Audiobook narrated by Christine Lakin and Dawn Harvey.
In THE ONLY ONE LEFT, Riley Sager brings us the intertwined stories of Kit, the disgraced caregiver who had someone die on her watch, and Lenora, the woman accused of killing her entire family decades ago in a Lizzie Borden-esque fashion. Neither woman has much in the way of friendships, and when the only job Kit can find is caring for Lenora, she’s surprised as she comes to genuinely care for the older woman.
Don’t expect to go into this book coming to care for these characters. There’s an aloofness to them that adds to the atmosphere that I really appreciated. Going back and forth between Kit and Lenora’s points of view in the present storyline and then Lenora’s past, the story of the murders unravels slowly, leaving the reader on the edge of their seat wondering what’s going to happen next. I really enjoyed this pacing, and I think it went between the timelines flawlessly. Kit and Lenora’s relationship was so interesting, with Lenora forced to depend on Kit, while Kit tries to remain distant from Lenora, but is not always able to help it. I thought the mystery was intriguing, and while I did see some of the twists coming, I felt like I realized them at just the right time to ratchet up my excitement.
Kit and Lenora had even more in common, including the way they were treated by their families. There were also a lot of supporting characters in this book, and you couldn’t help but suspect all of them at one time or another throughout the story. They were all riveting, and you never knew who you could--and couldn't--trust.
I’m going to pick up anything Riley Sager writes, but I’m always drawn in by a Maine setting. Sager did what he always does: set a spectacular atmosphere. If you’ve read Sager before, you know that the location of his story is as much a character as any of the people, and this was no exception. The cliff-top mansion, Hope’s End, had a gothic feel to it, and the deterioration of the house progresses as the story does, adding another intriguing element to the book.
THE ONLY ONE LEFT was a huge win for me; I found so much enjoyment in these pages. If you’re a mystery/thriller reader and this book isn’t on your TBR, it should be!
Audio Narration:THE ONLY ONE LEFT was narrated by Christine Lakin and Dawn Harvey, and they did a wonderful job. I really appreciate that the narrators' voices sounded age-appropriate. They each captured the spirit of their characters perfectly, and they really elevated this story for me. I would definitely recommend reading this story via audio.
Bestselling author Riley Sager returns with a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.
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.
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