Synopsis: Kit is caregiver who is sent to take care of an elderly patient, Miss Hope, accused of murdering her entire family when she was a teenager. Kit wants to learn what really happened and if Miss Hope is innocent or guilty.

Rating
3 out of 5 Stars

I really enjoyed the vast majority of this book.

Kit is a compelling character who has very reasonable and human reservations about working for Miss Hope. There is a scene early on in the book where Kit touches Miss Hope and freaks out a little that she might be touching a killer.

Kit is an interesting character because she was accused of creating a situation where a previous patient died. The investigation didn't find Kit criminally negligent for what had happened however it has made her job prospects extremely limited. It also makes her want to be compassionate towards Miss Hope with the hope that her patient is innocent and that what happened that night has been misconstrued.

I was enjoying the story as we learn about Miss Hope's family and childhood. Also, as we see the everyday workings of the crumbling mansion Miss Hope and her servants reside in.

My biggest issues came with the twists at the end. Riley Sager is a great author but I often find he overdoes the twists and that was the case in this book. There were several twists. Some were good. Some were okay. A few changed how I saw characters in a negative light. One particular twist I don't think there were enough hints about it to make it feel plausible.

If the author had given us fewer twists I think I would have enjoyed this book a bit more. Also, several of the twists were ones I see frequently in thrillers so they didn't feel fresh or new.

If you are a reader who just loves all the twisty turns this book might really work for you. ( )

Fans of Verity and Clue might love Riley Sager’s The Only One Left.

At the end of a months-long employment suspension, Kit McDeere finally receives an assignment from her home care agency to be the aide for Lenora Hope, an elderly wheelchair-bound woman suffering the effects of a stroke and childhood polio about whom the townspeople have created a nasty little rhyme.

“At seventeen, Lenora Hope hung her sister with a rope…”

It also claims she killed both her mother and father on a night in 1929 at Hope’s End, the secluded and crumbling cliffside mansion where nothing is as it seems.

Kit is replacing Mary, Lenora’s previous caregiver who vanished one night and left all her belongings behind. Kit would refuse the assignment but she needs the money, things are tense between her and her father, who she lives with, and how dangerous can a woman with the use of only her left hand really be? Nothing like having no choice, am I right? Kit reluctantly accepts the position and finds she’s both afraid of and intrigued by her new patient.

Did Lenora really kill her entire family? What happened to Mary? Is Kit next?

Expect the unexpected in this well-executed (no pun intended) high-concept novel that relies on isolation, rumor, and the facts of a historical crime to blindside the reader time and again. I haven’t enjoyed a Riley Sager (Todd Ritter) novel this much since The Last Time I Lied. He paced this one flawlessly, considered every detail, and ended this grim family saga on such a high note. Highly recommended for fans of locked room mysteries and complicated page-turning plots.
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A very solid thriller! This was a quick read and had several good twists and interesting characters. It was also set in the 80s which I enjoyed as a child of the 80s. I would recommend. ( )

I feel like Sager really tried something different with this one, and I enjoyed it! This one was much more straight-up "traditional" mystery than his recent novels, and I never felt like it was unsolvable, which made it even more fun to try and piece together as the story went on. The ending might be my favorite Sager ending even? The last couple chapters were delightful. My one gripe is that I wish there was a little more horror! Sager usually can get me a little wigged out but, as concerning as this got, there was never a point where I was actually scared...I love a good little midnight scare...but anyways, my favorite Sager since "Home Before Dark"! ( )

3.5/5 - truly a fun, creepy read that was unfortunately held back by stilted dialogue; uninspired portrayals of girlhood, sisterhood, motherhood etc. (which i wouldn't have cared about as much had the story not be told through the POV of 2 women) and a very rushed ending ( )