This novel takes place in 1983, which threw me for a loop a few times as I had to keep telling myself it wasn't taking place in 2023. I kept doing the mental math games in my head at first until it finally sunk it and the character's ages made sense given it was 1983 and the 1920's were only 60 years before. I think I've gotten used to reading too much contemporary fiction.
Onto the novel! It's 1983, and Kit McDeere is a home health care worker returning to her employer after being off for six months due to an investigation regarding the death of her last patient--you'll find out soon enough who that was and why it was so devastating to Kit.
Kit is out of money and has no other skillset to find other employment, so back she goes to her old job. She's left with no choice but to accept the job offered: care for Lenora Hope, who was suspected but never charged with the murders of her parents and sister one horrid night in September of 1929. Lenora's last nurse has mysteriously left in the middle of the night, and Lenora is not only mute but partially paralyzed and requires full time care. Kit reluctantly takes the job and arrives at Hope's End, the family mansion set on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Up close it's clear the mansion is decaying and it certainly has the creep factor built in!
Kit takes on the care of Lenora and while she's at first frightened of Lenora, she slowly builds a relationship with Lenora. A relationship that involves finding out exactly what happened that long ago night in 1929. Was Lenora guilty of murder? If not her, who then? And why did Mary, Lenora's pervious nurse, suddenly leave in the middle of the night, leaving all her clothing and personal possessions behind?
The story is told from Kit's point of view, as well as the typed story Lenora painstakingly worked on with Mary's help, one keystroke at a time. So you, as the reader, know things that Kit doesn't know. As Kit digs deeper, and Lenora's story slowly reveals the Hope family dynamics, the mansion itself is creaking and groaning more and more, shifting ever closer to the edge of the cliff. It's a character in the novel as well as the others who live in the mansion: Jessie, the young maid; Carter, the young man who lives in the cottage on the grounds and attends to general maintenance; Archie, the older man who has been with the family since his teenage years; and Mrs. Baker, the housekeeper.
There are twists to this thriller all the way up until the very last pages. I loved it! I've only read a few Riley Sager novels but I will definitely read more. I especially liked this one because of the time period and the setting.
Rating: 5/6 for a thriller with twists and turns aplenty. A touch of gothic, a bit of suspense and it's hard to put down!
Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio.
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