The Only One Left by Riley Sager – a Review

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Description:
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:

The Only One Left by Riley Sager is another one of his gothic thriller novels. I have read a number of books by Sager, and in each book, he continues to surprise and shock us with so many twists we never expect. 

The story starts off in 1929, when the Hope family was murdered. Lenora was the only one who survived, telling the police that she did not kill her family.  She became the lead suspect, but the police could not find evidence to convict her, becoming a legend, which she never left her estate.  Fifty plus years later, Lenora is paralyzed and constantly needs care, and her latest caregiver left.

We meet Kit McDeere, our heroine, who lost her job as a home-health aide, after her mother died under unusual circumstances, which she pleaded innocence. She is given another chance to be a caregiver, but she is hesitant, since she would need to care for Lenora Hope, who everyone thinks killed her family all those years ago; but she accepts the job, as she needs money.

Kit is surprised to find the infamous Lenora confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak or move, except for her left arm; having suffered multiple strokes. In a short time, while caring for Lenora, Kit is surprised that she wants to tell what happened all those years ago; especially claiming her innocence.  Lenora communicates with Kit using a typewriter with her left hand, a slow process over time.

Kit begins to suspect that Lenora is not revealing the truth, especially when the remains of the previous caregiver is discovered; Kit is scared and wants to leave, but she needs the money.  She tries to learn more from other staff members, who have been there for a long time.  The cliffside mansion is falling apart, increasing the danger of living there. To say too much more would be spoilers, as the last third of the book is filled with twists and surprises.

What follows is a wild last third of the book, with so many secrets, twists, turns and deception.  The Only One Left was so very well written by Riley Sager, with shocking surprises, as we race to the climax.  Sager outdid himself with this book, as it was a thriller all the way. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher