The Only One Left
1983, the rocky coast of Maine. Hope's End is a great gothic mansion sliding inch by inch toward the sea, and its sole remaining occupant is Lenora Hope, a paralyzed and mute old woman who in 1929 was accused of murdering her entire family and never charged. Twenty-nine-year-old home health aide Kit McDeere, freshly disgraced after a death in her last position, takes the assignment because no one else will. She arrives to find a hostile housekeeper, a wary cook, a fragile former butler, and Lenora herself, who can communicate only by typing on an old electric machine with one trembling hand. Within days Lenora is using that typewriter to dictate her confession, slowly, page by page, to a woman the staff has been ordered not to leave alone with her. Riley Sager's 2023 novel is a slow, richly furnished gothic suspense story in the spirit of Du Maurier, twisting toward a family secret darker than its sixty-year reputation.
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In 1983, home health aide Kit McDeere has just lost her last patient and her license is on probation when her agency sends her to Hope's End, a Maine clifftop mansion. Her new charge is Lenora Hope, paralyzed and silent since her teens, accused since 1929 of killing her parents and sister.
The Only One Left was written by Riley Sager and published in 2023. Sager has written numerous standalone thrillers including Final Girls, The Last Time I Lied, and The House Across the Lake.
The Only One Left is gothic thriller with mounting dread rather than supernatural horror. Most readers find it suspenseful rather than frightening, with the New England mansion setting and unreliable elderly narrator.
The Only One Left is 384 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Only One Left takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
The Only One Left is a standalone novel by Riley Sager, not part of a series.
The Only One Left is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
