Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

The Only One Left
Publisher: Hodder
Pub Date: 20 June 2023
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Panda Rating:

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📖 SYNOPSIS

Everyone believes that Lenora Hope is a mass murderer.

When the Hope family was massacred decades ago, she was the only one left after that tragic night.

Mute, paralysed and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora has never been able to tell her side of the story.

Until her new live-in caregiver Kit brings her a typewriter.

And with one working finger Lenora begins to type:

I want to tell you everything.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Parental abandonment, infidelity, suicide by hanging, overdose, abortion mentioned, childbirth, teenage accidental pregnancy, blood, terminal illness, death of an infant discussed, death of parents (recounted), death of sister (recounted), death from a fall (recounted), death of a father, murder & attempted murder, knife violence

TL;DR: Long story short it was a good, good time. I know a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with Sager’s mysteries but it’s a genre I don’t read often and I find that I enjoy them quite a lot! This one was no different. THE TWISTS!! I loved it!!! 🤯

It’s been a hot minute since I read anything by Sager and now I’m wondering why I stopped in the first place! As someone whose desire to read mysteries/thrillers has just been rekindled over the past week, this wasn’t even on my radar until I saw it in store the other day and I’m so glad I picked it up! As there usually is in this genre, the story covers some sensitive topics, so if you’re worried about triggers, do check the warnings!

There’s little that can be said without spoiling the story so I’m going to stick to some main points. First, the gothic creepy AF atmosphere was spot on. This got surprisingly intense and spooky in some parts and as a total weenie who was fully absorbed in the story, I loved and hated it. 😂 Sager does a great job capturing the wrongness of Hope’s End. It’s a gothic-style manor that’s barren, literally falling apart, is home to three horrifically gruesome murders, and to top it all off, the murderer still resides within its walls. The story is told from two perspectives: we have Kit, our MC, in the present day and we get snippets of type-written pages told from Lenora Hope’s POV. I’m glad these were presented in different ways as it kept me more engaged, but I particularly liked Lenora’s slightly more because I wanted so desperately to know what happened!

Something I’ve noticed with Sager’s books is that although I’m always immediately sucked in and engaged, the pace isn’t very fast and at times it feels like you have to work to get to the good stuff. I think it’s partly because of how descriptive his writing can be about certain situations and elements, like the atmosphere, setting, etc. It does drag the pace down sometimes and this isn’t necessarily a complaint, more an observation and heads-up in case you haven’t read Sager before and are expecting something very fast-paced. What makes up for the slow build-up is the twist though and I love Sager’s twists! 😍 I got a little cocky thinking I knew exactly what was coming and Sager proved me very wrong 😂 Well, I guessed part of the twist correctly—which is a miracle in itself as I’m notoriously bad at guessing whodunit—but the rest of it had me (literally) screaming. It was so much fun to be proven wrong in that last bit!

Overall, I’m glad I picked this up and would recommend it! The plot was compelling, the characters were messed up and their mysteries engaging, and the twist was lots of fun.