Book: The Only One Left
Author: Riley Sager
Pages: 401
Read on: Kindle
Read in: ~4 hours
Plot Summary:
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.
Things I Liked:
1. A gothic, true-crime (Lizzie Borden)-inspired murder mystery that is atmospheric and twisty as hell! That's exactly what this book is and I enjoyed several hours of a cloudy day immersed in the gloomy, gothic, eerie world of Hope's End, where in 1929 a whole family was slaughtered and the only surviving daughter was considered guilty of the crimes though she was never convicted due to lack of evidence. From start to finish, this book was an immersive and engaging read.
2. The characters are very gothic-esque as well. You have the Housekeeper- the grim Mrs. Baker, who seems to be the keeper of many secrets that she won't share. The chef- Archie- who was best friends with Lenora but will not reveal what happened that fateful night. The mysterious nurse- Mary- who just ups and leaves one night, which is how Kit gets the job in the first place. Lenora Hope- the prime suspect of multiple murders- is the most mysterious and gothic-esque of them all.
Lenora wants to tell Kit the story of the night her whole family was killed and she chooses to do so by typing out a few pages at a time with her hand that still works. Lenora seems harmless enough but is she? Or is she actually not paralysed at all given Kit hears footsteps in her room late at night and sees shadows at the bottom of the connecting door between the rooms? What is Lenora hiding? And why is she even confiding in Kit? These are but some of the questions that hound us while we go through the book.
3. The house itself is a character of sorts. Once Kit moves in, she realises that the house is actually, gradually, sliding and tipping into the ocean in bits and spurts. The grand house on the cliffs is all crooked and askew and its rich brocade walls have cracks big and small as though the house itself wants to expel all its secrets.
4. The book has a number of red herrings and twists big and small. You may guess several things correctly but something or the other about the story will take you by surprise and in a crime thriller that is always a win!
5. The ending is satisfactory and the author has very smartly left lots of breadcrumbs that will make sense in the last few chapters as all is told!
Rating: 4.5/5
A wonderfully immersive read for these upcoming cloudy, moody monsoon days!
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