The Only One Left
The Only One Left - Riley Sager
my review : ✮✮✮✮
I loved getting lost in this chilling and atmospheric thriller. The twists and turns left my hair standing on end, and it felt a bit like playing a game of Clue.
This book takes place in 1983. We meet Kit McDeere, who is a caretaker to the elderly. She is coming off a work suspension and is desperate for a new assignment; when she learns her newest patient requires live-in assistance, she’s relieved as she is desperate to move out of her childhood home. But, once Kit learns her patient is Lenora Hope, she becomes anxious to get a new assignment. Lenora is notorious in Kit’s small town for living in an ostentatious mansion on a cliff that was the site of a brutal triple murder. The town and police have always assumed that the then-17-year-old Lenora was the culprit. Kit quickly realizes that there are no other job prospects for her, so in her desperation, she makes the trek to Hope Mansion and takes solace in the fact that Lenora can only move her left hand. When Kit starts her job, she learns Lenora is able to communicate with that one hand via typewriter, and upon meeting Kit, she types her first sentence, “I want to tell you everything.”
*GASP!*
I love the whodunit element of this story, and I was guessing until the very end. This is the kind of thriller that’s fun because it keeps you on your toes and guessing throughout. This felt like a departure from the last few Riley Sager books I’ve read, and I found the change refreshing. The story wasn’t so disturbing that I had issues sleeping at night, but it still remained a spooky thriller that kept me guessing until the end.
This is a fabulous dark and moody thriller. If your library waitlist is long, maybe save this one for October. This is the perfect eerie book for a blustering fall evening. If you can’t wait that long, try to read it during a summer storm! I found the combination frightening but delightful. Because of that, It feels only right to pair this book with a dark and stormy cocktail ⛈️
