Zoe is a big fan of The Ink Black Heart cartoon and is a player of Drek’s Game.

We first meet Zoe in person when Strike leaves the Red Lion and Sun pub in Highgate after his and Barclay’s surveillance of Wally Cardew, Tim Ashcroft, Seb Montgomery and Nils de Jong. 

She is described as a young woman, “tiny, perhaps five feet tall, and thin to the point of emaciation, with protruding collarbones” that were clearly visible. Her hair is dyed a blueish black and is almost waist length. (Ch 22) 

Outside  the Red Lion and Sun, Strike notices Zoe as she is hurrying along the pavement as she has a full sleeve of Ink Black Heart tattoos on her left arm. He follows her, until she eventually reaches her flat in Brookside Lane above a corner shop.  She is clearly distressed by a conversation she is having with someone on her phone.  (Ch 22)

Robin comes across Zoe whilst undercover at the North Grove Art Collective.  Zoe is working there as a childminder and Robin recognises her straight away as the girl that Strike had photographed outside Highgate Cemetery. (Ch 39) 

Robin walks Zoe home that night and upon hearing her strong Yorkshire accent discovers that Zoe is from Knaresborough, close to Robin’s own home town of Masham. From their conversation Robin realises that Zoe is one of the users in Drek’s Game and Zozo @inkyheart28 on Twitter. She also learns that, like Edie Ledwell, Zoe has had a difficult life, having lost her mum early and spending time in care.  Zoe tells Robin that she is seventeen years old and she tattooed her sleeve of Ink Black Heart tattoos herself.  (Ch 40)

Robin visits Zoe at home under her real identity towards the end of the book.