An Anonymous Girl: A Novel

An Anonymous Girl is a 2018 psychological thriller novel co-written by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, a duo that puts together suspenseful psychological page-turners. The narrative follows Jessica Farris, who joins a study on morality and ethics that turns dangerous when the psychologist running the experiment turns out to have sinister motivations. An Anonymous Girl examines The Nature of Morality as its central characters wrestle with Confronting Uncomfortable Inner Truths as they each experience The Stronghold of Obsession.

This guide refers to the 2022 St. Martin’s paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source text depicts suicide and a forced sexual encounter, in addition to strong psychological manipulation.

Plot Summary

An Anonymous Girl begins by challenging readers to withhold their judgments about other peoples’ moral choices. Protagonist Jessica Farris is a makeup artist on her way to her last appointment on November 16. One of her clients, Taylor, mentions canceling her participation in an upcoming study that promised to pay well. Desperate for money to cover her sister’s medical bills, Jessica gets the information and shows up to the study the next day, pretending to be Taylor.

Jessica, now deemed Subject 52, returns for several sessions to answer morality-based questions that all somehow relate to her own recent decisions, such as sleeping with married men. Jessica starts to become dependent on the sessions, as they are an outlet for many secrets that weigh her down. Jessica attempts to have a normal life but finds it more and more difficult; she cannot confide in her best friend, Lizzie, about the study and lies to a man (Noah) she has interest in.

When Jessica finds out that her father is going to lose his job and that they cannot afford their usual trip to Florida, Jessica is devastated and even more eager to participate in the study. Jessica is asked whether she thinks a person who cheats will always cheat, and she answers yes. Dr. Shields closes her study to focus on Jessica, hoping to set her up with her own husband, Thomas, and prove whether he is a perpetual cheater. Jessica does some research on Dr. Shields but cannot find much, so she stalks her at her university class and watches her in a restaurant.

When Jessica meets Dr. Shields at her office, she assures Jessica she is in control but warns her that her morals will be tested. Jessica agrees, knowing that Dr. Shields is willing to pay substantially. Over the next few sessions, Dr. Shields coaxes Jessica into revealing almost everything about herself, including how she feels responsible for her sister’s disability.

Dr. Shields admits to the reader that she has been lonely since Thomas moved out; he had an affair, but Dr. Shields remains deeply in love and insists on reconciling. When he cancels dinner plans, citing a work emergency, Dr. Shields goes to his office and sees a woman enter the building. A few days later, Jessica is asked to pick up a package for Dr. Shields containing a glass falcon sculpture that she plans to give to Thomas. She plans the next phase of her experiment, in which she will set up Thomas and Jessica and see if Thomas submits to temptation.   

Dr. Shields sends Jessica to a bar to flirt with a married man, who rejects Jessica. Dr. Shields is disappointed that not all men fall to temptation like Thomas. Jessica feels disturbed, but Dr. Shields placates her with a check. Jessica goes to Noah’s and apologizes for lying. Meanwhile, Dr. Shields invites Thomas for dinner, and Dr. Shields purposely triggers an allergy, leading him to feel sick. Dr. Shields takes the opportunity to check his phone and recent calls.

Next, Jessica is assigned to meet Thomas at an art museum, but since Jessica is unaware of whom she is meeting, she misses him. Instead, Jessica unknowingly meets Thomas outside at the scene of an accident, where he gets her number. She later calls him for a one-night stand. Dr. Shields instructs Jessica to provide free makeup to two girls on Thomas’s call list. Jessica hesitates, but Dr. Shields lures her with the promise of helping her father find work.

Dr. Shields next instructs Jessica to meet Thomas at a diner and get his phone number but does not tell Jessica who the man is. Jessica arrives and discovers the same Thomas she’d slept with, who warns Jessica that Dr. Shields is dangerous. Jessica meets Dr. Shields and tells her nothing about her and Thomas’s sexual involvement; instead, she says everything went according to plan. Jessica calls Thomas, who demands to know how she knows Dr. Shields. Jessica wonders if she can trust him, but he proves his identity with a wedding photo.

Jessica distances herself from Dr. Shields, who suspects she and Thomas are involved. After Jessica lies about being sick, Dr. Shields leaves soup at Jessica’s door as a warning. Dr. Shields’s assistant alerts Jessica that the study was terminated weeks ago. Thomas takes Jessica to the garden where April, the woman with whom he had an affair, ended her life. He assures Jessica that he is only faking interest in Dr. Shields because she is dangerous and tells her that Dr. Shields became deeply invested in April, taking her in almost as a younger sister. Dr. Shields becomes aware that both Thomas and Jessica are lying and blackmails Jessica. Jessica starts to suspect that Dr. Shields drove April to end her life and is trying to do the same to Jessica.

Jessica learns more about April and discovers a photograph April took of Thomas in bed. Dr. Shields invites Jessica over, and Jessica tells half-truths about knowing Thomas, forcing Dr. Shields to admit she is married to him. Dr. Shields admits to choosing Jessica because she reminded her of April and wanted to see if Thomas would cheat again. Jessica attempts to fool Dr. Shields into believing Thomas is fully invested in their relationship, and Dr. Shields falls for it momentarily. At the same time, Dr. Shields discovers that Jessica has been hiding Noah from her and realizes she cannot trust Jessica’s word. Jessica admits that she and Thomas met up but that all they talked about was his devotion to Dr. Shields. In reality, Thomas admitted to having a one-night affair with April and begged Jessica not to tell Dr. Shields.

Jessica pretends to be a friend of April’s and visits her mother, who gives Jessica a funeral program and alerts her to a private investigation taking place into April’s death. On December 22, Jessica and Thomas plan to distract Dr. Shields so that Jessica can sneak into her house and photograph her and April’s files. Jessica discovers that April only went to one official session with Dr. Shields and that Thomas met April long before Dr. Shields did. Jessica demands a meeting with Thomas, who confirms that he and April were together one night but that she seemed to become obsessed with him. April joined Dr. Shields’s study to get closer to Thomas, but it instead brought her closer to Dr. Shields. Dr. Shields watches Jessica and Thomas talk about this from outside the building and becomes enraged. She gets Jessica fired from her job and convinces Noah to stay away from her.

On Christmas Eve, Dr. Shields sits with her parents and thinks about her sister, who died in a drunk driving accident when she was 16. Dr. Shields locked her sister out of the house as a form of revenge when she discovered her sister was seeing her own ex-boyfriend. Her sister got in the car with a drunk driver, and they both died. Dr. Shields feels as though this fact brings her and Jessica together. Dr. Shields also thinks about April, who became a sort of friend. At one point, April admitted to sleeping with a married man, and Dr. Shields figured out that he was Thomas. She took April to the garden, gave her enough pills to end her life, and then left her there alone.

Jessica returns to the garden where April died and pieces together clues, realizing that April was Thomas’s patient. On Christmas Day, Jessica confesses that she locked her sister in her room the day of the accident and is relieved that her parents do not blame her. Dr. Shields insists that Jessica come over. Jessica first buys a recording watch, but when she gets there, she finds Thomas sitting in the library as well. Dr. Shields demands to know the nature of their relationship. She blackmails them both with evidence that could incriminate Jessica or cause Thomas to lose his license. Jessica accuses Dr. Shields of giving April too many pills on purpose. Dr. Shields realizes she is caught and swears she did it for Thomas, but he rejects her. Dr. Shields, totally alone, writes a confession to incriminate herself and save Thomas’s reputation. She ends her own life the same way April did.

A month passes, and Jessica meets with Thomas one last time, blackmailing him into giving her money. She moves on with her life knowing that she got what she wanted in the end but wondering if all of the trouble was worthwhile.