The Only One Left
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TL;DR: Want twists and turns and a wild ending set in a crumbling Maine mansion? This is the book for you.
There’s no better place to set a gothic thriller than in a crumbling old mansion. That’s where we find ourselves in The Only One Left, following the experiences of protagonist Kit McDeere. The mansion is situated on the outskirts of a Maine coastal town, perched atop a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Kit has been hired as a home health aide to care for the ailing last descendant of the Hope family, who built and have lived in the mansion since the early 20th Century. Kit has her own questionable past, but that doesn’t stop her from digging into her patient’s past. After all, Kit grew up hearing about how this woman killed her entire family. Kit wants to know if this long-standing local murder story is true - and she uses her access to tease the story out - even when doing so seems to put herself in danger.
While the main story - what really happened in the Hope mansion the night of the 1929 killings - isn’t revealed until the end of the book, the twists and turns start early on. The reader is regularly hit with surprising information about Kit, a member of the Hope family, or a member of the household staff. This keeps the story moving and the reader engaged, turning pages and eager to know the truth behind all these characters’ lives and stories. By the end, the twists and reveals have escalated to a nearly ridiculous point, with some not even making sense, but it’s still entertaining.
The book lacks any real likable characters, but this helps set the overall downcast tone. Some of the dialogue had me cringing, especially the conversations between Kit and the local detective.
As for Maine, the book doesn’t really depend on Maine specifically for its setting. The old, spooky house could have been set anywhere with a coast and small towns. In fact, some of the twists may have worked better if it wasn’t set in such a small town atmosphere.
If you’re the type to roll your eyes at over-the-top twists, this isn’t the book for you. But if you want good entertainment and reasons to quickly flip pages, pick up The Only One Left by Riley Sager.