Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Publishing day is finally here! 😑 As an avid reader and a somewhat reluctant fan of Riley Sager, I found myself unexpectedly drawn to The Only One Left. I have often grappled with Sager’s work, sometimes loving the nail-biting tension and other times feeling let down by convoluted plots. This time, I was fortunate to dive into a tale rife with horror and mystery.
Set against the backdrop of Hope’s End, a dilapidated mansion that feels like a character in its own right, we meet Kit McDeere, a home-health aide tasked with caring for Lenora Hope—an enigmatic woman whose family’s brutal murders haunt the collective memory of the Maine coast. The premise is tantalizing: a mute Lenora, rendered voiceless by strokes, communicates through an old typewriter. The hearing of a whisper from the past—“I want to tell you everything”—pulled me deeper into the chaotic world of the Hope family.
Right off the bat, the themes of trauma, family secrets, and the weight of the past saturate the narrative. The tragic history surrounding Lenora captivated me, but I found myself grappling with the pacing. The first fifty pages were off to an exciting start, keeping me guessing, but as I turned page after page, I began to feel like I was drowning in a flood of repetitive phrases and an overwhelming number of ‘murders’ (101 to be precise!). It felt as if I was trapped in an endless loop of suspense that sometimes overshadowed deeper character development.
Kit, our not-so-reliable protagonist, often made choices that had me shaking my head in disbelief. Why does she consistently make risky decisions that only lead her deeper into danger? It’s almost as if she were a pawn in a chaotic game of horror chess, pushed forward without much agency. Despite this, I must admit her vulnerability was relatable, and her determination to uncover the truth provided moments of clarity amidst the chaos.
Sager’s writing style created an immersive atmosphere. The older house, the weight of secrets, and the slow unraveling of the mystery were beautifully conveyed. Still, the shock-value twist at the end, while meant to surprise, felt like a forced finale of a soap opera, stretching credibility to its limits. The final chapters took my investment in the story and left me wondering if less truly is more.
There were moments of brilliance, such as Kit’s interactions with Lenora, where I could almost feel the weight of unspoken words. Yet Sager’s penchant for complexity sometimes took me out of the experience. I found myself asking too many "why" questions that detracted from the intended tension. The heavy reliance on familiar tropes from Sager’s previous works was a double-edged sword—familiar yet somewhat tired.
In conclusion, if you enjoy highly intricate mysteries with soap opera levels of drama, The Only One Left is worth a read. It tackles heavy themes of trauma and toxic family dynamics, wrapped in layers of suspense. While it didn’t captivate me fully, it sparked a myriad of thoughts and discussions that I know will resonate with fellow readers embracing the complexities of familial love and betrayal. For those who love the thrill of unraveling a family legend intertwined with murder, this book is definitely for you!
Thanks for sharing this reading journey with me! If you’ve read Sager’s work before, I’d love to hear how you felt about the intricacies he layered into The Only One Left.