The Locked Door

Freida McFadden might be the best psychologist thriller author of our times.  You can always expect a good read from her. After reading the first chapter of the book I was hooked. However, I got up to make coffee and grab a snack because I knew once I started reading that I would not stop until the book was finished. That is pretty much what happened. Below are a few details about the plot.

The publisher's summary:

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.

 

All I can say is wow! This is a gripping, fast paced thriller with a surprising ending. The short chapters help to maintain the suspense level which starts high, stays high and ends high. It's the perfect psychological thriller, which is what I think I said about McFadden's last novel. The story is told in a dual timeline: the present time and 26 years earlier. When the story begins it is the 26th anniversary of Nora turning in her father to the police. He killed at least 30 women in the basement of their home. The basement door was locked at all times, At the present time, someone begins killing women in the same manner that her father used. The police think that Nora is guilty but there is no evidence. 26 years ago Nora had a childhood friend named Marjorie who was bullied by every other kid at school. Marjorie was a loner with no friends and her character fit this stereotype perfectly. When Nora suggests that they play a game called Hunter and Prey, I thought that she would kill Marjorie. This game was fairly aggressive. 

I liked the characters. Nora is interesting because it seems that she might have desires to kill or at the very least is afraid that she has the same desire to kill that her father had. Her personality has been sorely affected by a childhood with a killer parent. I half expected her to turn out to be a killer too. Nora's college boyfriend Brady was creepy. He was highly educated but was working as a bartender so there is a story there that made Nora nervous. Every conversation that Nora had with him made her think that Brady was dangerous. While she slept with him a few times she was also running away from him. Go figure.

Several secondary characters are possible killers of two of Nora's patients. Brady was my main suspect and until the last chapter I thought that he was. One of Nora's patients, Henry Callahan, was another suspect because Nora believed that he was following her home after work.Toward the end of the story Nora's business partner Philip Corey looked suspicious too. The reveal of the whodunnit was shocking.

When I began reading the book I said "OMG." When I finished the book I said it again. I cannot recommend this book more highly. It is a fantastic story.  5 out of 5 stars.