49 pages 1 hour read

Freida McFadden

The Locked Door

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapters 19-27Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 19 Summary: “26 Years Earlier”

Content Warning: This section contains graphic depictions of violence.

Nora pushes open the door to the basement. She is shocked to see no woodworking projects, just tools and cleaning supplies. She smells something decomposing and hears a muffled noise from a crate covered in a sheet. She lifts the sheet and realizes that it is covering a cage. She sees a blue eye looking back at her. Suddenly, her father enters and asks what she thinks about the basement. Before Nora can respond, Aaron explains that Nora is like him and that he wants to teach her. Nora agrees, and Aaron tells her to go back to bed. He promises that their lessons will begin soon.

Chapter 20 Summary

As Nora prepares to leave work, she thinks again about the similarities between her father and herself and wonders if Detective Barber sees her as a suspect. Harper invites Nora for a night out with her roommate, but Nora declines. Nora realizes that Harper has dark hair and blue eyes like her father’s victims and her dead patients. She encourages Harper to be careful.

Nora visits Christopher’s rather than going home. She hopes Brady isn’t working but is disappointed when she doesn’t see him behind the bar.