If you can look past protagonist Jessica Ferris being a whiny guessaholic for the book's first half, then you're for a treat. An Anonymous Girl becomes the tense thriller one hopes it might be as soon as the heroine finds her footing and gets past being a self-absorbed victim.

Opening up as a struggling makeup artist trying to earn some cash, Jessica joins a psychological study about ethics and morality conducted by a university professor and well-known therapist named Dr. Sheilds. In trying to be the perfect test subject (and well-paid), Jessica scores high in baring her soul and sharing longtime secrets not even her family knows.

As the study moves from the ethical questions and confessions on a computer screen to real-life role-play, it becomes increasingly clear she has become entangled in a deadly web of lies and love. What makes the trap especially dangerous is that Jessica never knows which of the two antagonists is attempting to manipulate her more for their own selfish gains. 

As a character, it takes a long time to like Jessica Ferris, but eventually, you cannot help to root for her. It's a good thing she comes around or there wouldn't have been any likable characters at all, not even a fringe boyfriend prospect who didn't get the page time he deserved.