An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pakkanen is a very meticulous thriller that’s about love, marriage and secrets. I knew this book had a lot of hype this is the follow up to the super popular and well reviewed thriller The Wife Between Us and this book was getting crazy reviews from my fellow bloggers. I can confirm the hype is real this book went in a direction I was not expecting and could not be happier to just enjoy the ride. This novel doesn’t rely on one super twist, but a bunch of little twist and turns that add up quick, to a conclusion with a lot of stakes and secrets. The novel was fun in where watching a reality show where a character makes all the wrong choices is fun.

The Plot: Jessica is a makeup artist for hire, she works through an app called BeautyBuzz that comes to client’s home and do a makeover. Jessica does this part time and also does stage makeup for small productions. She lives in New York and is always looking to make extra money. When she goes to a dorm to do a makeover one of her clients talks about a study at the college she signed up that pays 250 dollars a session just to answer questions for two hours and if you qualify it could be more. Jessica uses an opportunity to go through the clients phone and find out where she has to go for the study. Jessica arrives at the study and tells them that she took the place of the other girl (the girl complained how early the study was) this excuse works and she’s approved for the study. Jessica enters a room with only a computer that projects a series of questions. Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt? Have you ever deeply hurt someone you car about? Should a punishment always fit a crime? The questions need answers long detailed answers of why Jessica thinks that way. Dr . shields runs the study a prods and pushes her to reveal some deep trauma and unresolved issues all through the the computer. Jessica soon begins to think that Dr. shields can read Jessica’s mind and see into her soul. Dr. Shields soon ask Jessica if she will me willing to be the doctors test subject out in the real world. Jessica has came a way a different person and is willing to do anything for Dr. Shields. She starts wearing what the doctor tells her and manipulates where she goes and who she talks to. Jessica starts to doubt Dr. Shields and the study keeps asking Jessica to act out of character. Jessica starts to investigate the Dr. Shields and finds out shocking truths about what the study is really leading up to.

What I Liked: I started off not really liking Jessica as a character but at the end she really grew on me. I liked getting to know how Dr. Shields analytical mind works and just how detailed it is. I liked getting the dueling perspectives of Jessica and Dr. Shields. The reasons that the character’s did what they did was backed up with fear and secrets, for the longest time I couldn’t figure out Thomas’s angle was if he was a pawn or a player, but I was satisfied why he played the game. The mystery/thriller element is really great and had me reading very late into the night, as the study goes into the real world I couldn’t put the book down I had to find out where it was leading, and I was pretty happy about where the book went. The dialogue and feelings expressed are excellent and tell the story more than descriptions

What I Disliked: The book sometimes went a little makeup heavy, she’s a makeup artist so it’s forgiven for the most part but sometimes the details were too much. The descriptions are sometimes very vague, I thought Leo was a cat for a few pages. I had a hard time picturing characters and their features.

Recommendations: I really enjoyed An Anonymous Girl, the plot is fast paced with small chapters making this book hard to put down. I would recommend this to people who like plausible mysteries that are well explained. I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars. I look forward to there next book and I plan to read The Wife Between Us soon.