The Agony of the Almost-Finished: My Locked Door Dilemma

Book lovers, I need solidarity. I am currently in that excruciating literary limbo known as "The Book Barrier."

I am deep (and I mean deep) into Freida McFadden's The Locked Door, and as any fan of her twisty, page-turning thrillers knows, once you start, putting it down is basically a crime. This book has me absolutely hooked—the suspense, the unreliable narrators, the shocking reveals... it's everything you want in a psychological thriller.

But here's the problem:

The Wool Timer is Ticking!

Remember that post I wrote about finally getting the notification that Hugh Howey's Wool (the first book of the Silo series) was ready for pickup? Well, it's sitting on my bedside table, judging me. It's pristine, its cover is whispering promises of deep dystopian world-building, and I cannot start it until I have finished Dr. Asher's story!

This is the tyranny of the library hold and the curse of the excited reader!

1. I can't just skim The Locked Door. McFadden's thrillers are built on intricate details and red herrings. If I rush, I'll miss the subtle clues and the payoff won't be as satisfying.

2. I have a self-imposed "One Book at a Time" rule. I know some of you are multi-book jugglers, but I like to give a story my full, undivided attention. My brain simply doesn't have the capacity for both a modern murder mystery and an epic underground sci-fi saga simultaneously.

3. The Wool series is a commitment! I want to start it fresh, with no residual tension from the thriller world bleeding into the Silo.

Urgent Call to Finish Line Action

So, this is a public declaration: I am entering turbo-reading mode.

• Lunch break? Reading.

• Waiting for the kettle to boil? Reading.

• That last hour before bed? I'm ditching the scrolling and committing to pages.

I need to untangle the secrets behind The Locked Door and get my psychological thriller fix so I can happily descend into the sci-fi world of the Silo. The suspense of finding out the truth in McFadden's novel is only slightly less painful than the suspense of waiting to start Wool.

Wish me luck, bookworms! Hopefully, my next update will be a thrilling Wool check-in, not an exasperated post about being stuck between two brilliant books!

Have you ever been stuck like this? Which book did you have to rush through to get to the next one? Let me know your own "Book Barrier" stories in the comments!