Anne's Reviews > The Only One Left

Not for me.
It seems as though so many people loved this, but I found it to be a bit of a slog.
The first few hours of the audiobook were so. incredibly. boring. I seriously do not care about any of the mundane nonsense (her uniform was too tight in the shoulders but made her stand up straighter) that played no part in the plot.



Maybe more importantly, I couldn't feel any of the terror that our heroine, Kit, felt as she entered the spooky murder house.
What the fuck even are you going on about, girl?
An old lady supposedly killed her family a million years ago. Said old lady now has use of one fucking hand that she uses to type words to you.
Why is Kit freaking out all of the time? If she were a teenager, maybe. But this is a grown-ass woman. Are you kidding me with this nonsense?
Oh no! I'm not sure if I want to know the truth!
What? Why not?



It may be that I'm just more curious than the average bear, but I would be all about hearing what happened on the night of this famous murder from the suspected murderer.
None of this wiffle-waffling for me, I'd settle right in and snuggle up with a presumed killer for that level of gossip.



Yes. Yes, I am.
And, not to brag, but that's probably why I'll end up the subject of a Netflix documentary at some point.



The conclusion to the mystery was over the top, but that honestly didn't bother me too much. It's a thriller, so you know that you are going to (hopefully) go on a bit of a wild ride when you picked the book up.

(view spoiler)[
Ricky just kind of popped out of nowhere, didn't he? And then to be related to Kit?
Ok. Go with it, man!
Victoria just had some shit luck when it came to the people in her life, I guess. The worst had to be her sister locking her in her room while she squeezed out a baby by herself.
Cheese-us on crackers! That's a vagina's nightmare.
And what was the point of her father locking them in their rooms as a game? Like, I get that he was a control freak, but that just seemed like an abstract thing to do.
That Lenora and Ricky, both incredibly selfish people in life, decided to just sit there while the house fell away into the sea instead of trying to escape was pretty out of character for both of them. <--but ok! Dramatic license. I get it. (hide spoiler)]

The epilogue was kind of insane, though.
And not really in a good way.

(view spoiler)[No matter how much I wanted Virginia to get a happily ever after, I simply can't respect someone who sits in their bed for years and years pretending to be mute & immobile.
People are having to wipe your ass.
Because you shit on yourself.
And then lay in that shit until someone wiped it and changed your diaper.
HOW?
HOW!?
Now, I have zero problems wiping someone's ass. Doesn't make me gag or feel weird or whatever else. If someone needs help, they need help, and you help them. Period.
But I will be good and goddammed if I sit in my own poo for 20 years as a fucking prank to pay back a bitchy sister.
That's just weird. (hide spoiler)]



Alright. This has quite a few glowing reviews, so take mine with a grain of salt.
I think the problem is that the story relies too much on atmosphere and that just isn't the kind of book that hits with me.
It moved too slowly and I couldn't relate to the main character's fears.
Recommended for...someone else.