“Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.”

I was happy to receive a review copy of “An Anonymous Girl,” the second novel by the duo responsible for “The Wife Between Us” (thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley) – so, in return, here is my honest review.

This is another in the “plucky heroine in danger” genre, described as a “cat-and-mouse thriller.”  The protagonist, Jessica/Jess Farris is a struggling freelance makeup artist in New York who signs up to be a subject in a psychological study. Although she thinks it will consist of just answering questions, as things progress she becomes entangled with creepy Dr. Shields, whose actions become more and more strange as she sends Jess on outings with specific assignments to flirt/seduce/whatever various men. Told in alternating points of view (Jess and Dr. Shields), it takes a while to figure out WTH is going on.

Jess becomes paranoid as it seems Dr. Shields can read her innermost thoughts and fears blah blah blah. When she realizes what is really going on, things get weird(er).

I generally am a big fan of psychological thrillers, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I may be burned out due to reading too MANY of these plucky-heroine-in-danger stories, but I also was not impressed with the writing. It seemed geared for a relatively low reading level, strong on plot but weak (IMHO) on language, narrative voice, and description. Well, except for the MANY times we learned what the characters were wearing. In detail. I rarely give only 2 stars, and this did have some ingenious plotting and I was able to finish it, so it’s a 3-star from me.