The Book:
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Published June 20, 2023 by Dutton
Date read: June 25, 2023
The Characters:
Kit
Lenora Hope
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead
As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.
How did The Only One Left end?
The Review:
As a structural engineer, this house gave me so much anxiety. Get the people out and get some professionals in there! When I wasn’t overly focused on the should-be-condemned house, I really enjoyed The Only One Left. This is the Riley Sager we know and love!
The Only One Left is fast-paced, engaging, and sure to keep you guessing. I loved the haunted house setting (or would have if it wasn’t a structural engineering nightmare). Kit was an interesting main character, although I pictured her as much younger than she was supposed to be.
I will say that the ending threw a lot at the reader at once and might have been a little over the top. A few things didn’t quite make sense to me. Still a fun list, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if you were disappointed by Sager’s last two thrillers, definitely give this one a chance!
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