The Only One Left – Riley Sager

This was my only five-star read of the year, and I don’t say that lightly. I liked books this year. I finished books this year. But this book? This one rewired my brain chemistry. I started this book at 4:30AM on Thanksgiving day and didn’t put it down til it was finished. Through morning coffee, through filling deviled eggs, through pulling green bean casserole out of the oven (photo proof below), and through the after dinner nap.

This was the kind of book that doesn’t politely wait for you to finish what you’re doing. It demands your attention immediately and then refuses to give it back. By the time dinner was over, I wasn’t just hooked; I was fully unwell in the best possible way.

Anyway. This was my first Riley Sager book and I am still not over how well he played me.

The story follows Kit McDeere, a home health aide who is suspended after a patient overdoses on medication she failed to lock up. Heavy start. No warm-up lap. After six months of isolation, tension with her dad, and basically her whole life being on pause, she’s offered one last chance at work. The catch? She has to move into a massive, decaying mansion on a cliff to care for Lenora Hope — a woman accused of murdering her parents and sister decades ago.

Lenora is mute. Wheelchair-bound. Communicates only by typing on a typewriter. And has been the subject of town gossip for over fifty years. The house is creepy. The town is hostile. Everyone knows the story, but no one agrees on the details. Kit, being a thriller protagonist, immediately decides she’s going to uncover the truth. Because obviously that’s a safe and rational decision.

At first, the mystery feels contained. You’re watching Kit settle in, learning the rhythms of the house, picking up on strange behavior, and trying to decide who she can trust. And then slowly and quietly… everything starts to feel off.

This is about the point where my Kindle notes stopped being thoughtful observations and started being a cry for help.

• Page 97: I’m suspicious of Mrs. Baker. She has strong “overly proper stepmother with secrets” energy, and I do not like it.
• Page 137: Is Lenora lying? Are the noises Kit hears actually her walking around? I trust absolutely no one at this point.
• Page 142: Mary’s body is found in the water. Okay. So the thriller is thrilling….

From here on out, the book stops pretending to be calm.

The deeper Kit digs, the more the past bleeds into the present. The Hope family history unravels in layers — old letters, half-truths, details that don’t quite line up. When one note is revealed to have been written by Lenora instead of Mary, I had to physically pause. Not skim. Not reread. Pause. Because suddenly everything I thought I understood was wrong.

Then comes the eye color detail. Big, blue eyes. Except Lenora’s eyes are green. LENORA’S EYES ARE GREEN.

• Page 301: “im sorry im not the person you thought i was” LENORA wrote that. Not Mary. WHYYY did I not catch that sooner??
• Page 303: Blue eyes?? Whose eyes are these??
• Page 308: LENORA IS VIRGINIA?!
• Page 309: Mrs. Baker is Lenora. I KNEW IT. I have never felt so vindicated in my life.

At this point, the book fully commits to chaos. Twists stack on twists. Just when you think you’ve hit the big reveal, Riley Sager says, “Actually, no,” and hands you another one. Kit’s own father is tied into Virginia’s past AND the truth about Virginia’s baby comes to light. Every relationship in the book becomes suspect.

• Page 350: Kit’s father was the father of Virginia’s baby. I had to put my Kindle down.
• Page 376: Lenora can walk. She can talk. She could this entire time. I need a moment… or five.
• Page 380: Jessie was her granddaughter. I am literally done.

By the time I finished, I wasn’t even shocked anymore — I was just impressed. This wasn’t twist-for-shock-value storytelling. Every reveal was planted, earned, and cruelly well-timed. The kind of book that makes you want to flip back through earlier chapters just to see how badly you were being lied to.

I finished it, said “oh my word” out loud several times, and then stared at a wall like I had just been told a secret I wasn’t supposed to know.

Five stars. My only one this year. I will be thinking about this book for a long time — and yes, I will absolutely be reading more Riley Sager.

Rating: mentally unwell / 10
Would I recommend? Yes. But only to people prepared to lose sleep and sanity.
🌟5/5

👉 Click here to grab The Only One Left on Amazon.

Photo proof of how I spent Thanksgiving 2025: