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The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Series:
N/A

Genre:
Horror, Suspense, Thriller, Gothic, Mystery, Adult, Standalone, Fiction, 1980s Decade, 1920s Decade, Contemporary, Historical, Historical Fiction, Roaring Twenties, Novella, Standalone

Publication Date:
June 20, 2023

Pages Numbers:
398

Read Date:
August 11th, 2023

Date Finished:
August 11th, 2023

Rating:
4.8/5

Blurb:

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:

This gothic chiller brings us to the 1920s when a nearly identical murder of Lizzy Borden happened. The only survivor, Lenora, was considered to be the murderer of her family but at seventeen, she was never charged. As the years go by, Lenora recluses herself in the mansion her father built.

As the story turns to the 1980s, Kit McDeere had been an in-care nurse until one of her own patients had been killed. With the suspicion turned on her, Kit was forced to look for work elsewhere. As she goes through several jobs, Kit is reoffered her job but with stipulations of becoming the in-care aide to the notorious Lenora.

As Kit arrives at the mansion, she finds herself entangled in a web of secrets and lies and she will have to find a way to untangle herself and learn the truth of what really happened that night her family was murdered.

This was my first book by Riley and it kept me glued from the moment the story started to the very end. There were twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and the characters were well-developed and relatable.

Riley's writing style was descriptive and engaging, and he did an excellent job of creating a suspenseful atmosphere throughout the book. I found myself rooting for the characters and invested in their stories.

Final Thought:

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys family dramas and mysteries. Riley is a talented writer, and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

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