The Only One Left offers an exciting premise- Kittredge “Kit” McDeere was suspended from her job as a caregiver as many authorities, including her own father, believe she played a part in killing her sick mother who had overdosed on fentanyl which had been left in the room, a clear breach in caregiving protocol. After living in her father’s house with silent conversations and avoidance for six months, Kit’s boss finally offers her a job - to take care of the infamous Lenora Hope whose previous caregiver left without notice in the middle of the night. Lenora had been accused of murdering her family - stabbing her parents and hanging her sister with a rope in 1929 at seventeen. Now, Lenora sits in a wheelchair at the age of 71, paralyzed and mute, with only the ability to move her left hand and communicate with taps and typing on a typewriter. As Kit delves deeper into Hope’s End and Lenora’s story, there is still a threat to uncover as a recent murder leaves many in panic and grief. Kit must decide who can’t be trusted, even if that includes Lenora herself.
Okay, fine. This was a good book. It was a bit slow at the beginning but later made up for it with the plot twist that actually left me shocked. While the mystery itself was great, there were a few things that I didn’t really like. Kit had a very boring perspective as it felt like she didn’t really have a personality besides figuring out the truth about what occurred in Hope’s End. There were also other details and characters that were really unnecessary to include. Other than that, I did actually enjoy this book! There were several theories that I had (none of them were right 😢), but the actual truth was very surprising! I liked the dual perspectives- Kit’s perspective and Lenora’s typewritten pages both offered a lot of insight into the past and the present. The ending was rushed but a good ending nevertheless, which doesn’t always happen in mystery books if you noticed… This was a WAY better read than other mysteries and horror novels that I read in the past (ahem, Then She Was Gone, specifically. I’m still mad that I wasted 3 days reading that book).