Becca Reviews: Only One left by Riley Sager

First thing to say is I bought and read this book whilst visiting my friend in Portland, Maine. Did I know this book was set in Maine? No, but it was a very happy accident!

This story begins with Kit, a carer who has been suspended from her job for malpractice. The mysteries begin there and don't stop for some time. This novel offers not an unreliable narrator but a 'selective narrator'. The reader is only drip-fed truths from Kit as and when the information becomes relevant, which also mirrors the rest of the big reveals of the plot.

After her suspension ends, Kit finds work caring for Lenora Hope, a 70 year old confined to her wheelchair, in a large house at Hope's End (okay foreshadowing). How did she so easily find work? Well, there's a little history behind the house and the client in question.

The book's blurb and opening (and throughout) repeat the fictional children's rhyme:

 At seventeen, Lenora Hope

Hung her sister with a rope

Stabbed her father with a knife

Took her mother’s happy life

“It wasn’t me.” Lenora said.

But she’s the only one not dead

Now, let's IGNORE the fact that it should say 'hanged' and not 'hung' because you have to pick your battles. The addition of this rhyme is powerful and reminiscent of many playground rhymes such as:

Lizzie Borden took an axe

and gave her mother forty whacks

when she saw what she had done

she gave her father forty-one.

This is based on a real murder that occurred in Massachusetts in 1892. Lizzie was tried for her parents' murder but was later acquitted owing to the evidence being largely circumstantial. I had only heard of this rhyme because my friend (whom I am currently visiting) told me about it. As I read The Only One Left, I became more and more sure that Sager must have based this novel on the well-known rhyme, and turns out he did! Not only that, he also holds a master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine, which (you guessed it) is where I am currently sitting in the library writing this review (photo for evidence!).

Now, to know a little about Lizzie Borden's case could be considered a spoiler, in a very roundabout way! Unsurprisingly, and according to the rhyme, Lenora claims she was not guilty. The evidence is also circumstantial and too much of 'he said, she said' so she is never charged.

I really enjoyed the plot of this novel and read it very quickly. I truly was desperate to find out the truth behind the murders and the truths behind the many small mysteries we encounter along the way. There is some great symbolism throughout. Lenora can only communicate via typewriter; she is literally and figuratively silenced, and the house at Hope's End is slowly (but not that slowly) sliding down the cliff towards the ocean; as the foundations crack more and more, so does the thin veil concealing the family's past. Furthermore, Lenora's father had the house built to his specific requirements, offering us even more to read into there, and seriously making me question his decision-making if the house barely stood for 100 years.

One specific element of the conclusion did make me laugh out loud at its ridiculousness. It just seemed way too far fetched and convenient - we hate a convenient forced plot point in these parts. But I stuck it out and Sager does generally justify this point so I'll allow the creative license/over the top-ness! I also don't understand the action of two characters at the end when they decide to go back into a collapsing building but each to their own...

The use of classic gothic tropes is done effectively. Such as the grand house, the servants' staircase, the spooky family portraits, and the creaky floorboards etc. Also, I enjoyed the main conceit of stories being told and retold repeatedly by different people to different people. This led to the slow reveal of more information, small slip ups accidentally giving information away, and the implications of who knows what and why.

Whilst the tying up of the loose ends was not perfect, the formation of this plot and the many connections between characters are strong and impressive. At about 40% through I even thought, wow Sager has really opened a can of worms here, and I would be truly surprised if EVERYTHING can be neatly tied up - but he did a pretty damn good job.

I'll definitely be reading some more of his novels.

Another Maine based fiction coming soon!

Read: 19/05/2025

Published: 20/06/2023

ISBN: 9780593183229

Price: £8.26 (GBP)