Book Club Monday: The Only One Left

Author: Riley Sager Title: The Only One Left Publisher: Dutton Date Published: 06/20/2023

Read Dates: 07/14/2026- 07/17/2026
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐💫💫

This was my family book club pick for July.

The Only One Left is a dual-timeline, dual POV mystery/thriller. In 1929, seventeen-year-old Lenora Hope’s family was murdered, and she, completely unharmed and the only survivor, became the prime suspect. With no evidence, she was never tried, but suspicions lingered. Now, in the 1980s, Lenora is an invalid, unable to speak and barely able to move, relying on Kit for round-the-clock care. Kit is determined to find out what happened all those years ago, and more recently, why Lenora’s last nurse, Mary, left so suddenly. What was Mary afraid of, and should Kit be worried too?

This was a fun read that got a bit twisty and complicated at the end! I liked how much it kept me on my toes. Everyone had secrets, including Kit, which made it difficult to figure out which characters to trust. It’s definitely one that keeps you guessing!

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.