Saturday, October 3, 2015

The Girl Without a Name

The Girl Without a Name by Sandra Block has the potential to be an engaging psychological thriller if not for a few speed bumps in the narrative.
The first speed bump is the use of the first person which severely limits the available plot twists. Also it makes the book seem more like a correlation drama between a doctor and a patient.
The second speed bump is the medical jargon that's thrown around. This takes the reader out of the story if they don't know or understand abbreviations and shorthand used by health care providers. But this is something that could be fixed with a point of view shift as well.
Finally, the build is too slow. The big drama doesn't happen until the last few chapters and the resolution is extremely watered down, leaving the reader dissatisfied. Yet another issue that could be resolved by switching to a third person narrative.
What it comes down to is I see this book being so much better than this. I'm sorry for hurt feelings, but when I review a work I try to be as honest as possible.
Maybe that makes me an arrogant ass, but if the only reason I'm turning a page is to see if it gets better then I think the writing speaks for itself.