The Last Thing to Burn is a mystery novel that takes things that one step further.
Dealing with themes like kidnapping and abuse. 

The novel begins with Thanh Dao (or “Jane” as is named by her kidnapper) trying to escape from capture. Unfortunately, she is unsuccessful and ends up back in her prison. As you being to learn more the reader find out that Jane has been there for several years and tried to escape numerous time. It's only when she falls pregnant she becomes submissive enough to stay and look after her child. But when her captor brings back another woman, Jane does anything she can to help her get away.

The story is very well written, maybe too much so. Some of the abuse scenes are incredibly hard to stomach, but I feel important as nothing written here is beyond the realms of possibility. which makes it so horrific.

This story strongly brings into light how abused some woman can be and how society really needs to do something about it. It is a difficult but necessary education for all of us. The call to action at the end of the novel is appropriate.

Wow. 

After a reading mojo which has been AWOL since December, this is EXACTLY what was needed to bring it back again.

What an incredible story. The whole story was predominantly in one setting. A rural farmhouse in northern England. This could have fallen flat, but what it actually did was to drip feed the tension bit by bit so your stomach ended up in knots and the palms of your hands sweaty. Or was that just me.... 

I'm not saying anything further as you can read the synopsis and find out for yourself. 

Highly recommended! 4.5* rounded up to 5*

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean is a stunning edge of your seat read that had me gripped from beginning to end. Finding the words to do this remarkable book justice is certainly no easy feat. It’s a dark and disturbing tale that had me holding my breath countless times, not wanting to carry on reading but unable to tear myself away as I raced through the pages, desperate to find out what was going to happen next.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot as to do so would take away from the impact of simply experiencing it for yourself. But I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever loathed an antagonist more than I loathe the one in this book. He is utterly terrifying in every way, seemingly not possessing even the tiniest scrap of humanity. 

The tension is palpable, the fear so real you can feel your heart pounding in your chest as you turn the pages. Will Dean’s writing is mesmerising, his ability to bring this devastating and all too easy to believe scenario so vividly to life is simply astounding. 

The Last Thing to Burn isn’t an easy read by any means and, as brilliant as it is, is so much more than just an atmospheric thriller that is guaranteed make your blood run cold. It’s also a story about the resilience of the human spirit and how, even in the darkest and most horrifying of times, you can somehow find the strength from deep within yourself to keep on going. To do everything in your power to survive.

I honestly can’t recommend The Last Thing to Burn highly enough. An outstanding read that I know will stay with me for a long time to come. Simply stunning!

Hooked from start to finish and I literally read this in one sitting. 
An incredible story of what can happen to young people desperately trying to get a better life when they fall foul of evil people. 
Some great twists and turns along the way. 
I'll be on the lookout for more by Will Dean now

Will Dean was an author I hadn't come across before I read this book - now I'm going to have to read his others! 'Jane' (not her real name, but the name given her by her 'husband') lives in a remote farm with Lenny who controls her every move. She is a modern day slave, brought over illegally and trafficked. She had some meagre possessions, but every time she does something wrong one of them is burnt. She'd tried to escape, but Lenny had damaged her foot so badly that she is permanently crippled and in pain. Her thoughts are for a future when she can escape, without putting in jeopardy the life of her sister, who she thinks is living somewhere else in the UK. When she becomes pregnant and ultimately gives birth to a daughter,  'Jane' has a new focus in life. Things start to unravel when Lenny kidnaps and imprisons a  local woman - to say more would be to give the story away, but there are plenty of surprises before the ultimately pleasing ending.

I have read all of will deans books and im a huuge fan!! He has such a fantastic talent at forming a fully fleshed character i feel akin to. I love characters that are fully grown, complex, and ever growing. He has fulfilled all my expectations with this book, and as his characters are so vivid and personal to me, its also an incredibly gripping book that you read in one go.

This is a great read! There is  very little change of scenery or personnel, however the tension just keeps building throughout the book! Highly recommended!

A brilliant thriller that I absolutely loved . One of my very favorites!! A must read for all thriller fans !!

This is the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last as I found it gripping and couldn't put it down.
The author is a master storyteller and kept me on the edge till the last page.
Excellent plot and character development, excellent storytelling and the right level of tension.
It's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was fantastic reading, kept me gripped from start to finish and I literally did not want to put this book down, I would say read it if you like mystery and great characters.

What a captivating and heartwrenching read! This is my favourite book from Will Dean so far. I just couldn't put it down. 

It's a story that is so relevant today with human trafficking on the increase. I felt like crying out of frustration with the main character. The hardship she had to endure is unimaginable and the fact that this is happening to people right now makes it even worse.
Its a story about strength and willpower. About never losing your true self and about believing in yourself and what you are capable of. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

OMFG What a read! Set in a remote farmhouse in England, the reader is pulled into a story where fear, survival, loss, control, power, exploitation, desperation, courage, narcissism, gas-lighting, and hope will have you holding your breath as you turn the pages.

I’m not sure anything I say will be good enough, but I will tell you what I think, as much as I can as I don’t want to spoil one single page of this epic story! The opening of this novel instantly had me raising a brow – what in the heck is going on here… This story delivers tenfold: a stark, visceral look at human trafficking / exploitation and Will Dean beautifully captures what it must feel like to be in such a horrific situation. The characters are so well developed, it reads like a true story. For me, it was like Psycho meets Room – intense and chilling, once I started – I was hooked.

Can I just give a massive #shoutout to Will Dean’s masterful way of creating such vivid, real and relatable characters! Thanh Doe (aka: Jane) is held captive by Lennie (her husband) – she isolated, vulnerable, coerced but at the same time shows strength, courage and determination despite everything she is put through.

Lennie is always such a great character – great in the sense that the author shows two sides – a man wanting someone to love/look after him but a real distorted understanding of what this is and how to go about it. At times he displays kindness but other times he is vile, manipulative and cruel.

Can we also just appreciate Cynthia – more prominent in the second half of the novel – her part may be small but has a huge impact on propelling the story forward. There is so much more I want to say, but this is definitely one of those books you just NEED to read.

Would I recommend this book? Uh…Abso-friggin-lutely! In fact, it might be my Top Read of 2021 as it just spoke to me on so many levels. Emotive, intense and absolutely compelling reading – I highly recommend adding this book to your TBR. Mr Dean has once again shown his genius in writing and I can’t wait to see what he next has in store for readers!

Dean's book is another suspenseful tale, masterfully told. I enjoyed it a lot and have recommended it to many friends looking for a reliable romp.

Her name is not Jane. Identity - or more correctly, the erosion of identity lies at the heart of this incredible novel. The Last Thing To Burn is a horrifying, heart-stopping thriller but it is also an intense, intimate portrait of courage and resilience under the most harrowing of conditions. Jane's real name is Thanh Dao and she lives in the Fens with her husband, Lenn. His insistence that she answers to Jane might seem as if it's only a small example of the complete control he holds over her life but it represents the fear she has that she is disappearing as surely as the possessions he burns every time he decides she deserves to be punished.
Lenn is unquestionably one of the most terrifying villains I can ever remember reading and it's his ordinariness which makes him so chilling. He resorts to acts of brutal violence on occasion but it's the quiet coercion and threats, interspersed with moments of apparent kindness that make him such a monster. We don't discover much about why Lenn is how he is, however, there is enough here for readers to make their own mind up about why this brute of a man, who has lived his whole life in this isolated cottage, seems to believe that his actions are entirely justifiable. The scenes where he declares that they have a pretty good life together are sickening because it's here that we truly realise that he is absolutely convinced that he is in the right and that 'Jane' is his to do with as he pleases.
The book is narrated in the first person and is a profoundly affecting exploration of human exploitation. We all know that people trafficking and modern day slavery is happening right now but having it personalised, even through a fictional character is extraordinarily effective. The horrific treatment of refugees and asylum seekers ceases to be something that happens to an unfortunate yet faceless multitude and becomes devastatingly real. When Lenn burns yet another of the few possessions that she owns, when he watches her every movement on the cameras he has set up throughout the house, when he informs her she must have a bath before bed, the oppressive hopelessness feels almost unbearably overwhelming.
The sense of place is evoked with a vividness that means The Last Thing To Burn is an uncomfortably immersive experience. The wide open fenland setting is ironically claustrophobic, the flat landscape giving Lenn an unfettered view of the depressing, isolated farmhouse and ensuring Thanh Dao has little hope of ever managing to escape. His threats and punishments are delivered with cruel precision and yet throughout her years of captivity, despite losing so much of herself, she has somehow managed to retain her humanity. She is still able to find the smallest moments of pleasure, through something as simple as a few licks of a boiled sweet or through the words of the strikingly relevant 'Of Mice and Men' and as the book progresses, it also becomes evident that although she has been subjected to unimaginable physical and mental torture, she hasn't lost her capacity for empathy. 
A sinister, supremely taut nightmare, bleakly powerful yet written with compassionate authenticity throughout, The Last Thing To Burn is utterly magnificent and whatever I say here is unlikely to truly do it justice; it is undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever had the privilege to read.

One word review – tense

This was definitely an unsettling book our narrator is an illegal immigrant from Vietnam she has had everything taken from her including her name and is now referred to by her captor as Jane (his mother’s name) you get where this is going right??

Jane’s captor has no need to chain her up to prevent her running from him instead he uses fear and manipulation. As an illegal immigrant with a younger sister also illegally in the country Jane feels that she has no means of escape. Her every movement is monitored by video camera and any behaviour that her captor doesn’t like results in punishment, in Jane’s case this means losing one of her few sacred possessions.

The story keeps building the tension up as Jane finally realises that she cannot continue the way she has been now that others are involved as well. But what will this decision mean for Jane and the others in her life?

An interesting look at human trafficking and the way women can be held captive using their illegal status as a means of control and manipulation and the way these women can be convinced to buy into the lie that their life has no value. Such a sad state of affairs.

Wow!  I wish all books were as good as this one!  This was a thrilling read from page one, I wanted to know what happened to the characters and where the story would go.  This did not disappoint and to say I thoroughly enjoyed it would be wrong, but I did.  I couldn’t put it down.  I will definitely read more from this author!

he Last Thing To Burn is the first of Will Dean's novels that I have come across, and what an intriguing read it is.

The novel opens with Jane (that is not her name) a young woman in a foreign land, trying to escape her volatile husband (he is not her husband). 

She has been separated from her sister, and has only a few precious possessions to cling on to. Possessions which are cruelly taken from her and burnt, if 'Jane' dares to disobey her husband.

Living on a remote farm, surrounded only by vast countryside, 'Jane' is isolated in every sense of the word. Every escape attempt or any attempt to make contact with the outside world is cruelly punished by destroying her possessions, or destroying her.

'Jane' has been physically beaten to the extent of deformity, and has little reason to carry on. Until something changes, dramatically. Suddenly she has a reason for living, a reason for everything, and she must escape him once and for all.

The Last Thing To Burn is an intense read, and a great novel to start your 2021 reading journey.

The Last Thing To Burn is not for the faint-hearted! It’s an unflinching look at the physical and psychological abuse of a woman kept captive by a monster. It looks at the devastating cost of human trafficking and the effects of Stockholm syndrome. The stark farmhouse setting, the detached narration, the vile antagonist, and suspenseful storyline kept my interest even when the bleak subject matter gets too much. Yet it’s also about the sheer determination of a protagonist who refuses to give up. Even amidst her trauma, she finds the strength to keep going. 

While this book is full of tension, the storyline is a little contrived at times. There were moments when I felt the characters only behave in a certain way to further the plot. There’s also a twist that comes out of nowhere and doesn’t really fit with previously established situation. But these doesn’t detract my overall enjoyment of the book. I appreciate the book’s portrayal of survival and hope in a world that sorely needs them. Please note the content warnings before you decide to read it!
 
CW: kidnapping, rape, domestic violence, psychological abuse, starvation, infant sickness, drug addiction

Holy cow, wow!!!  This was an unputdownable, chilling read, that would be considered by many to be dark & disturbing!  I love dark and disturbing books, & feel the more dark and disturbing the better, so if you are not like that, you may look into if this one will be too much for you, prior to reading!  It is very well written, bone chilling, thrilling, and shocking!  The character development was superb, the story unique, and fast paced!  I highly, utility recommend, especially for those dark and disturbing fans, like myself!  It’s sure to really get you into those dark, demented places, which are only safe in books or tv!  Recommend clearing schedules, as it’s hard to put down once you start!  

Will buzz around platforms and use low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

The Last Thing to Burn is the kind of book that is so tricky to review. The kind of book where when you finish there are no words to say other than, WOW!

I went into this story not knowing a great deal and I think that made even more of an impact for me. As slowly but surely I began to understand everything that had happened to ‘Jane’ and continued to happen throughout the book. The Last Thing to Burn holds a difficult subject matter within its pages. However the descriptions aren’t always necessarily detailed. Will Dean just gave enough information to let my imagination conjure up the rest. So this definitely sent a shiver up my spine. Especially in regards to the chilling nature of what ‘Jane’ is put through. Seeing how she clings to her past in order to get through each day. Well, it was pretty heartbreaking! Then add in the anger that I felt towards her captor and I definitely went through a range of emotions while reading this book.

The tension in this book was immense and continued to intensify all the way through. I couldn’t turn those pages fast enough! I think it’s safe to say that my nerves were shredded reading this book. If I had long nails they would be long gone by now. Will Dean built up this story perfectly from an intriguing beginning to the heart racing conclusion. Even though we aren’t yet out of January this book is already on my list of top book picks for 2021! If you are looking to be completely immersed in a story then look no further. The Last Thing to Burn is at times an addictive, dark and brutal story. However it is also a tale of bravery and hope!