Gothic atmosphere and engaging pacing
Josh praises Sager's readable prose, brisk pacing, and the eerie, atmospheric setting of the decaying cliffside manor.
Reviewed
Updated
Read Time
8 min read
Our age bandAdult
Reader rating
4.4 · 66,288 Amazon ratings, as of Nov 2026
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks scoreShare This Review
Our review
The Only One Left
The Only One Left Review: Gripping, but Twists Strain Belief (Riley Sager)
by Riley Sager
Riley Sager's The Only One Left sends caregiver Kit McDeere to a crumbling Maine mansion to tend Lenora Hope, long suspected of a 1929 family massacre. Critics called it a "dizzying Gothic whodunit"; others found its twists silly.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who want a fast, melodramatic Gothic whodunit in a crumbling-mansion setting and are happy to enjoy it as a thrill ride rather than a realistic mystery.
Worth it if
Worth reading if you can give yourself over to sillier plot devices and rug-pull reversals in exchange for a quick, immersive read with a tense first half.
Skip if
Skip it if you want believable behaviour and a grounded solution, since Kirkus Reviews found the later chapters take outlandish turns, with cartoonish dialogue.
Where reviewers agree and split
Readers rate it 4.4 on Amazon. The reviews we read that discuss it in depth split on some points:
- Mixed
Kirkus Reviews · Press review: entertaining but increasingly campy, requiring tolerance for implausible plot turns
- Mixed
Laura's Books and Blogs · Book blog: engaging mystery with cinematic twists, though some resolution felt overwrought and silly
- Positive
Books on the 7:47 · Book blog: expertly crafted thriller with constant pace, tension and twists throughout
- Negative
Amy Imogene Reads · Book blog: did not connect with this Sager novel, not a personal favorite (from its headline)
- Positive
Shelf Reflection · Book blog: wildly entertaining thriller with shocking twists and genuine suspense throughout
- Positive
Damp Pebbles · Book blog: atmospheric and engaging thriller with excellent suspense and compelling characters
- Mixed
How Did That Book End · Book blog: fast-paced and engaging but ending felt overstuffed with some implausible elements
- Positive
The Reader Life · Book blog: layered psychological thriller with sensible twists and perfectly executed ending
All 3 reviews we read that discuss its pacing praise the fast pace.
Pacing
3 praise the fast pace
Who says what
Pacing
Praise
“The pace and tension never lets up and the twists keep coming.”
— Books on the 747 · Book blogPraise
“The Only One Left is fast-paced, engaging, and sure to keep you guessing.”
— How Did That Book End · Book blogWhat readers & critics say
Reception leans positive but with a clear caveat about plausibility. Kirkus Reviews, the main publication review retrieved, calls it a thrilling, if goofy, ride with a tense, propulsive stretch but a later section that borders on camp; the book blogs behind Shelf Reflection, Books on the 747 and damppebbles are warmer, praising the pace and twists while the damppebbles blogger admits parts felt a smidge far fetched.
“An entertaining thriller if you can give yourself over to its sillier plot devices.”
— Kirkus Reviews4.4from 66,288 Amazon ratings, as of Nov 2026— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
Josh from Josh's Bookish Voyage reviews The Only One Left
Josh provides an in-depth review and critique of Riley Sager's gothic mystery novel The Only One Left.
A BookTube review by Josh's Bookish Voyage, 2024 · 2.7K views · 2.1K subscribers · Watch on YouTube ·
Their views, not ours. The points are our AI summary of what they say, each playing from where they say it.
Another view · loved it
Zach loved the novel, awarding it a full five stars and naming it one of their favorite books of the year and one of their top Riley Sager thrillers. While Zach found the ending intensely confusing and initially found the protagonist's father off-putting, the book's abundance of twists elevated it from a four-star read into a favorite. Zacks Books on YouTube
Formulaic structure and lack of threat
Josh argues that Sager plays it too safe by following a rigid formula where the central characters never feel like they are in any genuine jeopardy.
Difficulty connecting with the protagonist
Josh experienced emotional detachment throughout the opening chapters, finding it hard to invest in the main character Kit.
Miss Hope's mystery versus character filler
Josh found Miss Hope's storyline captivating and thoughtful, but felt Kit's personal background was mostly unneeded filler.
Caricature swapping over character depth
Josh explains that character development feels shallow because characters are treated as superficial caricatures that simply swap identities for plot twists.
Ask LuvemBooks
Was this helpful?
The Only One Left sends home-health aide Kit McDeere to a decaying Maine mansion in 1983 to care for Lenora Hope, long suspected of a 1929 family massacre. It is a fast, twist-heavy Gothic whodunit; the caveat is that later plotting strains belief, as Kirkus Reviews found.
- Is it worth reading?
- It is worth reading if you want speed over realism. Kirkus Reviews called it "an entertaining thriller" and described it as having a gothic whodunit setting on the coast of Maine, while the later chapters turn outlandish. Reader blogs lean warmer, with Shelf Reflection saying Sager "got me good," while the damppebbles blogger found some of it "a smidge far fetched." No review we found judges whether the solution is fair to the reader.
- Similar books
- For more Riley Sager, Home Before Dark and Survive the Night offer the same twist-driven style. The Shelf Reflection blogger compared this book to Verity, which suits readers who like unreliable, secret-laden suspense, though that is one reader's comparison. The Silent Patient, Never Lie and Then She Was Gone are also fast, twisty thrillers, though no reviewer we found compares them to this book directly.
- Who should read this?
- It suits readers who treat a thriller as a melodramatic ride in a mansion setting and who enjoy a Lizzie Borden-style mystery without needing realism. Existing Sager fans and Gothic suspense readers are the natural audience. Readers who want grounded solutions or plausible behaviour are the ones most likely to be let down.
- What age is it for?
- It is written for adults. The content notes are a decades-old family massacre, an accusation that Kit fatally overdosed her dying mother, and a missing caregiver. No source we found gives a recommended minimum age.
- About Riley Sager
- Riley Sager is a pen name of Todd Ritter, an American author of thriller novels who has also written under the name Alan Finn.
- Is there a film or TV adaptation?
- Several of Riley Sager's earlier novels have been optioned for screen development, including The Final Girls, The Last Time I Lied, Home Before Dark and The House Across the Lake, according to The Line-Up.
- How does it compare to classic Gothic novels?
- Kirkus Reviews says it evokes The Fall of the House of Usher and Rebecca early on, adding that Sager traffics in Gothic tropes rather than playing with them. Reviewers describe this one as built for momentum and reversals.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
What age is it for?
About Riley Sager
Is there a film or TV adaptation?
How does it compare to classic Gothic novels?
Summarize this book
In 1983, Kit McDeere takes a job at Hope's End, a crumbling mansion in Maine, caring for Lenora Hope, a stroke-silenced woman in her seventies who was suspected of killing her parents and sister in 1929. Lenora can only communicate by typing, and she offers to tell Kit everything about that night. As Kit helps write it down, she begins to suspect the story is incomplete, while her own past and the disappearance of Lenora's previous aide, Mary, add pressure.
Follow up
Does the summary spoil the twists?
Do I need to read other Riley Sager books first?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
Ask LuvemBooks
What would you like to know about The Only One Left?
Answers come from our editorial notes on this book. If we haven't covered something, we'll say so.
Readers often ask
Our Review
We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.
Riley Sager's Gothic whodunit earns its reputation as a fast, twist-heavy page-turner, with critics calling it "a dizzying Gothic whodunit" even as others find its later plotting too outlandish to take seriously. Readers who can enjoy a thrill ride on its own silly terms are the ones it rewards.
What happens in The Only One Left?
It is 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere takes a job at Hope's End, a decaying cliffside mansion on the Maine coast. Her patient is Lenora Hope, now in her seventies, who was suspected of killing her parents and sister there one night in 1929.
The deaths survive as a schoolyard chant, and police never proved Lenora did it.
Lenora was left mute by a series of strokes and can communicate only by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night she types an offer: "I want to tell you everything."
As Kit helps her write the story of that night, Kit begins to suspect Lenora is not telling her the whole truth.
Kit's own past is part of the setup. Wikipedia's plot summary says she was accused of fatally overdosing her dying mother, which left her unable to find work until this job, and that Lenora's previous aide, Mary, went missing a week before Kit arrives.
What did critics find?
The New York Times Book Review's verdict, as quoted on the Penguin Random House page, is "propulsive" and "a dizzying Gothic whodunit." Wikipedia's summary of the reception quotes a critic crediting the book with "Sager's signature breakneck pace" while also saying its twists "stretch believability."
Kirkus Reviews is the most guarded of the outlets here. It calls the book "an entertaining thriller if you can give yourself over to its sillier plot devices," says it evokes "The Fall of the House of Usher" and Rebecca early on, and says Sager "doesn't play with gothic tropes so much as he simply traffics in them."
It still called the book a thrilling, if goofy, ride for readers fond of plot hijinks.
No critic quoted for this page judges whether the clues are fair or whether the solution fully pays off, so those questions are left unanswered here.
What is The Only One Left like to read?
Reader blogs describe a quick, immersive read. The blogger behind How Did That Book End called it "fast-paced, engaging" and said it will keep readers guessing, though the ending threw a lot at the reader at once and was perhaps over the top.
Laura's Books and Blogs called it "an easy, page-turning read" and liked the simple, vivid descriptions.
The blogger behind Books on the 747 called it "the perfect checklist thriller": an isolated cliffside mansion, a Gothic mood, unreliable narrators, an unexplained death, a small suspect pool and repeated rug-pull twists. That blogger said the pace never lets up.
The blogger behind Shelf Reflection said Sager "got me good" and found the twists worth flipping back pages for, though not every reader is as won over.
The damppebbles blogger found some of it "a smidge far fetched" but praised the perfectly pitched Gothic overtones and did not mind that some twists could be guessed. Laura's Books and Blogs also found parts of the resolution silly and cinematic, though she felt every detail paid off.
What does the publisher's praise add?
The publisher's page collects endorsements, which are marketing blurbs rather than assessments. USA Today is quoted calling the book an exploration of "family, of love, of loneliness" and of true-crime obsessiveness, and Mystery and Suspense Magazine is quoted saying "I loved this book and it may even be my new favorite of Sager's." Rolling Stone, Book Riot, Bookreporter and author Chandler Baker also appear there with approving lines.
They are best read as signals of who the book is pitched at: existing Sager fans and readers of Gothic suspense.
Is The Only One Left worth reading?
Weighing these reviews, the tension they keep circling is momentum against plausibility. Reviewers who liked the book praise its pace, atmosphere and stream of reversals, while cooler voices like Kirkus Reviews say the twists get silly or strain belief.
The same ingredient is both the draw and the complaint.
That points the book toward readers who treat a thriller as a fast, melodramatic ride in a crumbling-mansion setting, and who enjoy a Lizzie Borden-style mystery without needing psychological realism. It points away from readers who want a grounded solution or characters who behave plausibly, since Kirkus found cartoonish dialogue and implausible behaviour.
Kirkus places it beside Crimson Peak, and readers who liked that film's mood may find the same tone here. The Shelf Reflection blogger compares it to Verity, which suggests a pitch to readers who like unreliable, secret-laden suspense, though that is one reader's comparison.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
- 2
- Further reading
- 3
Riley Sager, LuvemBooks
- 4
en.wikipedia.org
- 5
laurasbooksandblogs.com
- 6
- 7
amyimogenereads.com
- 8
- 9
penguinrandomhouse.com
- 10
- 11
unabridgedbookstore.com
- 12
howdidthatbookend.com
- 13
Kirkus Reviews
- 14
The Reader Life
Age & Reading Level
Our age band
Adult
Our age band groups books for browsing; it isn't an age a review gave.
Tropes
forced proximity
From how readers describe it, not our own reading.
3 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
a decades-old family massacre
an accusation of fatally overdosing a dying parent
a missing caregiver
Skip if you want a grounded solution and characters who behave plausibly rather than a melodramatic, twist-driven ride
Riley Sager on The Only One Left
Riley Sager speaks with Olivia Fierro about the inspiration, gothic atmosphere, and 1980s setting of his thriller 'The Only One Left'.
Uploaded by Arizona’s Family (3TV / CBS 5) , 2023 · Watch on YouTube ·
Rhyme inspired Lenora Hope's name
Sager explains that the creepy skipping-rope rhyme was the very first thing he wrote for the novel, and the character's last name came about simply because Hope rhymed with rope.
Setting the novel in 1983
Sager notes that modern technology would have ruined the plot, as the protagonist could easily have googled the suspect and walked away from the job.
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