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

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

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study, she thinks she’ll just be answering some simple questions. What seems at first like an innocent experiment grows more and more unsettling as the mysterious Dr. Shields raises the stakes…

I hadn’t read Pekkanen and Hendricks’ first novel, The Wife Between Us, but when I was given an ARC from Macmillan via Netgalley, I was hooked from the first page.I loved this book for its disturbing, voyeuristic elements and if you like inventive narrative and twisted heroines with dark pasts, you’ll love An Anonymous Girl too!

Riveting and Suspenseful

I devoured this book. While there are a lot of “domestic” thrillers out there, and An Anonymous Girl certainly has some domestic elements, I found the angle of a medical study to be unique. Even though Jessica spends a fair amount of time in the beginning alone in a room, answering questions on a computer screen, the plot was far from stagnant. At every turn, there is the delightful feeling that there are dark secrets to be learned.

Deliciously Creepy

What stood out the most for me with An Anonymous Girl was the inventive narrative structure. Predominantly, we hear from Jessica in first person point of view, but in alternating chapters, there is an unsettling shift to second person. This shift in perspective is interesting, because second person is an alienating point of view. It gives the impression that the reader is being watched, which only served to ratchet the stakes and build tension early on. In other books, using second person in this way can be a bit campy, since it breaks the fourth wall and brings the reader into the narrative. However, in An Anonymous Girl, the effect was engrossing and deliciously creepy.

Intrigue, Among Other Things

Read this book if you love a good thriller with lots of intrigue and suspense. I love a good, twisted heroine with lots of dark secrets, and Jessica Farris has a fair share of dirty little secrets to reveal (whether she wants to or not!) An Anonymous Girl is the ultimate voyeuristic indulgence!