Review: The Girl Without A Name by Sandra Block (audio)

Title: The Girl Without a Name

Author: Sandra Block

Series: Zoe Goldman, #2

Narrator: Jennifer Nittoso

Published: September 2015, Hachette Audio

Length: 9 hours 43 minutes

Source: Personal copy via Audible

Another gripping pageturner featuring psychiatrist Zoe Goldman, the protagonist from Little Black Lies.

In
what passes for an ordinary day in a psych ward, Dr. Zoe Goldman is
stumped when a highly unusual case arrives. A young African American
girl, found wandering the streets of Buffalo in a catatonic state, is
brought in by police. No one has come forward to claim her, and all
leads have been exhausted, so Zoe’s treatment is the last hope to
discover the girl’s identity.

When drugs prove ineffective and
medical science seems to be failing, Zoe takes matters into her own
hands to track down Jane Doe’s family and piece together their checkered
history. As she unearths their secrets, she finds that monsters hide
where they are least expected. And now she must solve the mystery before
it is too late. Because someone wants to make sure this young girl
never remembers.

The Girl Without a Name is a powerful novel of
memory and forgetting, of unexpected friendship and understanding…and
of the secrets we protect no matter the consequences.

My thoughts: As soon as I finished Sandra Block’s debut novel Little Black Lies, I knew we weren’t done with Dr. Zoe Goldman, and so I was thrilled to find out that there was another book featuring her!!! And just like the previous book, this one is another thrilling, edge-of-your seat read that had me captivated from the start.

This book picks up shortly after the previous book ends and does contain some spoilers from the first book, so I highly suggest picking up Little Black Lies first if you haven’t read that one yet. I’m a big fan of reading series in order – not only do you get the character development as the author has created them, but as in this case, certain events happen that are discussed in this latest book – events that would be considered spoilers if you haven’t read the previous book.

I just love Dr. Zoe Goldman. She is willing to do anything to solve a mystery and help her patients, going to extreme measures in some cases. When medications seem to not be helping her catatonic patient, she begs her brother to help her dig around online and what they uncover is only the beginning of a whole slew of secrets and lies. Is someone purposely trying to keep this young girl from waking up and remembering who she is?

The secrets and lies and twists and turns that this book takes will keep you glued to the pages. And what I love is that there is such a good balance between the medical side and the personal side of the characters – never once is either side bogged down – and it creates such a fascinating and intriguing story. I really do hope this isn’t the last time we’ve seen Zoe Goldman!!!

Audio thoughts: This is the first time I’ve listened to Jennifer Nittoso and I thought she did a great job with the narration of this story. She isn’t the same narrator as the first book, but she did do a good job with the voices and accents when needed. 

Books in this series:

1. Little Black Lies
2. The Girl Without a Name