Monday With Kaye: "The Girl Without a Name" by Sandra Block

If you wish to read in order the preceding book is Little Black Lies…..

The Girl Without a Name by Sandra Block

This is the second psychological suspense medical thriller featuring Dr. Zoe Goldman. She is in her last year of residency as a psychiatrist, and on probation, trying to help her patients as best she can. She’s especially taken with the young girl who has been brought into the psych ward of the Children’s Hospital not knowing who she is or how she got there. She may actually have a name, but it could be Candy or Daneesha, or something else.

Zoe herself, suffers from ADHD and doesn’t think her Adderall is working well enough. She tries to keep others from knowing about the ADHD, which could hinder her work. In fact, in this world of off-balance people, some are more out of kilter than others, but none are normal, whatever that means.

The handsome but married Dr. Berringer is supervising Zoe and complications arise on that front. A fellow resident named Jason is her friend, but teases her and sometimes gets too close to her secret. Her brother Scotty is a breath of fresh air and normalcy, contrasting with the patients, all of whom are severely mentally ill, and the doctors. Zoe is determined to get to the bottom of who Jane Doe is and, after she discovers that, how to find the ones responsible for her condition. As she defies her superiors to help the girl, not only her career hangs in the balance, but her relationship with the love of her life, Mike, who is considering leaving her for a job in another state.

I loved entering this strange place, where people don’t know who they are, or pretend they’re someone else, to try to get to sanity. It’s a very strong second book and I’m looking forward to the third.

Reviewed by Kaye George, author of Death in the Time of Ice for Suspense Magazine