Joining us today is Sandra Block, author of the just-released The Girl Without a Name, the follow-up to the psychological thriller, Little Black Lies. Check out our quick Q&A on the book's darker themes and what inspires (and scares!) Sandra, below, and then let us know your thoughts in the comments!
1. The Girl Without a Name touches on alcoholism, drug abuse, anorexia and mental illness. Do you deal with these tough issues in your practice as a neurologist?
I'm a neurologist, not a psychiatrist, so I don't directly treat problems like depression or drug abuse. But, I do deal with these issues on a daily basis. Patients may have seizures every time they quit drinking, or neuropathy (peripheral nerve damage) or ataxia (unsteadiness) from years of alcohol abuse. Depression and anxiety also play a huge role in insomnia - on of my specialties as a sleep doctor. Most doctors, in every field, work with mental illness on some level.
2. What scares you as a writer, and why?
Reviews always fill me with a certain dread, and yet it's so hard not to read them. Nowadays, I'm kinder to myself though. I used to read bad reviews as a sort of tough love, but I'm not so masochistic anymore. It just isn't helpful in a field already sewn with self-doubt. I've come to accept that not everyone will love my books, and everyone has a right to an opinion. I try to focus on the positive reviews and emails I've received. If reading my book has given someone, somewhere, a sense of wonder, escape, or even joy for a few hours, then I've done my job.
3. What inspired your new character, Jane Doe?
The character came to me as first line, while I was on vacation. I had just finished Little Black Lies (the first Zoe Goldman novel) and scored an agent, so I was on a bit of a high. The line goes: "We call her Jane, because she can't tell us her name." Then Jane showed up in the hospital bed. I really couldn't shake the vision of the character, so I wrote her.
4. We have grown to know and love Dr. Zoe Goldman! What’s next for our favorite doctor?
Zoe is taking a bit of a break at the moment, getting ready for her Forensic Psychiatry fellowship. She does make a cameo in the Detective Adams novel I'm working on right now though. I also have a great case lined up for her next novel, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and see on that one…
ABOUT THE BOOK:
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Contemporary Thriller, 368 pages
Published September 8th 2015 by Grand Central Publishing
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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sandra A. Block graduated from college at Harvard, then returned to her native land of Buffalo, New York for medical training and never left. She is a practicing neurologist and proud Sabres fan, and lives at home with her husband, two children, and impetuous yellow lab Delilah. She has been published in both medical and poetry journals. "Little Black Lies" is her debut, and "The Girl Without a Name" in the next novel in the series.
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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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| credit: Brian Block |
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