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plansunknown_ 's review for:
The Only One Left
by Riley Sager
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Only One Left by Riley Sager (Todd Ritter, aka Alan Finn) is a horror/mystery published in 2023
Following career shaking allegations, Kit McDeere is forced to take a position as caregiver to alleged murder Lenora Hope. In a mansion precariously teetering on the edge of a cliff, Kit finds herself adrift with uncertainty of Lenora’s guilt…and her own. Slowly unraveling decades old family scandals, imminent threats reveal themselves from the shadows of sloping halls and her own home until the truth comes crashing down in front of her.
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This was almost a DNF for me. I read the prologue, closed the book, and read five other books before I picked it back up. I couldn’t shake the pre-assumption that this was going to be cut from the same cloth as every other murder mystery book/show/movie that you would expect and, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really hooked until the last third of the story.
But, damn, once I was hooked…I was HOOK-ED.
I sometimes find myself frustrated by pattern recognition, but Riley Sager masterfully crafts red herrings throughout the narrative with such that there were a couple of big reveals I didn’t see coming. I can not express enough how much I appreciated Sager’s gift for deception and misdirection; the narrative lied with the truth and confessed with lies in a way that was gripping and pleasantly frustrating.
The Only One Left seems to be categorized as a horror, but I can’t say that I found anything particularly scary (other than the timeless audacity of a man with too much money). Mysterious, yes. Intriguing, certainly.
As I mentioned, I didn’t find myself immersed into the story until the last third or so, but part of me wonders about the intentionality of a slow build. As the truth unfolds itself (piece by, sometimes, agonizing, piece), I can’t help but feel like the pace is deliberate.
I’m excited to read more from this author, and I’ve already The House Across the Lake and Things Half in Shadow (under the name Alan Finn) to my TBR.
Following career shaking allegations, Kit McDeere is forced to take a position as caregiver to alleged murder Lenora Hope. In a mansion precariously teetering on the edge of a cliff, Kit finds herself adrift with uncertainty of Lenora’s guilt…and her own. Slowly unraveling decades old family scandals, imminent threats reveal themselves from the shadows of sloping halls and her own home until the truth comes crashing down in front of her.
----------------
This was almost a DNF for me. I read the prologue, closed the book, and read five other books before I picked it back up. I couldn’t shake the pre-assumption that this was going to be cut from the same cloth as every other murder mystery book/show/movie that you would expect and, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really hooked until the last third of the story.
But, damn, once I was hooked…I was HOOK-ED.
I sometimes find myself frustrated by pattern recognition, but Riley Sager masterfully crafts red herrings throughout the narrative with such that there were a couple of big reveals I didn’t see coming. I can not express enough how much I appreciated Sager’s gift for deception and misdirection; the narrative lied with the truth and confessed with lies in a way that was gripping and pleasantly frustrating.
The Only One Left seems to be categorized as a horror, but I can’t say that I found anything particularly scary (other than the timeless audacity of a man with too much money). Mysterious, yes. Intriguing, certainly.
As I mentioned, I didn’t find myself immersed into the story until the last third or so, but part of me wonders about the intentionality of a slow build. As the truth unfolds itself (piece by, sometimes, agonizing, piece), I can’t help but feel like the pace is deliberate.
I’m excited to read more from this author, and I’ve already The House Across the Lake and Things Half in Shadow (under the name Alan Finn) to my TBR.