An Anonymous Girl was a book that I was very excited about. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that exciting of a read. It had its moments of intrigue and mystery, but they never seemed to last very long. The back and forth between perspectives was fun at times, but seemed to ruin the suspense that the novel was trying to create around Dr. Shields and the study. Too much was given away by Dr. Shields character, making the big reveal at the end of the novel very anticlimactic.

Dr. Shields is administering a psychological study on morals and ethics. Jessica gets an opportunity to join the study, and continues participating in exchange for money. When the study starts to take a turn for the worst, it’s too late for Jessica to get out without a fight.

Jessica Farris is a struggling makeup artist who is trying to keep up with her rent, as well as her sisters medical bills. It’s very prevalent throughout the book that all of Jessica’s moves, or ~money moves~ are motivated solely by her financial situation. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, people would do a lot of questionable things with the promise of large amounts of cash. However, I feel like this was used as a way to convince the reader that Jessica was forced into the situation, or had no other choice in the matter. If Jessica’s character was more complex and written with more motivations, it would feel more believable and urgent. All we really know about Jessica is that she needs money and she sleeps with random guys sometimes. There was a lot of potential for Jessica to be an interesting, multilayered protagonist, but I never found myself pulling for her. She just kind of fell flat.

Dr. Shields’ character was probably the biggest letdown. The reveal of Dr. Shields’ motivations was underwhelming as well as the entire premise of the study. I wish there was more mystery surrounding Dr. Shields’ true intentions, or at least a more rewarding reveal. The way that Dr. Shields perspective was written also rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like it leaned towards corny-not believable-kinda cringey at times, but it also added an interesting element to the story so it’s all a matter of opinion.

An Anonymous Girl wasn’t the best thriller I’ve ever read but it definitely wasn’t the worst. I might have been too hard on it at times because I want more suspense out of a thriller, but that isn’t the only aspect of a thriller that’s important. I did like the way the book was written and formatted, and I still want to read Hendricks and Pekkanens other book The Wife Between Us. If you enjoy domestic thrillers then you might really like this book. It was twisty and turny and overall a solid 3 / 5.