Bestselling author Riley Sager recently returned with what readers are calling his best novel, The Only One Left—a Gothic throwback story in homage to Daphne du Maureir's Rebecca with a blend of the Lizzy Borden legend.
"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"
The Hope family murders, now reduced to a playground song, shook the Maine coast one horrific night in 1929. The authorities never could establish that Lenora, who was seventeen, was at fault, though everyone believed she was the killer. She has never discussed that night in public, except for her denial following the deaths, and she has never left Hope's End, the cliffside estate where the slaughter took place.
It's 1983 when Lenora's previous nurse left in the middle of the night, and home health aide Kit McDeere shows up at a run-down Hope's End as a replacement. Now in her sixties and wheelchair-bound, Lenora can only interact with Kit by typing out phrases on an antique typewriter after suffering a series of strokes that left her silent. One evening, Lenora makes a seductive proposition: "I want to tell you everything."
There is more to the story than people are aware of, and this becomes obvious to Kit after helping Lenora write about the incidents leading up to the murder of the Hope family. But as fresh information regarding her predecessor's departure surfaces, Kit begins to wonder whether Lenora isn't being 100% truthful—and that the apparently innocuous lady in her care may be far more dangerous than she initially imagined.
Hope Ends, a deteriorating, frozen-in-time house perched on a cliff—the ideal horror setup—is the backdrop for The Only One Left, and I adore eerie Gothic atmospheres. It's my first foray into Riley Sager's universe. I was pleased by his vividly detailed descriptions, vibrant dialogue, engaging characters, and the twists and turns, of which there are many.
In a nutshell, The Only One Left is a page-turner that I couldn't put down. However, even when I took pauses, the story lingered in the back of my mind, nagging me to read more to get the truth about what truly transpired to the Hope family all those years ago. The novel is incredibly spellbinding; I recommend it to other readers. ╌★★★★★
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