The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Pages: 388
Method: Kindle
Rating: 4.25/5

I will start this review by saying that I’m not historically an avid mystery/thriller reader. However, I heard so many good things about Riley Sager’s books that I thought I would give one a try.

Now, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you why I’m not typically a fan of this genre until I read something in an author’s note of a romance book that summed it up almost perfectly. 

“All stories have an emotional engine that drives them. Mysteries run on curiosity. Thrillers run on heart-thumping adrenaline. Horror stories run on fear. And the fuel for those emotional engines is anticipation. Most novels use a fair bit of what’s called negatively-valenced anticipation. A sense of worry. A concern that things might get worse.” (Katherine Center) And in my experience, if that anticipation is not done well, the negatively-valenced anticipation overshadows any positive feelings towards the book.

Well, this book had the curiosity, the heart-thumping adrenaline, and the fear. I was invested in the main character’s story from the beginning and the way that the author intertwined her past with the ongoing plot kept me curious. There were just enough breadcrumbs and different seeds of suspicion throughout the story that I continued to come up with theories while being increasingly curious about what new information would arise.

What I realized is that while adrenaline and fear are effective drivers, I don’t enjoy fear when I read. Adrenaline is enjoyable when done right, but fear, especially when it feels like a supernatural evil is not my cup of tea. I was constantly questioning what was real and what was just the character’s (and therefore my own) mind playing tricks on me and the adrenaline is what kept me glued to the book.

Honestly, that was the only thing that I didn’t love about the book but that comes down to personal preference, so I still gave it a good rating. I also recognize now that it is a bit more difficult to write a review for mysteries because I don’t want to give any spoilers so I can’t dissect my real-time reactions to the plot twists. But as you can tell from my rating, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery. And now I want to know, which emotional engine do you prefer? Curiosity, adrenaline, fear, or hope.