The Only One Left – Book Review

Title:- The Only One Left

Author:- Riley Sager

Date published:- June 20th 2023

No. of pages:- 385 pages

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 4.5/5

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.

I always make sure to read all of Riley Sager and this book is one of them!

The Only One Left is about a woman named Kit McDreere who goes to Hope’s End to work as a caregiver to Lenora Hope. Many years ago, rumors circulated around that teenage Lenora killed her own parents and sisters, even making rhymes out of these murders. Kit was a bit reluctant to work for Lenora but then she relents as she has no other jobs to do. As Kit takes care of Lenora, she has a typewriter, where Lenora promises to tell Kit all that happened years ago.

I loved Riley Sager’s books as his books are a blend of horror and thriller. The Only One Left is also such example. I like how fast paced the book was, and you get snippets of typewritten papers, detailing about Lenora’s life. There were twists and turns and Sager did a good job of drawing the reader into the story. I was literally drawn into the book and I simply couldn’t put the book down–it was that really good in my opinion! In my opinion, this was one of Riley Sager’s best books, the book that wouldn’t allow you to put down the book. The unexpected twist at the end was so…unpredictable that literally blew my mind away.

Overall, if you like a page-turning fast paced novel packed with twists and turns, then this book is one for you–worth 4.5 stars.