The Locked Door

Ceritanya berpusat pada Nora Davis, seorang dokter bedah sukses yang memiliki masa lalu kelam—ayahnya adalah seorang pembunuh berantai terkenal. Sejak kecil, Nora telah mencoba menjauhkan diri dari warisan gelap tersebut, bahkan mengganti identitasnya.
Namun, kehidupan normalnya mulai terguncang ketika serangkaian pembunuhan baru terjadi dengan modus yang mirip dengan cara ayahnya membunuh. Ketika salah satu korban terakhir adalah pasien Nora sendiri, semua kecurigaan mulai mengarah padanya. Dengan orang-orang di sekelilingnya yang mempertanyakan siapa dirinya sebenarnya, Nora harus menghadapi masa lalunya dan mencari tahu siapa yang mencoba menjebaknya.
Buku ketiga Freida yang kubaca dan ciri khasnya seperti biasa, misdirection. Pelaku peniru pembunuhan ayahnya 26 tahun silam baru terungkap di bab-bab akhir. Buat aku pelakunya tidak terduga. Aku merekomendasikan ini untuk penggemar thriller dan misteri.

Great book! First Frieda McFadden book, listened to it with my wife on the drive to my graduation. A good introduction I think into thrillers as well.

This was a good page turner!

It was very predictable. Only the end brought a bit of surprise, but it was a little tiring to go over the same “I should call the police but I wont” trope in almost every of Frieda's books.

TO BE FAIR... the main reason I didn't like this book, was the audiobook narrator. She had the most flat interpretation of the characters, especially men. It sounded like everyone in the book was spoiled/entitled or screaming.

damn i really listened to the whole audiobook in one day

Now here's a book that is more than 4 stars! Like all other Freida McFadden books I got through this in a day. So fast paced, thrilling and i enjoyed reading it.

WHAT THE HELLLLLL

I liked the story, but I almost stopped listening halfway through because I couldn't stand the narrators voice

Mostly predictable plot. Audiobook narrator's voice very irritating which may contribute to this low rating

Allow me to first state that I have never put a book classified as a thriller in my personal “Did Not Finish” category pile. I always finished reading a book all the way through if it's a thriller, but sadly, this book is the first.

I got to Chapter 4 and the description of a nurse as “mocha skin” was what did it for me. Personally, that's lazy writing and I was not fond of that. It was the final line that pushed me closer to an aneurysm. So take my review thus far with a grain of salt, as I did not finish this book, I did not read it all the way through, and the choice of narrator for the audiobook was not the best decision.

Allow me to get into the depths of this review by trying to summarize the premise fairly quickly: Nora Davis is the daughter of notorious and infamous serial killer, Aaron Nierling, who was known as the Handyman and kept the bodies and bones of his victims in his basement. Now Nora is fully grown, a successful general surgeon, living a life of solitary and trying to separate herself from her past as much as possible. That is, until one of her patients turns up dead in the exact same manner as her father's victims, and Nora fears that someone knows who she is and wants her to take the fall for this crime. She fights to make sure the police can't pin anything on her but appears to keep her own set of secrets she would like to keep buried.

Right off the bat, this premise caught my attention and I was intrigued. I've heard this kind of story a thousand times over and it never gets old, because the story can be told in many different ways. The idea of whether we are the same kind of monsters as those we are related to has been churned into different ways, dating all the way back to Greek mythology, and even further to Mesopotamia era. It's a great idea, a great storyline to run with, and I'm all for it.

So long as the writing and characterization supports this story. That's where this book falls flat on its face, in a rather hilarious way that I only ever witnessed while watching an episode of Ridiculousness. In fact, this book could fit into an entry on that show, if it was possible.

Let me get on my soapbox about the writing, and it can be summed up in one single word. Lazy.

I can be more than understanding of a writer and author that is still getting their feet wet in the literary world. I can excuse the pacing of a story or if it feels like I'm reading fanfiction over an original piece. But I draw the line at lazy writing and lack of effort in editing and rereading.

As stated prior, I cannot stand when authors and writers use food to describe a person's skin tone, especially those with darker complexions. It is so overused, cliche, and screams of microaggression and stereotyping. If you want to know how to describe people of color in your writing, my best advice is to read works by people of color, do your research into the diverse cultures, and don't fall back into lazy phrasing. Tell me the character has a darker skin tone, that's perfectly fine, I've seen some authors even use terms like “beautiful dark skin” which is also fine. Others lean towards specific cultures and locations. I recall one author describing a character of theirs as “being from the Islands” and another described a character simply as a “Rastafarian,” which also works.

There is also an inconsistency in the story with the timeline. The back of the book describes that Nora was eleven years old when her father was first arrested, and the police came to her doorstep. But in the book itself, it's mentioned frequently that she was ten years old, and then again she was eleven. The first thing I'm wondering is “which is it? Was she ten? Or was she eleven?”

The writing style is a complete contrast and contradiction to the themes, premise, and the overall arching storyline. The story is told from a first-person point of view, and reading it, while listening to the audiobook, feels like the story is told from the perspective of a teenager, maybe late teens, early twenties. Not a woman in her mid-thirties, a general surgeon that works in the medical field and lives a life of solitary. The maturity of the main female character is far too young for what she is supposed to be.

It felt like the pacing in these chapters read is all over the place. We have Nora, the narrator and main character, throwing us immediately into learning her father is an infamous serial killer, and that people around town know who he is, but don't know her. Then we are introduced to a bartender who she right away points out seems to be familiar, and a patient that has an unhealthy love interest in her, and practically stalks her home. It gives too much of a fanfiction, “every male character is going to fall in love with me” kind of deal. It's just off for me, and takes me out of the story.

Then we are told from Nora's point of view things that are either repeated constantly throughout, or irrelevant to the story. For instance, we learn right away that Nora's favorite drink is old-fashioned, which is fine, but there is a full paragraph in the first chapter explaining why, and it is then mentioned several times throughout. Like a constant reminder “hey, I like old-fashions,” “just a quick reminder, this is my favorite drink.”

Another that I felt was unnecessary was learning what type of car her partner at work has. Like, how is this relevant to us? Do we really need to know that he drives a Tesla? How is that important? Is it to show us how much money you make as a general surgeon? Why is this important?

Word proximity was another big issue for this book for me. Nora says the phrase “Yeah, well...” three times in only a couple pages. And then again when a car is following her, the author says “that car is following me” and again “that bastard is following me.” There is too much “tell” and not a lot of “show.” And too much info compacted into a short span.

Phrases in the narration such as “Hmm” and “Mmm” when the character is NOT speaking really through me off. I understand that the

Also, the line “It's funny because...” is not funny. If you want to make a joke, don't explain the joke, otherwise it's not funny. It just doesn't feel like a psychological thriller, and it's hard to invest in the character and dive into the story, as it feels like I'm reading a social media status over a work of fiction.

It wasn't a good read for me, for the few chapters that I did manage to push through. Perhaps a different kind of reader or a different person, but not for me.

The Locked Door was my second time reading from this author and I can now say that I have definitely become a Freida McFadden truther and will be devouring everything she writes.

This gave me everything that I look for in a good Thriller. Suspense, characters that feel unreliable — including the main character and plot twists at every turn.

I can't wait to read more of her books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I LOVE Freida McFadden. I've read a lot of hers and still have a lot left to go and nothing has been disappointing thus far.

I've seen a lot of Readahs say that this one is as good, if not better than Never Lie. I don't agree with that, BUT it is still so good!

26 Years ago, Nora's parents were put in jail. Her father was a serial killer who killed upwards of 30 women and was committed for 15. And he did it all in his basement. Nora changed her last name and began a successful surgeon, but now her patients are turning up dead and the killer has the same MO as her father. But isn't he in jail?!

I haven't read anything from Freida that has a specific plot line involving a serial killer before and I'm a true crime junkie, so I was really looking forward to this one. It was really good and the perfect spooky, eerie, serial killer read for spooky season!

If you haven't read anything from McFadden yet, you need to get started. I'm convinced it doesn't matter what she writes , it's going to be EPIC!

I have been slowly but surely reading through Freida McFadden's entire backlist. I want to share my feelings on this book, which honestly blew me away.

Summary:
Compared to the other books I've read by this author, this one is the best so far. We follow surgeon Nora Davis who has worked hard to leave her past behind her. Her life is turned upside down when her patients start to get killed off. The killer takes a unique trophy from each of his victims, similar to Nora's father, notorious serial killer, The Handyman. With her father still in prison, Nora wonders if the copycat is closer to her than she may think.

Review:
I'd like to say I'm a seasoned thriller consumer, so it takes quite a bit to get a 5 star rating. I genuinely only give a book 5 stars when I get a certain ✨feeling.✨
I swear I'm not that crazy. It's just a physical reaction I feel in my chest after reading a book. This one did it for me. I didn't see the twists coming, and I really enjoyed the pacing, characters, and the narrators tone. It created an intoxicating cocktail for a 5 star read.

Unlike McFadden's other work, this book really stood out. There was something about the main character that drew me in and by the time the ending came around I was so consumed by the story I didn't want it to end. Although I'm still going through the author's backlist of novels, I definitely recommend you pick this one up if you're looking for a good introduction to her books or thrillers in general. The writing is easy to digest and captivates you from the first chapter.

She's good at surprising me... the main character's aloofness was a bit repetitive (like dr Adrienne in the previous book), but still good.

2.5

that ending ruined everything like c'est beaucoup trop tiré par les cheveux, nothing makes sense

i will give freida props for the writing style tho, she really succeeded to sell the image of the tormented daughter who can't stray apart from her dad's path until the little revelation (i was kind of seeing it coming but still)

but again the whole harper thing is stupid, novelas type of plot twist

not a bad book, really nice premise but badly executed. imagine she was just delusional all along and actually the killer ? much more interesting.

because her 360° from having des tendances psycho/socio to just being a friendly surgeon makes less sense. you know what maybe the author actually did too much of the “serial killer daughter persona” bc im realizing it really makes 0 sense. fallait plus de subtilité

2.5

that ending ruined everything like c'est beaucoup trop tiré par les cheveux, nothing makes sense

i will give freida props for the writing style tho, she really succeeded to sell the image of the tormented daughter who can't stray apart from her dad's path until the little revelation (i was kind of seeing it coming but still)

but again the whole harper thing is stupid, novelas type of plot twist

not a bad book, really nice premise but badly executed. imagine she was just delusional all along and actually the killer ? much more interesting.

because her 360° from having des tendances psycho/socio to just being a friendly surgeon makes less sense. you know what maybe the author actually did too much of the “serial killer daughter persona” bc im realizing it really makes 0 sense. fallait plus de subtilité

This is the most dull writing. There are dozens of overused phrases and lines. There is no suspense, no intrigue, NOTHING. Reading this is like sticking your hand in a bucket of sludge and finding only cheap carnival toys as your prize.

I literally can not think of anything to say that's positive. The verse? Boring, choppy, repetitive. Structure? Exactly as expected and executed poorly. Characters and dialogue? Like a toddler A.I. was told to come up with something.

I do not recommend this and am baffled by its high praise when this is the worst thing I've read in recent memory.

Not Freida's best work. Predictable and missing in plot and development. Character's were annoying too. But it's Freida McFadden, so it can't be all that bad!

This one pulled me in from the start. I thought I had an idea what was going on at about 30% in and then I was sure I confirmed it at 50% but at 86% the twist punched me so hard I couldn't put it down until it was finished. Wonderful twist, great writing, total page turner! Can't wait to read more Freida McFadden!!

3.5 Rounded to 3

This was a super quick, entertaining and fun buddy read. While this wasn't mind-blowing or overly thrilling, it was still enjoyable. Would be a good one to read while you're waiting for an appointment and have an hour, or two, to fill.