'd rather sleep in than answer a questionnaire, Jessica decides to show up at the appointed time and place herself. She really needs the money! Jessica explains to the study assistant that her friend cannot attend, but that she would like to take her place. After the assistant talks with Dr. Shields, the professor leading the study, and ascertains that Jessica meets the criteria for participants, Jessica is accepted into the study. From that point on, she is Subject 52.

Placed alone in a room with only a computer, the session begins. Participants know that the questions will be extremely personal and are urged to be honest in their responses. Answers participants give to the questions may impact the next questions asked. Jessica soon realizes that someone is responding to her answers in real time and finds herself more and more intrigued, sometimes altering her answers attempting to please the unseen questioner. Somehow, the questioner knows when she is being less than truthful and again urges honesty for the sake of the study. Jessica finds herself complying. When session one ends, Jessica finds herself looking forward to the next day’s session. She also finds that the study is making her more aware of her ethics and morals, in some cases, altering her natural response as a result.

Dr. Shields is the unseen questioner, interacting with each participant one on one. The professor has a personal rather than professional agenda for performing the study. Finding Jessica’s responses very compelling, she soon becomes the professor’s sole focus. Jessica is offered more money if she will meet with the professor and participate in future unnamed interactions.

The story is advanced in the first-person voices of Jessica and Dr. Shields in alternating chapters. Watching the spider weave the web that draws the fly in is very compelling. When the fly realizes she’s in a web, and in danger, the manipulations on both parts ramps up. I cannot say much more without spoiling this exceptional read.

I rarely give a 5 star rating, but this book deserves it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An ambitious, but broke, young makeup artist named Jess sneaks into a blind study on ethics an morality. After a few sessions, the professor conducting the study asks Jess to take the study into the real world - and things start to get WEIRD.

I thought this book was compulsively readable. It was intense, twisty, and kept me wondering until the very end. My only complaint was that that intensity I felt throughout the book didn't continue through to the ending. That fell a tiny bit flat to me. Not bad, just not absolutely mind blowing. Overall, a very great thriller. I'd really love to read Greer and Sarah's other book.

Having read and loved “Wife Between Us,” I couldn’t wait for the next book by Hendricks and Pekkanen. My expectations were very high. This new book did not disappoint! These authors are brilliant writers of mystery/psychological thrillers. Their books grab you from page one and never let go! I don’t want to give any spoilers away, so just clear your schedule, grab this book, and get ready for a ride! I can’t wait for this book to be published, so I can recommend it to all my friends and family members. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this incredible novel!

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, kept my interest and left me wanting more! The plot is original and addictive. The characters are a good mix between likeable and not. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I'm so glad I got to read this one!

When Jessica Farris, a financially struggling young woman, enters an ethics and morality study with a prominent psychologist, she has no idea that it will significantly change her life and place her in the cross-hairs of a dangerous and obsessive relationship. Filled with plot twists, and taut moments aplenty, this page-turner takes readers on a heart-pounding ride, making An Anonymous Girl a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers.

A great book that kept me hooked until the very end. Recommended for lovers of psychological thrillers.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was an amazing, fast paced book. What a thrill ride, from the same authors of The Wife Between Us. Another bestseller for sure. This one did not disappoint, you will not be disappointed if you read this one. I will always read anything by these authors.

An Anonymous Girl is the second psychological thriller that Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have paired up to write and boy, oh boy, do these two make quite the team. After reading The Wife Between Us last year I knew I had to have a copy of An Anonymous Girl and thankfully it did not disappoint in the least.

Jessica Farris had always wanted to work in theater as a make up artist but instead finds herself traveling around the city making up bored housewives before their big nights out to pay the bills. When one of her house calls ends up being two college girls getting ready for a night at a club Jess overhears a phone call about a survey. Knowing she could really use he cash Jess decides to take the place of the student.

Arriving at the designated location Jess only needs a couple of little white lies to work her way into the study but as she sits down at her computer it’s almost as if the mysterious Dr. Shields can see right through the computer screen. Before Jess knows it she is done with the online survey and Dr. Shields is offering her more money to help with further testing.

For anyone having read the first book these two authors co-wrote you probably remember the shocking twists the most, well don’t worry you haven’t seen the last of those from them just yet. An Anonymous Girl seemed to be very similar in format to The Wife Between Us in the fact that after each section I would be left thinking what the…?? So yes, it’s another book that just makes me want to scream “They all did it!!!” since you never know who to trust. Definitely recommend checking this one out and if you haven’t done so yet go back and grab their first too.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Guys, get ready to see this one everywhere next year. An Anonymous Girl is the latest by power writing duo Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkenan and it's a wild ride.

Jessica Farris is a young makeup artist who is trying to make it on her own in NYC. She lies her way into being a part of a research study... On morality of all things. The mysterious Dr. Shields sees something in Jess, and she's invited to take the study to the next level. She's pushing her personal boundaries but getting paid handsomely for it, and almost believes that it's all worth it.

This book had me spooked. It took off right from the beginning. The pacing was really good and parts genuinely surprised me. There were only a few characters and it was fun to see them intersect. I'm not a psychologist but I know a lot about it, so admittedly I had a hard time going with the flow on certain parts. Things get complicated pretty quickly and Jess finds herself backed into a corner- I was literally reading this at a bar, so invested in the ending as I was.

All in all, I did like their previous book, The Wife Between Us, better, but I still think this is a compelling follow up. I have a feeling this ending is love it or hate it (I didn't love it, for spoilery reasons I don't want to articulate here!) Still, add this to your 2019 reading list and tell me where you fall. 3.75/5 ⭐️

Tl;dr: An Anonymous Girl has one great main character, one that turns out to be an enormous (and pitiful) cliche and a is a fast paced thriller that works because of the great character.

The story: Jessica is a struggling twenty-something in Manhattan, working as an on call makeup artist when a college-aged young woman whose makeup she's doing mentions a paid scientific study she's decided to skip. Jessica, who needs the money, decides to try and go.

She's accepted into the study, which is ostensibly about morality, run by a Dr. Shields, who Jessie imagines as a older, paternal gentleman. As the study progresses, and the questions get more and more personal, she finds out that Dr. Shields is Dr. Lydia Shields, a gorgeous (natch) and sucessful woman.

Mystified by Dr. Shields's interest in her, but also flattered, Jessie continues to meet with Dr. Shields, even as the sessions change to face to face meetings and increasingly, to "tests" Jessie doesn't understand but keeps doing.

Obviously all is not as it seems with Dr. Shields, but the reason and reasoning behind her behavior, while menacingly fascinating at first, grows obvious and wearisome over the course of An Anonymous Girl. I won't get into spoiler territory, but I will say that the reason for Dr. Shields's crazy seems like it devolves over the course of the book, changing her from seemingly cold-blooded calculator to lovesick idiot.

Jessica, however, is awesome. A refreshingly normal heroine, not gifted with special powers or skills, changes from awestruck ingenue to fierce and formidable, realizing that Dr. Shields holds all the power and actively works to get it back--not just to save her family --but because she realizes that outside of the danger, Dr. Shields's is a Liar McLiar and interestingly, the faux study has made Jessica think about morality and start to draw lines that she hadn't considered before.

It's this growth in Jessica that makes An Anonymous Girl interesting--sure, she faces all the thriller stock plot points, right down to final confrontation which is less tense than it should be due to how far Dr. Shields has fallen down the interesting scale, but I kept reading because I wanted to see the Jessica that would emerge by the book's end. An while some may call her final act less than moral, I think Jessica weighed her options and chose what was best for herself--and given how she lives to please others at the start of An Anonymous Girl, I think that choosing to live for herself was not just the smart decision, but the right one.

Overall, An Anonymous Girl is well paced and written, let down by the increasingly dim Dr. Shields, but buoyed by Jessica, charming and refreshingly real, and the type of heroine who does my favorite thing--saves herself by herself.

FTC Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book had both good and bad elements in my opinion.

I really liked Jessica, she was a perfectly flawed heroine for this novel. She had things she had done and did do things that were normal, but not considered good. She broke more minor moral rules.

I did not like Dr. Shields at all. I had no sympathy for her she seemed to be a total sociopath. In regards to her "love" for Thomas, it seemed more like an ownership of him than a love for him.

Most of the other characters weren't very well developed, we saw Thomas through others eyes, and the rest of the characters were pretty flat. I would have liked to know more about Jessica's family and friends and of course more about Noah, who seemed an almost afterthought to the story.

It moved a bit too slowly for my taste and it really didn't pick up until the last 70 pages. I see the psychological aspect, but it wasn't an edge of your seat thriller to me.

The ending was perfection and what got me to add a third star to my rating. Although I wish the epilogue was a bit longer.

I loved this book. it captivated me from the beginning until the very last page. I read it in one sitting. I could not get enough.

This is an absolutely amazing book!!!! I can’t even begin to explain it! I thought I was amazed with The Wife Between Us, then BAM this one! This book keeps you wanting to read, keeps you questioning, keeps you on your toes! Please read!!!!

[Excerpt]:

Rating: 4 stars

From the authors of “The Wife Between Us” comes another psychological thriller about two women fighting against each other – not physically, but using their intelligence and words. I have to say, this book gave me lots of anxiety. I didn’t know the full truth of what was happening, who was lying and who was truthful, and if someone was going to bite the bullet. When I actually feel real, physical anxiety because I’m uncertain what comes next, that shows the authors have done a great job of creating suspense. Hendricks and Pekkanen are masters.

First we have Jessica. She’s the main character of this story. She’s 28, lives in NYC, works as a makeup artist for a company called BeautyBuzz, cares deeply about her younger, disabled sister Becky, who’s disability, she feels, was partly her fault, and has 1 night stands with random men, some of them noticeably wearing wedding rings. She enters into a psychology study when she overhears one of her clients talking about ditching it, and from there things spiral out of control. This study is conducted by a mysterious psychologist who is obsessed with morality. As Jessica gets sucked deeper and deeper into the world of Dr. Shields – going where the doctor says, wearing specific outfits, reciting her words line-by-line, subtly gathering information from people – she soon discovers that she’s been told lie after lie after lie, and that Dr. Shields is more than obsessed. She’s dangerous.

[Full review on my blog!]

HOLY GUCAMOLE! This was SOOOO unbelievably devious and good! I devoured this book in a day and a half.

This was my first read by Hendricks/Pekkanen and WOW I can definitely see why everyone strongly recommends their novels. Talk about jaw on floor supreme talent her ladies and gents!! I was very impressed by this book and it's about DAMN time that I was able to get an excellent thriller!

Watch out.... this is going to be THE thriller of 2019. No if's, and's or but's to that statement.... This was THE shit. This book is IMPOSSIBLE to put down and trust me you won't want to!!

Unreliable characters, supreme creepiness to the tee, and unlikeable characters that will make you cringe (in the best way possible).... exactly what I needed! What a fantastic Christmas gift!! :)

I would recommend going into this story blind... therefore I'm not going to share anything about the plot. Trust me... it will make the novel that much more addicting and one fun ride for you.

That ending... also was perfect. Ugh... can't give these authors enough praise!!!

I'm so excited to see what they come out with next... and will be obsessively stalking my goodreads account to see when their next book will be published.

Also.. I'm going to get my bootay reading their first novel!!

5 addicting and obsessive stars!

Huge thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Pub date: 1/8/19
Published to GR: 12/13/18

This was one of my favorite reads this year. I felt drawn in to the story immediately. Jessica fascinated me, and so did this story of ethics and morals. Boy did it wind up being a study in those two things and in ways that were not expected.

As Jessica got drawn into the study and acting on Dr. Shields demands, the suspense became palpable and this book became impossible to put down. And when I did put it down, I was still thinking of it, trying to puzzle it all out in my mind and wondering how it could all possibly turn out okay for Jessica.

Everything about this book was in exactly why I read. Riveting in every possible way, subtle twists and so much brain activity going on the whole time. And I’m still thinking about it days later and marveling over the talents of these two brilliant authors.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of psychological suspense and to lovers of fiction period. Read this one, I think you’ll agree with me and love it too.

WOW! THIS BOOK!! While I have some mixed feelings about the way this book ended, I really enjoyed this book overall. I had to let this one settle over me, though. I liked how it kept me captivated and very interested in finding out what was going to happen. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next task and finding out why Dr. Sheilds sent Jessica to do what she did. I did not expect all the twists this book held and I found myself unsure of who was right. Who was lying and why??? I found myself afraid at times, waiting with bated breath. This was definitely an intriguing read, one that I found I didn't want to put down! Be sure not to have too much going on because you will want to blow everything off to understand just what exactly Dr. Shields is up to! Be sure not to miss this book!

AMAZING READ !!! Jessica Farris weasels her way into a study on ethics and morality for the big paycheck that comes with it. Little does she know the study and the mysterious Dr. Shields will take over her life and lead her to question everything she believes. The story takes you through so many twists and turns. It leaves you wondering who can be trusted and if Jessica will finish this ethics and morality study alive. If you love psychological thrillers, this book is a Must Read!