Bark at the Ghouls

I gave The Wife Between Us five stars when I read it in 2017. It was so twisty and so turny and filled with dark surprises that kept me in a constant state of anxiety. I loved everything about it so when I saw this one was releasing, I put it at the very top of my list.

I don’t think any follow up would have lived up to my expectations after loving The Wife Between Us so hard but An Anonymous Girl was definitely a decent, if not mind-blowing, follow up. It didn’t reach 5 star territory for me because I am spoiled and I didn’t think the reveals were all that shocking. It’s highly likely that I am probably terribly jaded too. So my four star may well be your five star. Despite that, it was an entertaining thriller/mystery/secret filled read that kept my attention.

The story revolves around a broke makeup artist who is riddled with guilt over something in her past. She has secrets and I love secrets! She decides to take the place of another young lady in an interview that promises to pay $500 bucks simply to answer a few questions. Well, wouldn’t you?!

But, of course, you know it entails far more than that for our hapless heroine, don’t you?

She is chosen by the doctor running the study to step out from behind the laptop and handle some real life situations as part of a morality and ethics “study”. To say more will ruin things so I will say no more about that strange situation.

The doctor is cold and calculating and manipulative and frankly, creepy as hell. Especially when you’re listening to the voice in your ear! What is that doctor up to? This is one of those books you’ll have to keep reading just one more page until the whole thing is done because you HAVE TO KNOW. Or maybe it’s just me because I am so nosy.

Jessica, our hapless heroine, soon becomes entwined in quite a nasty little web of deception and I enjoyed watching everything unravel but as I said earlier, the secrets weren’t so big as to shock me very much. I was expecting more to happen, something truly terrible and earth-shattering, but alas perhaps I am twisted. As written, An Anonymous Girl is a perfectly entertaining and often unsettling way to spend a few hours. If you listen to the audiobook I think it’ll be another experience altogether. Hearing the doctor’s voice in my head still haunts me. It was done perfectly; cold and unemotional and it made my skin crawl a little. The other voices suit as well. Thomas sounds a little dull which was fitting (he was not my favorite) and Jessica had a youthful tone that struck all the right notes.

“Sometimes an impulsive decision can change the course of your life.”