Review ~ Little Black Lies by Sandra Block

Rating: 5/5 Stars
Author: Sandra Block
Publication Formats: eBook, Paperback, Audio
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing 
Publication Date: 02-17-15             Pages: 352 

She helps people conquer their demons. But she has a few of her own...

In the halls of the psychiatric ward, Dr. Zoe Goldman is a resident in training, dedicated to helping troubled patients. However, she has plenty of baggage of her own. When her newest patient arrives - a beautiful sociopath who murdered her mother - Zoe becomes obsessed with questions about her own mother's death. But the truth remains tauntingly out of reach, locked away within her nightmares of an uncontrollable fire. And as her adoptive mother loses her memory to dementia, the time to find the answers is running out.

As Zoe digs deeper, she realizes that the danger is not just in her dreams but is now close at hand. And she has no choice but to face what terrifies her the most. Because what she can't remember just might kill her.

Little Black Lies is about madness and memory - and the dangerous, little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

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My So-Called Review:
Little Black Lies is the story of Zoe Goldman, a doctor who suffers from ADHD herself and works in the psychiatry ward of a Buffalo hospital. When she was 4 her mother died in a house fire and she was then adopted by her mother’s best friend. Recently, nightmares that Zoe hasn’t had since high school have returned. These nightmares consist of her broken memories from the tragic night her mother died. Why have these nightmares suddenly returned? Why don’t the memories in her dreams coincide with what she’s been told by her adopted mother all these years? And why does her new patient, Sophia, who killed her own mother 20 years ago, suddenly start showing up in them? These questions lead Zoe on a hunt to find out who her birth mother really was and what really happened to her.

Little Black Lies is a great read for anyone who loves fast paced and completely engrossing psychological thrillers. There are many dark twists and some unexpected turns, I honestly did not see the twist coming so I was completely blown away! It’s hard to believe that this is Sandra Block's debut novel; it is beautifully crafted and expertly written. Block does have a medical background and this is clearly evident with her concise breakdown of medical terminology while making it all easy to understand. The inner workings of the hospital and its psychiatric ward along with its cast of doctors and patients ring absolutely true and make this story that much more believable.

Sandra Block does an amazing job in conveying Zoe’s “crazy” ADHD mind to the reader. I’ve read some reviews in which the reader was bothered by the many inner references by Zoe regarding her own ADHD but I actually thought this was pretty spot on and kind of the whole point. My 19 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD and OCD when he was 4 and his thought patterns are very similar to how Zoe’s were written. He constantly discusses his ADHD which cracks me up and yes, sometimes drives me bonkers! So I loved reading Zoe’s inner dialogues, they were some of my favorite parts of this book. For me, it was like finally getting an insight to what I’ve always imagined went on in my son’s mind.

I loved Little Black Lies and was extremely happy to have been given an opportunity to review it! I was also very excited to learn that this will be a first in a series of books centered around Dr. Zoe Goldman. I'm already looking forward to reading more about her, along with her group of flawed and often times funny friends and family!

A huge thank you to Grand Central Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!