cover image The Girl Without a Name

The Girl Without a Name

Sandra Block. Grand Central, $14.99 trade paper (368p) ISBN 978-1-4555-8377-5

In Block's busy mash-up of medicine, romance, and mystery (following Little Black Lies), Dr. Zoe Goldman is doing her child-psych rotation at Children's Hospital of Buffalo, N.Y., under hotshot Dr. Tad Berringer when a catatonic Jane Doe patient captures her attention and leads her down a path that may end her already precarious residency. Drugs produce little change in Jane, and the police have no clues as to her identity. Desperate to discover who Jane is and frustrated by the slow ups and downs of the patient's treatment, Zoe takes matters into her own hands. Her concerns about Tad's treatment decisions and Zoe's struggles with her own ADHD medications and upcoming exam add to the pressure. The tension rises as it becomes clear that uncovering Jane's real identity may endanger Zoe as well as Jane. In the end, only Zoe emerges as a fully developed character. Agent: Rachel Eckstrom, Irene Goodman Literary Agency. (Sept.)