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FilmIntuition (33 KP) rated An Anonymous Girl in Books

Dec 22, 2018

Takes 150 Pages to Get Going

Wasting a clever set-up that feels like a cross between David Fincher's The Game and “the wrong man” motif that filled Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography, after strapped-for-cash twenty-something makeup artist Jessica Farris participates in a paid ethics study intended for someone else, An Anonymous Girl takes roughly 150 pages to get going.

Graduating from creepy to only mildly thrilling, predictably Jessica discovers that the study was the bait needed to lure her into a diabolical shrink’s carnival funhouse of lies and manipulation where very little is what it seems.

Needless to say, it's a disappointing return to the genre for Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen following their smash hit The Wife Between Us. And while An Anonymous Girl has the makings of a much greater psychological mystery, the authors don't invest nearly as much thought into the heroine as the book's villain, which means that the reader is usually three steps ahead of Jessica each time she gets a (fairly obvious) ticket to the clue bus.

Sticking it out due to mild curiosity as to how everything would turn out as well a desire to review An Anonymous Girl since St. Martin's Press, Bookish First, and NetGalley were kind enough to send me an arc, despite an intriguing idea, in the end, I think most readers will be tempted to put it down in favor of picking a different thriller up.

Kudos

ClareR (5854 KP) rated Never Have I Ever in Books

Aug 8, 2019

Never Have I Ever

Joshilyn Jackson | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller

8.5

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

Prepare for a pretty wild ride!

Never Have I Ever is a psychological thriller which had me completely hooked from the first chapter. Amy is a housewife who teaches diving and is currently on maternity leave. She helps her friend Char to run a book club, which the other mums in her neighbourhood also come to (I think more drinking than reading goes on, to be honest!). At one of these meetings, a new person arrives. Roux is renting a local house for a short period of time, and gatecrashes the club, taking over entirely. She starts a game of ‘Never Have I Ever’, uncovers some of the other mums secrets, and lets Amy know in no uncertain terms that she knows her deepest, darkest secret. And Roux wants to be paid to keep that secret. But Amy isn’t going to just hand over the money.

I loved this - Roux is a great villain, and Amy is an intriguing character. I loved how the lines between good and bad were blurred where Amy was concerned, but she always remains a good mum and Stepmother throughout.

My heart was in my mouth pretty much the whole time - I warn you, there is no let up at all in this book at all!

I will most definitely be looking for more books by Joshilyn Jackson!

Many thanks to NetGalley for my copy of this fabulous book, and to The Pigeonhole for giving me the incentive to read it!