The Only One Left | By Riley Sager

My thoughts

Narrative and Plot

The Only One Left delivers an atmospheric and mysterious setting. Hope’s End is a mansion atop a cliff, as the cover suggests, with jagged edges and tilting corners. The people inside it are even more twisted.

There are secrets buried deep in the mansion that reveal themselves when a reluctant Kit, the caregiver, enters the place.

This is a slow-burn novel, which is intentional, given the imagery of a tilting mansion over the ocean. It could take days, months, or hours for the balance to tip. That uncertainty is what keeps you glued to those pages until the very end.

Characters and Conflicts

Kit and Lenora Hope are the two most important characters in the story. Kit is our protagonist, and even though we don’t know everything about her, she is the one we end up rooting for. Kit seems to have a sense of justice, but her motivation to get involved with the nefarious affairs of Hope’s End doesn’t seem sufficient.

Lenora, on the other hand, is already defined as an unreliable narrator. Yet, she is a fascinating woman to follow. We are drawn to her twisted story, even though we know it will end horribly. As the story progresses, other key players come to the forefront, and you realize that everything is positioned just right to weave a story so twisted that, once you find the tug to pull, it all unravels at once.

That is how the final conflict plays out. Again, the motivations for some of the choices made by the characters seem either dramatic or contrived for the sake of the story. Other than that, this is a gripping thriller.

Conclusion

If you are looking for an atmospheric mystery thriller, The Only One Left is a great pick. The twists and turns will keep you coming back for more, and you might be tempted to read it again to catch the subtle clues you didn’t notice the first time. It’s one of those thrillers.

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