Release Date: July 4th 2023
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Pages: 368
Find it on: Goodreads. Waterstones.
Source: I received an E-ARC via Netgalley
Rating: 4.25/5 stars

Synopsis

Bestselling author Riley Sager returns with a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.

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.

Review

Riley Sager’s books have been an interesting mix for me. I absolutely loved Lock Every Door and Home Before Dark, enjoyed Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied and did not get on with Survive the Night at all. This newest release follows Kit McDeere, a caregiver who after being suspended for the death of a patient, is tasked with looking after the infamous Lenora Hope, a woman many believe to have massacred her entire family. Kit soon finds everything is not as it seems at Hope’s End and Lenora decides now is the time to tell her story. Will Kit be able to unravel the truth behind the Hope family massacre and is Lenora really telling the truth?

The Only One Left is a tense, gripping, gothic thriller that really had me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoy Sager’s writing style, they have a brilliant way of really ramping up the tension as the story progresses. The story is well paced with things getting more action driven as the story concludes. There are quite a few twists and surprise reveals that I definitely didn’t see coming and I did think you had to suspend disbelief a little bit for some of the twists.

Sager really has a knack for bringing to life these fascinating settings and the dramatic imposing mansion that is Hope’s End is really brought to life in the story. The characters in the story are complex and compelling and I really enjoyed the way I was never quite sure who was trustworthy or who was telling the truth. Kit is an interesting main character, dealing with the loss of her mother, the deterioration in her relationship with her father, and her lack of options in her career.  Lenora is similarly fascinating – she is so much more than she seems.

The Only One Left is a well plotted, engaging story that keep me glued to the book till the very last page. If you’re a fan of Riley Sager’s other books, or you’re looking for a thriller that will keep you guessing, this one is an absolute must read.