Monday, November 8, 2021

Book Review #28 The Locked Door by Freida McFadden



The Locked Door

Author : Freida McFadden
Language : English
Publisher: Hollywood Upstairs Press
Genre : Crime, thriller, mystery

About the book

Some doors are locked for a reason…


While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement

About the author

McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

My take

Nora Davis is a surgeon. She hides a very big secret.


Her father is a serial killer, who killed more than seventeen young women, and was Nick named 'the handyman' because he used to severe off their hands as a souvenir. The workshop where he supposedly worked on making wooden items - the basement in their house - was the place he committed these heinous crimes in. When Nora was ten years old, her father got arrested and went to jail for life. Her mother, who was arrested and imprisoned as an accomplice, committed suicide in prison.
 Nora grew up with her grand-mom, changed her name, and now she just hopes no one would find out who she really is.

No one, neither her partner at the hospital, Dr Philip, nor her assistant Harper know about her past. Nora has decided not to have a relationship in her life, ever, but as she meets Brady, her boyfriend from an eternity before, who now works as a bartender, she begins getting attracted towards him.

But someone is out there who knows everything about Nora, and they are hellbent on destroying her.

First, Nora feels like someone is keeping a watch on her, trailing her car, stalking her. Next, her car is sabotaged with, her home is broken into, and she finds blood in her basement.

Simultaneously, young girls, who have been patients of Nora, start disappearing and getting murdered in exactly the same way as the handyman, Nora's dad committed his signature murders. The police began connecting the dots and start asking questions. 

The story is intriguing and keeps us guessing till the end. I love the writing style of this author. She adds the right amounts of drama, romance, suspense and thrill, without exaggerating either of these.

The story is entirely from the POV of Nora, but it shuttles between the past (ten year old Nora) and the present, making the plot all the more interesting.The suspense is well developed and doesn't disappoint the reader. The book cover is nicely designed. 

I rate it 4.5 stars.

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