An Anonymous Girl

So first things first, this is not a thriller. I was a huge fan of The Wife Between Us, and naturally when I saw the cover of An Anonymous Girl and the similar cover art (which successfully pulled me in) I couldn’t resist reading this second novel by the dynamic duo.

The premise of this novel seemed interesting. A psychological study on morality and ethics, deep personal questions and then a twist that has you wondering who this psychiatrist really is, and what her motivations are.

I enjoyed this book in a lot of ways. The writing is done very well, the layering and intricacy of the plot is something that Hendricks and Pekkanen have mastered. But the overarching vibe I got from this novel was creeeeepy. I think that was an important aspect of what the authors were intending, so from that standpoint it’s a success. Unfortunately for me, it started to mess with my mind in an unwelcome way. I personally need some light to contrast the darkness, but for me the ratio was a little off in this book.

The audio on Audible definitely helped in that regard. The two different narrators used worked perfectly for the characters. The voice of Dr. Shields was so nerve-wrackingly robotic and menacing, I shivered when I heard it at night. And I will say this book had me turning the pages. I couldn’t for the life of me understand where this plot was going, but there was enough intrigue that I kept reading, for more clarity if nothing else.

It felt like the book was a massive buildup. And then the end fell flat for me. This super cunning, insanely devious, and, for lack of a better word, psychotic psychiatrist who’s been plotting incessantly throughout the novel is suddenly thwarted by a not-so-cunning or special confrontation?

I also have difficulty understanding Jess’s motivation halfway through the book. Her preliminary curiosity with subject 5 seems to make sense. But her later motivation to discover everything about her, to understand her suicide and relationship to all the parties involved seems forced. If I were Jessica Ferris I don’t think I would have felt any bludgeoning desire to discover more about this girl. If I had suspicions that something terrible had happened to a former subject of the study, I would just remove myself from it. But Jess has the desire to “get out” far later than one would expect her to. It just seems that the authors wanted to find a way to get all this crucial information to the reader, and got too lazy to come up with a creative way that made sense, so instead they made it seem like the protagonist was desperate for this information although she shouldn’t have any motivation to seek it out. It felt forced.

Overall, this is definitely a gripping read. I’ve hardly been this creeped out by a story, and instilling any kind of intense emotion in a reader means the authors have been successful in creating an immersive world. It just had some finer details that brought it down for me. It had all the makings to be a fantastic novel, but just fell short. I’d still recommend it to anyone that wants a page turner/ a great book to listen to over audio.