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bmg20 's review for:
An Anonymous Girl
by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
“We all have reasons for our actions. Even if we hide the reason from those who think they know us best. Even if the reasons are so deeply buried we can’t recognize them ourselves.”
Jessica Farris is a makeup artist in New York City and when she overhears information about a psychological study for some quick cash she finds a way to get into it. Sitting in an empty room she answers questions on a computer on ethics and morality. She’s prompted to be as honest as possible and she is; she has no reason not to be. This is an anonymous study after all where she is referred to only as Subject 52. She’s generously paid and when the individual in charge of the study, Dr. Shields, dangles the carrot of further payment if she continues the study outside of the classroom she accepts. The things Jess is asked to do are slightly unnerving and confusing, unsure how it has anything to do with ethics and morality, but the desire to help her struggling family out is more than enough incentive to quiet the discontent in her mind. The more studies she completes though, the more the discontent grows.
Most mysteries these days tend to count on unreliable narrators to keep the reader guessing. In the end, you’re thrown a curveball of an answer that causes you to question the hundreds of pages you’ve just consumed. It can be just as fun to work your way back through the story, reevaluating everything you assumed but now with a new understanding. That’s what I enjoyed most about An Anonymous Girl, you think you know exactly what’s going on, and you might be right, but there’s just enough uncertainty that you can’t be sure, so you keep reading. Alas, the lead up was great, but the ending wasn’t quite the shocker that I had anticipated and felt a little too ‘easy’ of a conclusion when compared to the chaos that led up to it. I sometimes feel that by reading too many mysteries that I’m dulling any future enjoyment, that I become too adept at deciphering what’s truly going on. Or maybe this was simply a mediocre mystery.
I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Jessica Farris is a makeup artist in New York City and when she overhears information about a psychological study for some quick cash she finds a way to get into it. Sitting in an empty room she answers questions on a computer on ethics and morality. She’s prompted to be as honest as possible and she is; she has no reason not to be. This is an anonymous study after all where she is referred to only as Subject 52. She’s generously paid and when the individual in charge of the study, Dr. Shields, dangles the carrot of further payment if she continues the study outside of the classroom she accepts. The things Jess is asked to do are slightly unnerving and confusing, unsure how it has anything to do with ethics and morality, but the desire to help her struggling family out is more than enough incentive to quiet the discontent in her mind. The more studies she completes though, the more the discontent grows.
Most mysteries these days tend to count on unreliable narrators to keep the reader guessing. In the end, you’re thrown a curveball of an answer that causes you to question the hundreds of pages you’ve just consumed. It can be just as fun to work your way back through the story, reevaluating everything you assumed but now with a new understanding. That’s what I enjoyed most about An Anonymous Girl, you think you know exactly what’s going on, and you might be right, but there’s just enough uncertainty that you can’t be sure, so you keep reading. Alas, the lead up was great, but the ending wasn’t quite the shocker that I had anticipated and felt a little too ‘easy’ of a conclusion when compared to the chaos that led up to it. I sometimes feel that by reading too many mysteries that I’m dulling any future enjoyment, that I become too adept at deciphering what’s truly going on. Or maybe this was simply a mediocre mystery.
I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.