The instant #1 New York Times bestseller (January 2019) everyone is talking about! People Magazine’s Book of the Week • Bookish’s “Must-Read Books of Winter” • PopSugar’s “Best Books of Winter” • Cosmopolitan’s “2019 Books to Bring to Your Book Club” • Bookbub’s “Biggest Books of Winter” • Refinery 29’s “Best Books of January 2019” • Crime Reads’ “January’s Best Psychological Thrillers” • … • Crime Reads’ “January’s Best Psychological Thrillers” • InStyle’s “7 Books That You Should Resolve to Read This January” • HelloGiggles’ “The 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2019” • USA Today’s “5 New Books Not to Miss” • Marie Claire’s “The Best Women’s Fiction of 2019 (So Far)” • Hypable’s “Winter Releases You Can’t Afford to Miss”
“Hendricks and Pekkanen are at the top of their game…You won’t see the final twist coming.” —People Magazine
“Beware strange psychologists…the authors know exactly how to play on their characters’ love of danger to bring them to the brink of disaster – and dare them to jump off.” —New York Times Book Review
“Slickly twisty [with] gasp-worthy final twists...major league suspense.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“For those who relished the creepy stalking in Hendricks and Pekkanen’s The Wife Between Us, this unnerving tale will have them rethinking what secrets are safe to share and if moral and ethics really matter when protecting the ones you love.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Masterfully escalates the suspense.” —Booklist (starred review)
Looking to earn some easy cash, Jessica Farris agrees to be a test subject in a psychological study about ethics and morality. But as the study moves from the exam room to the real world, the line between what is real and what is one of Dr. Shields’s experiments blurs.
Dr. Shields seems to know what Jess is thinking… and what she’s hiding.
Jessica’s behavior will not only be monitored, but manipulated.
Caught in a web of attraction, deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.
From the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, An Anonymous Girl will keep you riveted through the last shocking twist.
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An Anonymous Girl is a page turning, stay up all night, twisted cat and mouse tale of obsession. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen had me guessing til the end!
5* Obsessive Stars
I was very excited and eager to once again be able to read a psychological thriller written by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. Together as a team they take you on a wild crazy complex journey.
The creepy journey of Jess begins when she signs up to be part of a psychology study on morality and ethics to earn some extra cash to help her family, which is struggling due to her father loosing his job and Jess having a special needs sister. What should be just one or two sessions of filling out a questionnaire becomes a twisted, obsessive and dangerous game of truth and consequences.
This was a definite page-turner and the characters were very engaging and realistic. I highly recommend this thrilling fast paced read of cat and mouse.
Having read The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, I looked forward to reading An Anonymous Girl. While I liked their first book better, An Anonymous Girl does not disappoint. Jessica is a make-up artist struggling to make ends meet and help her parents financially take care of her younger sister. She finds an opportunity to participate in a research study about lying. What happens next is mind-blowing. So many twists and turns involving two therapists.. Which therapist is telling the truth? You just have to read this one for yourself to discover the answers. I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin’s for an honest review.
AN ANONYMOUS GIRL strikes me as a subtle thriller. By that I mean it’s not your run of the mill page turner, yet it quietly stimulates a compulsion to read the next page, and then the next as your mind attempts to fathom just what is happening. The writing is clear and direct and obscure all at the same time. Yes, this book is something of an enigma. It would seem that there are three main characters thrown together by happenstance. Early on, there are few clues that point the way to their connection. There are also tiny bits of information that seem insignificant when first mentioned.
When I had read only a few chapters in AN ANONYMOUS GIRL, the words “would you like to play a game?” popped into my head. Yes, the words that always remind me of the 1983 movie “War Games.” It came more from the sense of the book rather than from its subject matter. Additionally, there is a subtle, almost intangible thread of creepiness that percolates through these opening chapters.
Without giving anything away, this is a tale of obsession, lies, truths and human interaction. I found it mentally stimulating and quite believable.
Loaded with psychological twists and craziness. I really liked this thriller. The very end has its own unexpected twist.
The story itself was intriguing, but, at least for me, it was predictable. It had significantly less Ah! moments than The Wife Between Us for me. Still, the idea was original, and the characters were well-developed, and their actions were understandable. The writing is so elaborate that you can definitely feel the words as they pass.
Lies. Deceit. Manipulation. Suspense.
These elements make for a great read, right? Sucked in at page 1, I immediately dove into An Anonymous Girl and couldn’t put it down! I loved the multiple character perspectives and how my mind was constantly scheming to figure out where the plot twist would come in.
This book was written with such excellent pace, elegance and outstanding story-telling ability! I love when Hendricks and Pekkanen write together! Another excellent collaboration!
Another winner. Thx
Another winner by Hendricks and Pekkanen. A one-day read that had me biting my nails. Can’t wait for their next!
I can’t say that I agree with the one and two star reviews of this book. Perhaps they don’t like the genre of psychological thrillers. It wasn’t boring at all to me, in fact it was hard to stop when I needed to. I loved the dual point of view that showed me both sides of the coin. And I thought it was interesting the way Dr. Shields never referred to herself as me or I, like she was dissociated or having an out of body experience and watching someone else do this dirty work.
My friend and I were reading this book together and when we discussed it right before reading the epilogue never once did we suspect it would end the way it did. And we are two readers who scrutinize everything and consider every possibility.
The authors did excellent research and every part of this story is believable. It’s not overly loquacious or overly simplistic. It’s written in a contemporary style and easy to read and follow. I enjoyed every minute of it and got my full ten dollars worth of entertainment out of it. Can’t wait to start their next book.
Loved it. What I enjoyed most is that the psychology was written with accurate precision. The story was intense, intriguing and captivating. Being a psychologist over the last few decades, I’m always a bit critical with any book that features basic or in-depth psychoanalysis. So many get it wrong or use psychology as a pivot point where it doesn’t belong. An Anonymous Girl is well researched, gripping and massively entertaining with a truly satisfying ending.
Book Review: An Anonymous Girl by Hendricks & Pekkanen (2019)
3 Stars ***
Neurotic, twenty-something-year-old Jessica (Jess) Farris works as a make-up artist for BeautyBuzz in Manhattan, NY. Always one step ahead of the bill collectors, Jess jumps on an in-through-the back-door opportunity to answer questions in a psychological, morality testing situation for which she will be paid. It is here her life becomes embroiled with the elegant and beautiful Dr. Shields, her huband Thomas, and the hapless, mysterious April. Ho-hum. Told in two points of view—one, the robotic, stilted voice of the psychiatrist Dr. Shields; the other, hot mess, insecure, impulsive Jess. I thought this book would never end.
The authors used this same format for their other popular books: The Wife Between Us (2018) and You Are Not Alone (2020). Successfully executed in the exemplary The Wife Between Us, the other two titles fall short of the first outstanding book. (BTW, I have also reviewed the other two titles which you can find by scrolling my blog.) At the point I was hoping for the end to come quickly, I had read only 25% of the book. That’s how plodding, boring, and uninspired the plot and characters are. However, and this is a big however, this book is going to be optioned for a TV series. This goes back to a truism I have often spouted: It doesn’t matter how good or bad your book is when you have friends in high places.The literary value is unimportant. What is important is whom you know and who you are. Influential, powerful friends in high places come in very handy. These authors have these friends.
Getting back to the plot … “Jessie, have you ever deeply hurt someone you care about?” is the question that reduces Jess to mush as her guilty conscience kicks in. Dr. Shields continues to manipulate and infiltrate Jess’ life and brain so she may use Jess as a pawn to run her game.
If anything makes me happy that I don’t live in Manhattan, it’s the authors’ portrayal of women as either mind-bending predators or clueless victims—until near the end where little Miss Manipulated finally wakes up and starts to turn the tables on the bloodsucking, amoral female. Maybe the authors should move to the suburbs or a small town to escape from the dog-eat-dog mindset.
Bottom line: same plot involving mindfu_ _ing and the use of men as bait, same setting, same characters but with different names, same predators but with different names, same inane, unrealistic conclusions lacking imagination and innovation EXCEPT FOR THE WIFE BETWEEN US. They should have stopped with that book because it’s proven itself to be a tough act to follow.
This novel is a masterpiecethe writing is smooth and the characters are well written…..I wish it had a sequel but the story is perfect the way it is
A psychological ethics study goes horribly wrong and a twisted path of secrets is revealed. The characters are masterfully drawn within an alternating point of view narrative which is fascinating. It’s quite the page-turner with a satisfying finish. Highly recommend.
Badly edited and quite disappointing storywise. Felt very rushed and not properly thought through. The authors didn’t seem to really gel on this book. Shame.
Excellent!
I found this book extremely boring and dumped it as a waste of time after 50 pages.
“When money and morality intersect, the results can illuminate intriguing truths about human character.”
Jessica Farris is a 28 year old makeup artist, who moved to NYC from PA. She is busy but just getting by doing home visits for affluent people. She feels a responsibility to her younger sister Becky living in PA requiring speech and occupational therapy. The private sessions are expensive but Jessica pays for whatever the health insurance doesn’t cover.
On one of her home visits to a young college student, Taylor, she listens to Taylor and her friends chatting before they head out for the night. There’s a discussion regarding one student casually agreeing to a paid research study at the school. Although she feels guilty Jessica obtains the information when Taylor reports that she didn’t plan to follow through.
What Jessica thinks will be a quick questionnaire and easy money turns quickly into an experiment on morality and ethics. It seems once she becomes involved with Dr Lydia Shields there is no turning back. Initially, Jess is made to feel special and appreciating the extra bonuses allowing her to take care of her sister.
Slowly, Jess becomes paranoid as the web of deceit and jealousy surface. The research subjects are only referred to by a number. Things become more complicated and dangerous for Jess when she is manipulated into “helping” Dr Shields with some personal issues.
This story will take you on a ride to places you didn’t know existed. Hold onto your seat! You won’t want to stop until you have read the whole book!
Great book! Can’t wait to read the next one.
Layered, smart, and riveting psychological suspense. Every chapter takes you deeper and deeper into the very twisted relationship between hapless, cash-strapped Jessica and the manipulative psychiatrist Dr. Shields — who is running her own dark agenda. Unputdownable.