Book Thoughts: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Today’s book feature: The Only One Left by Riley Sager.

Goodreads synopsis:

At seventeen Lenora Hope / Hung her sister with a rope / Stabbed her father with a knife / Took her mother’s happy life / “It wasn’t me,” Lenora said / But she’s the only one not dead

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.

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.

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.

Book thoughts:

"But that's not what you're most curious about, is it? You want to know if I'm as evil as everyone says I am. The answer is no. And yes."

Calling fans of Verity by Colleen Hoover (5 stars) — Don’t sleep on this one! Immersive, thrilling, twisty, and smart, Riley Sager’s latest release, The Only One Left, is perfect for readers of all genres. The book’s set in the 80s, with most of the story taking place in an old, remote murder mansion built on the edge of a cliff. The spooky vibes are on point here: a creaking house, footsteps down the hallway in the middle of the night, shadows under the door frame and in the window, morally questionable characters with dark secrets, and a paranormal feeling, among other things. It’s good!

Returning from a recent suspension (and police investigation) for breaking medication protocol with a former patient who subsequently died in her care (overdose on medication left in the patient’s reach), Kit’s been assigned to a new patient, Lenora Hope, an elderly woman accused of killing her entire family when she was 17. Though she was never tried or convicted of any crime (police citing a lack of evidence to support the charges), Lenora’s widely suspected to be the killer.

Upon learning of her new assignment, Kit begs her boss for a different patient, but the deal is clear: take the job at Hope House or be fired. With no choice but to take the job — she desperately needs the money — Kit agrees to care for Lenora Hope, and that’s where the story begins.

Now in her 70s, accused murderer Lenora Hope is completely wheelchair bound with no ability to speak or use the right side of her body. Lenora can’t do much, most days confined to the corner of her bedroom, left for hours to stare, aimlessly, out the window. Very quickly into Kit’s care, we learn Lenora can type on the typewriter using only her left hand — and guess what? Lenora Hope, the only one left, the woman everyone’s scared of, wants to set her truth straight. Did she kill her family? Is she truly evil? Or is there more to the story?

The book features a dual timeline, alternating from the current day (Kit’s POV) back to 1929 (Lenora’s POV through typewritten pages). I loved the dual timeline aspect and loved following Kit as she tried to piece together the night of the town’s most infamous murders. From the beginning, I was sucked right into this fictional world, completely engrossed in all the details. There were so many directions my mind thought the book was heading, and while I kind of figured some of them out, I had so much fun following the storyline. I needed to know what really happened that night in 1929. I needed to know how all the characters were connected. I needed to know Lenora’s story.

There’s a point in the book where Kit begins to question everything (right after she finds Lenora’s Walkman paused). And that brings us to my favorite part — the snow globe scene. I’m not going to spoil it here BUT… if you’ve read it, was the snow globe scene not the most heart thumping thing ever? I was at the edge of my seat DYING to see the outcome. I was like “OMG what if? But no, it couldn’t be.”

There’s so much else I could say, but I’ll summarize by saying I really, really liked this book. Toward the end, if I had one complaint, I’d say it got a little too twisty. Once the twists started, they kept coming, one after another in quick succession. Sager wrote a gem, but I didn’t like, in particular, two of the end twists, especially the one at THE end. I was content with the story unraveling the way it did, I just didn’t love the way the bow was tied in the last chapters. It was a bit too much, stretching the possibilities a little too far. But that’s the beauty of fiction, there are no rules.

Rating & recommendation:

Because of the wild ending, I knocked my rating to four stars. But like I said, I enjoyed the entire book, just didn’t love the final twist. Highly recommend The Only One Left — like a good thriller, it’ll keep you guessing until the last page!

Format read:

Physical book — a hardcover I added to one of my Book of the Month boxes.

Enjoy!

JBW