The Last Thing to Burn

An incredibly tense book, uncomfortable reading at times but such a convincing portrait of a monster and an unbreakable spirit. It's short, but that's perfect - more tension than this and you might not survive the experience of reading it.

Not since Tara Westover’s “Educated” have I read a story as utterly and devastatingly soul-shattering as this one. At times, it was almost too painful to read on, the sheer helplessness taking your breath away.

Thanh Dao and her sister Kim Ly were trafficked from Vietnam to the UK, where their ordeal began seven years ago. Thanh Dao was sold to a farmer in the Fens who abuses her physically and mentally. His possessions, his brutal routines determine every inch of Thanh Dao’s life. Any attempt to escape is punished severely, her every move is recorded on camera - there’s no way out. The 17 things that are personal to her get burnt one by one as a punishment for minor “misdemeanors” until only her sister’s letters are left.

When a spirit is crushed so comprehensively, is there a point when a person simply resigns and gives themselves up to their oppressor or is there, somewhere deep inside, a spark, an irrepressible hunger for survival, be it for oneself or someone we love?

A raw, bleak, pitch-black book - edge-of-seat, cower-in-corner and white rage.
Read it! Read it! Read it! It will shake you to the core.

'Jane" is a young Vietnamese woman who finds herself living on a fenland farm with Lenn. She has been smuggled in to England with her sister Kym-Ly. All she has are letters from her sister, her copy of 'Of mice and men' and photographs. Every time she displeases Lenn, one of her prized possessions is burnt in the rayburn. Jane is a modern day slave. Used to cook, clean and provide sex. When she finds herself pregnant, she must do everything to protect her daughter. The story is horrific, but the language is beautiful. Descriptive in a way that you can visualise the setting, and feel the emotions. Couldn't put it down.

The Last Thing To Burn is a stark, frequently brutal tale of human trafficking, human resilience, and good versus evil. WOW Will Dean has a descriptive style of writing that took my breath away, I’m not just talking about the abuse scenes (which some readers may find disturbing) I’m talking about the descriptive way he describes his setting I’m sure I could smell the damp, decaying farm house and feel the cold seeping into my bones. It’s the descriptions of Jane’s thoughts and feelings that chilled me to the bone, I I felt her pain, anger, and despair at the situation she found herself in. Jane is a slave, there’s no other word for the life she’s living, trapped in a foreign land with no family or friends, her so called ‘husband’ I use that term loosely! is holding her captive, he’s  unspeakably cruel and controls every aspect of jane’s life.  

This is one of those books I felt I had to take a break from as it’s so disturbing, and yet no sooner had I put it down I then found myself eager to return to Jane’s dismal story, hoping that there would be a positive outcome to her story, and was there? I couldn’t possibly say it’s for you the reader to find out! This book oozes with malice, Jane’s husband made my skin crawl, and even when he appeared to have a softer side my heart filled with dread at what lay ahead. 

This book is a relatively short read at 280 pages, but don’t think for one minute you are being shortchanged, it’s a book that will consume you, that will take you on a dark and emotive journey into the world of human trafficking and the hideous and heartbreaking torment of one victim. The Last Thing To Burn is a character-driven novel, so if you are looking for a fast-paced, all action read, then this book perhaps isn’t for you, it’s the tension that the author has woven through the narrative that makes this such a gripping and intense read. In case you haven’t guessed, I loved this book,  despite the very disturbing subject! It’s beautifully written, intense, dark and very disturbing, but it made for the most fabulous, gripping read.

#TheLastThingToBurn #NetGalley
A good read.
I loved this novel from starting to ending. Although it was slow in the middle. Its characters were meticulously planned and the execution of scenes were great.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder Straighten for giving me an advance copy.

I live Will's books. They are always dark but compulsive reading.

This is very different in that it deals with illegal trafficking of women and the despicable treatment they receive at the hands of the men that 'buy them.

A definite pageturner but hard to read at times. Having said that it shows women with strong wills battling against the odds.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me an advance copy

Lenn wants to keep his wife, Jane, trapped in their little farmhouse. Jane is not actually her name and she is trapped, scared and in pain. She can’t leave him for the fear of what will happen to her sister Kim-Ly. Jane is in her own personal Hell. Lenn watches Jane and punishing her for every little step out of line she takes but soon Jane plans her escape but will she be strong enough to go through with it?
Wow, this is an intense read. Reminiscent of Room and Dear Child, it’s gripping and painful. I urge you to read it!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of the most powerful books I've read and it will stay with me forever. I started reading 'The Last Thing to Burn' this morning and I've just finished it within hours. It's heartbreaking and at times, I felt physically sick. This isn't an enjoyable read, but it is a necessary one because although this is fiction, the topic is all too real. This is a story that starts off as one women's fight for survival but soon becomes a fight for so much more. Will Dean has the ability to make his characters feel incredibly real, frighteningly so at times. He is able to paint vivid pictures of their surroundings and dire situations, immersing you in a situation that is unimaginable for most. I will be left thinking on this for a very long time.

Where to begin? I haven’t read a book this devastating and claustrophobic since 'Room'. As much as I wanted to keep on reading there were times when I had to stop and put the book down. I was so affected by the narrative and Jane’s (not her real name) terrible plight. Will Dean captures her voice beautifully. A woman desperately trying to hang onto herself and her sense of worth whilst systematically stripped of her few possessions and her humanity. A woman forced to slave for a man who claims to be her husband, watched by cameras when he’s out. A woman physically, sexually and mentally abused. A woman whose life seemed incredibly real to me. But in this dark, dark place there is a spark of joy for ‘Jane’. I’m not going to say any more about it but it’s this spark that lights a beacon of hope and points a way forward.

I know Will Dean does a lot of research for all his books and aims to make them as accurate as possible. I’m sure he’s done the same here. As I’ve already said, this story was all too real for me. My hope is that people don’t just read this and wax lyrical about how wonderful it is (which it is) but will be spurred into action too. And that’s the whole point. This may be fiction but it’s a fact for so many people trapped in modern day slavery. 'The Last Thing to Burn' highlights this clearly and setting it in the Fens in the UK makes it our problem, something that can’t be ignored.

A truly outstanding novel.

Two young sisters from Vietnam are smugg;ed into England with the promise af a better life and well paid jobs to be able to send money back home to tjheir families .
They reach England -and then their nightmare begins.
The older sister who is renamed Jane -is sold to a farmer who keeps her in horrific circumstances .
It made for uncomfortable reading at times - but you couldn't stop turning the pages to see how it is all going to end
Fantastic Read .

Thankyou NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review

“My name isn’t Jane”

Jesus Christ on a bicycle! Now this is how fiction should be done!

The Last Thing to Burn isn’t a happy book, you aren’t going to look back at it with fond memories but it’s probably the best story I’ve read this year. No messing around, no silly plot points...again this is fiction how should be done! The storyline is horrific, scary and will leave your heart hanging out your butt! I think it’s made scarier because so many live like this. The horror of humans is scarier than any made up monsters.

5/5 - you need to read this! I’m off to find my next read by Will Dean!

Read in one sitting! Wow, i could not put this book down. Heartbreaking story of two sisters looking for a better life, trafficked into the UK and kept captive by debt bondage and the fear of repercussions for their family. Dao's story and the casual cruelty as well as some horrific events caused by her "husband" are kept just on the right side of unnecessary violence. Her first person view point lets us see everything through her eyes while letting us make our own conclusions about Lenn's callous and inhuman behaviour. When he does show some humanity for her, it actually makes it worse. I was rooting for her until the end. Fantastic book, will seek out Will Dean's other books

Ooof. What a book. The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean is one of the most terrifying, compelling and yet hopeful books I have ever read. I am a huge fan of Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson series of books which are set in Sweden and centre around a deaf journalist and couldn’t wait to see what his standalone novel would be like. The answer is; very different. This is a book which centres around a young woman named Thanh Dao who lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere with her husband Lenn. Except he doesn’t call her Thanh Dao, he calls her Jane, and that stark, flat landscape which surrounds the farm are the walls to her prison.

Thanh Dao is a Vietnamese woman who illegally travelled to the UK with her sister a number of years earlier. Somewhere along the way she and her sister have become separated and Thanh Dao is now trapped on a farm with, quite possibly, one of the most horrific people I have ever read about in a work of fiction. Lenn rules with fear. There is CCTV in the house which he watches every evening to make sure she doesn’t try and escape, he has rules around what they eat; white bread, frozen fish and ham mainly, and he controls any pain medication she may need with a quietly terrifying control. If she breaks one of his myriad of rules he burns one of her possessions. Or worse.

Her possessions are the only connection she has to home and to her family. He has stripped her of everything, including her name and controls every aspect of her life. He dangles the threat of her sister being deported over her, making sure that she will stay in his dilapidated farm house cooking for him, cleaning for him and servicing him whenever he wants.

Whilst this is very different to the Tuva Moodyson books, it has one thing in common; a close, oppressive setting. The book takes place solely in the farmhouse and just as Thanh Dao feels imprisoned so did I. I could smell the mould creeping up the walls of the bathroom, feel the heat from the furnace used to heat the house and felt utterly trapped by the circumstances Thanh Dao found herself in.

I read most of the book with my heart in my mouth and tore through the last 50 pages so quickly that I had to go back and re-read them. It is perfectly paced with an overarching sense of mounting terror seeping from the pages. It made me angry and terrified for the women like Thanh Dao who are lost somewhere in terrible circumstances.

Yes, this is a dark read but I ended it feeling hopeful and that is because Thanh Dao is written with such power that I was cheering her on. She is a brave and fearless woman whose mental strength allows her to survive the atrocities she faces at the hands of Lenn. It is an exceptional read from an exceptional writer. Highly recommended.

The Last Thing to Burn is a horrifyingly scintillating standalone thriller and is at once a stark, brutal tale of human trafficking, hopelessness and good versus evil, and love, family, the burning embers of hope and the unbounded resilience of the human spirit. Vietnamese sisters Thanh Dao and Kim-Ly are both in eighteen thousand pounds worth of debt, the price charged for ruthless human traffickers to sneak them into the UK in a shipping container for a chance at a better life. Kim-Ly is employed at a nail bar in the heart of Manchester and only has just over two years to go until she's free of said debt but Thanh, or Jane as she is called by her captor, after his deceased wife, hasn't been so lucky. To pay off her debt of passage she's been sold to an old farmer named Lenn and is told that her sister will be shipped back to Vietnam with the full costs to pay if she attempts to escape Lenn’s property. Desperate to evade her captor’s clutches the only thing that has kept her with Lenn close to a decade is the love she has for her sister. He assumes her as his wife but the disgusting treatment she receives at his hands doesn't resemble any sort of love I know; she's forced to slave away day in day out cooking, cleaning and tending to his every whim. But now Thanh realises she's pregnant, turning circumstances on their head and she knows she must also consider the baby alongside herself and Kim-Ly.

Deeming it worth the risk, Thanh formulates a plan to escape her daily hell and on a brisk October day takes her chance. Leaving with a mere five-pound note in her pocket she hobbles as quick as is possible with a painful, swollen ankle away from the isolated East Anglian Fenland farm. However, she's caught and taken back to the nightmare after a brief glimpse of freedom and for each infraction of his strict rulebook he burns one of her precious belongings on his Rayburn stove. But then another woman is brought into the fold on the farm. Can Thanh save herself, her child, and this innocent woman at the same time? Or is she doomed to spend the remainder of her life captive on this farm? This is a riveting, heartbreaking and powerful thriller with so much originality and brutally honest yet exquisite writing that I was invested and immersed in the story from the opening page. It's one of the most intensely claustrophobic thrillers that I've ever read and the fact that we know these situations very much exist and are reality for those often seeking nothing more than a better hand in life made it all the more palpitation-inducing. My adrenaline was pumping and the more I read the more I longed to see the women free of their chains. A sinister, chilling and ultimately terrifying tale; I am in no doubt I will remember this unforgettable novel even a decade down the line. A harrowing, yet hopeful and emotionally resonant tour de force I urge crime connoisseurs to jump on. Highly recommended.

Thrilling, dark, compelling and tense. Will Dean has created a compulsive, rollercoaster of a novel. This book will keep you up at night. Perfect for a screenplay 5 *****

Jane is trapped living with a man she hates but he won't let her leave. If she escapes he always finds her and takes away another of her meagre possessions. Then she finds out she's pregnant and now she has an even bigger reason to escape but can she?

Wow what a thrill ride this was. By the end I was totally gripped, terrified of every word and hoping for a happy ending. The plot starts slowly but builds to a fast pace by the end. The story is well written and so gripping. The bleakness of the landscape is conveyed so well through the text. Jane is an interesting character and her strength is incredible. I loved the twists in the plot. A brilliant thriller.

Jane is an unwilling participant in her marriage. She is a captive. She stays only to keep someone else safe, although her husband has made it impossible to escape his clutches. Hope seems to be a thing of the past until something changes her determination to break free of the chains that bind her so tightly.

Dean certainly is full of surprises, which isn’t a bad thing when it comes to writing or creating captivating stories. Just when you think you have the measure of the flair, spectrum and ability, and then he goes and writes a complete curveball. A brilliantly engaging, intense and incredibly important one.

Aside from the immaculate plotting and on point characters there is another element of the story that absolutely deserves a kudos. The way Dean was able to immerse himself into the world of coercive, mental, physical abuse and the psychological abuse that goes hand-in-hand with trafficking and modern day slavery. You’ll often hear or read cries of indignation ‘why didn’t he/she leave or ask for help, which of course is one of the many reasons abusive relationships are incomprehensible to someone who hasn’t experienced them – the inability to comprehend the dynamics of control, power and abuse.

Whilst it is absolutely true that the young, vulnerable and inexperienced are statistically more likely to become victims, abuse does not halt before the intelligent, educated mind or person. It is far more complex than that. Anyway I digress.

My point is that Dean writes this with such an in-depth perception it made me wonder about the ability of certain storytellers to write beyond the construct and patriarchal dogma or bias of their gender, which is important depending on the topic and the gender of their characters. This story would have been ruined by tropes, instead it is a hard-hitting piece of fiction set in realism.

It is also written in an almost minimalistic style and mindset, which captures the isolation of the main character and the surroundings. An element I found extremely intriguing given where the story takes place. It serves as a stark reminder as to how disconnected the majority of us are from each other. Easier to look away and ignore the obvious signs than to become involved and help.

Above all Dean shines a spotlight on one of the most prevalent crimes of our modern era, although one could argue that slavery and human trafficking has merely evolved with the times and the demand. Unfortunately it’s a very profitable, albeit completely despicable business and crime.

This is a cracking read. Oh and kudos to the author for the name and identity part of the story, especially in relation to Mary. Subtle, and yet simultaneously gut-wrenching and visceral.

Gosh.

This is a scorching, claustrophobic and intense thriller that you'll want to read from behind the sofa, if that makes sense. Its protagonist, a woman everyone calls "Jane" ('My name isn't Jane') is in a desperate situation, robbed of her identify, her family and (almost) all agency yet possessing a steely determination to survive - for her own sake, for her parents' and above all for her sister, who will suffer if Jane ('My name isn't Jane') despairs and finds a way to die.

Thanh Dao - her real name - is from Vietnam. She and her sister were trafficked to the UK in a shipping container with 17 others (16 survived). While her sister works off the cost of her passage in a Manchester nail bar, Thanh Dao has been sold on to a brutish farmer called Lenn. They live alone in his ramshackle cottage on a great flat expanse of land which Len works. Thanh Dao cooks and cleans, obeying all Lenn's wishes - what to cook on what day, exactly how brown a sausage should be fried, how to meet his needs in the bedroom. When Lenn is displeased, even over minor things, Thanh Dao is punished - one by one, her remaining possessions are burned (she has few things left, a handful of things - everything else in the book is Lenn's (his food, his bed, his willow logs in his Rayburn stove, his keys, his house, his land) or his (dead) mother's (the clothes Thanh Dao wears, the cloths she uses because he won't provide her with tampons). She's under perpetual threat that if she runs away or even if she kills herself, her sister Kim-Ly will suffer for it.

It is a cold, violent and suffocating life, the wide horizons and open fields a cruel lie as Thanh Dao, often in pain, lives from day to day, sustaining herself by reading her sister's letters and an old dog-eared copy of Of Mice and Men. Her suffering is so intense, so unrelieved that at times this book is almost painful to read. That's even before factoring in the reader's foresight - which Thanh Dao shares - that worse is in store. She's never allowed to leave the farm, not to visit the shops, to see a doctor or to chat with a neighbour. Len has cameras around the house and reviews 'the tapes' every night (chatting about the state of the farm) before punishing any failings (Was Lenn's pie a little cold? Has Thanh Dao neglected to paint over the mould spores in his bathroom?) and unlocking his TV to watch Match of the Day or the snooker. Doors are never to be closed in his house - if Thanh Dao goes to use his bathroom at the back, she must leave the door open. On that flat farm, as Len often points out, he can see the house from anywhere. Thanh Dao can't walk out - he's seen to that - she can't call for help and, as I have said, she can't even die.

I honestly don't know when I read anything as dark as this. Often, I didn't want to know what happened next, how bad things could get. At the same time, I had to know, I had to be there with Thanh Dao as she sustains herself with memories of home, her parents, joyful meals (she offers to make Lenn proper home cooked meals, to grow vegetables, herbs and spices - but he just wants what his mother gave him: build in the bag cod, and white bread, from the Spar shop, sausages cooked right, pies). I had to be there as Thanh Dao keeps her courage, carrying out tiny acts of defiance. I had to be there as, driven to ever greater lengths of desperation - things happen that raise the stakes yet higher - Thanh Dao somehow holds onto her sense of self.

The lines are starkly drawn; Lenn is a brute and an oaf, but a clever brute and an oaf. We know early on some of what he's done, and that's bad enough, but there are hints of worse throughout the book and even late in the story, more revelations of just how bad he is. At times, Thanh Dao is surprised by what one might see as small kindnesses. At times, Lenn complacently boasts that 'It's all right, ain't it, this life... We're warm, under decent roof, full bellies, together, not all bad, is it?' Does he believe this - even as he knowingly inflicts pain? Is he parroting something he's been brought up with? Somewhere in that bleak landscape, that house of horror, there's an answer, a reason, for Lenn and the reader understand that: but he's such a monster that one draws back, at the end, from wanting to understand that darkest of mysteries.

Certainly, Thanh Dao isn't taken in by a man whose answer to her toothache is to fetch his pliers from the shed. She is a woman at full stretch, a woman whose energy, focus and resources are completely committed to one cause - survival - with nothing left over. Or so she thinks - as things get worse and worse, Thanh Dao does find space in her heart for more, in glorious scenes (From nothing more than two women willing it to happen: two women, strangers, friends, forcing their own warmth together to make a family of sorts out there')' that just had me gobsmacked at Dean's writing, his vision and his empathy.

Yes this is a dark book but it's also often uplifting, a study of courage and endurance and even love. I knew that Will Dean could write - his Tuva Moodyson crime novels are glorious - but The Last Thing to Burn is just revelatory. You want this book, you really do.

I was hooked, just wanted to find out if she made it. Sad and disturbing, gives you something to think about. Difficult to read at times due to the nature of the plot. Human trafficking, kidnapping, abuse.
She is Jane but not Jane. He is Lenn, her husband, but not really. She can't leave. Shes trapped. Her every move watched. Recorded. Until she has something to fight for.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Phenomenal! Suspenseful doesn't even begin to describe the feelings this novel evokes.

Jane lives an isolated life; she is subjected to the whims and demands of a man who calls himself her husband - but he isn't. She interacts with no-one - he sees to that. She has lost everything, including her own name, and although she dreams of escape he has a hold over her so immense that she cannot contemplate going through with it. He has cameras watching her for every hour that he's not there. Then something happens which changes things . . .

I was first aware of Will Dean when I saw his posts on Twitter; he has the most magnificent dog and anyone who knows me will realise that it was Bernie who grabbed my attention. When I saw that he had a new novel on it's way, of course I requested it. Had I known his writing is of this calibre, I would have rushed out and bought them all before now! This is one of those rare novels that you begin reading, a little unsure of what it's all about and, truth be told, not too sure you're going to like it. Then, before you know it, you are completely invested and whilst you want to rush through it as fast as you can, you force to read and digest every single word thoroughly in fear of missing something vital. An absolutely awesome read, and one I wish I could read all over again without knowing where it was heading. A stunning novel, so cleverly written, and one which sets the benchmark for the coming year. No less than a full house of stars and the highest recommendation will do for this book; if you haven't read anything by this author then I strongly suggest that you add this one to your list - pronto!

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

A woman’s pretend husband Lenn calls her Jane (her real name is Thanh Dao) is kept captive on a farm, he watches everything she does on his cameras and she is punished if she does anything wrong.

Thanh Dao and her sister Kym-Lyn thought they were travelling from Vietnam to a better life, where they would find employment and be able to send money to their struggling families.

Jane is determined to escape this horrendous life she has found herself in and to find her sister.

At times this is a harrowing and powerful story depicting abuse, but it has been written in a sensitive way, where you can’t help but back Jane and will her to escape.

This story will stay with me long after reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Such was my keenness to read Will Dean’s stand-alone, I came to this book without even reading the blurb – which, as it turns out, was the perfect way to approach it, so I have omitted the publisher’s blurb and I’m going to work hard not to give too much away.

This is the story of a woman whom we will not call Jane. She is a woman in the most awful circumstances and the story Will Dean tells is told entirely in her voice. It is a story that I did not want to hear, but could not draw back from and is more compelling for that. It is certainly a story that sadly carries far more resonance that we should be comfortable with in our ‘free’ society.

From the start Dean’s writing grasps your attention. This woman’s voice is stark and compelling; her situation is heart-breaking and her spirit, though diminished, still manages to keep her going, spurred on by thoughts of others. She is at once fragile and yet determined.

The sense of place – an open, desolate countryside – adds to a story of isolation and disconnection and contrasts perfectly with the stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere indoors. Chilling, with a tension so taut you can almost touch it; there are strange moments in this story where you feel a connection between the two main characters and want to turn away from what that might mean.

Reading it is an intense experience, both emotional and utterly captivating. Though the woman’s voice and experience is what engages and fixes the attention, this is not a book about one woman, it is about two people and one of the real achievements of this book is that the other person comes across as a fully formed character, the language and actions telling you all you need to know about his upbringing attitudes and life experience.

Writing like this is special. It is spare and yet it conveys so much. The story is a simple one, yet the layers are there to be peeled back. You think there can be no surprises, but you’d be wrong. Though this is a dark, bleak book it ultimately turns out to be the most inspiring of stories – one that shows us how even in the depth of misery, the human spirit can prevail.

Verdict: This book is a triumph. Beautifully written with depth, power and an intense, emotional engagement it sears through you, engaging, captivating and holding you in its thrall until you can’t look away. I don’t think I have ever wanted a character to succeed more. In these Co-vid days it makes the need for human warmth so poignant and to stand out as the most important thing you will ever need. Buy this book. I have.

This book is not the type you go around recommending to everyone, though I wish I could as it’s a very insightful read. You follow the story of a young woman who has ended up being separated from her sister after they come to the UK via illegal means. The people in charge of their human traffic ring play a big part in this story. I really can’t tell you an awful lot more about this without spoiling the plot. Just know that the women in this book are strong fighters who you want to win at every turn. Meanwhile the main male character we see makes you sick to your stomach. This is an incredibly difficult book to read. At times it turned my stomach, made me bite my fingers to bits (not just my nails), and honestly just made me incredibly tense. We have horrific descriptions of awful injuries and how they happen, other physical abuse, sexual abuse and difficult scenes of suffering of both adults and a baby. I can’t remember ever reading anything that I struggled to read to this extent. I have a strong stomach, but even I considered putting this book down permanently. I couldn’t though, as I was just so gripped and needed to be there to support our main character.

If you can handle this book, you absolutely must read it!

Wow just wow. Devoured in 2 sittings this is a gripping book where you find yourself not wanting to out it down to see what happens. A tragic story of someone who has been trafficked and finds herself captive, living with someone as a ‘wife’. There is no escape for the girl who learns all about a different culture from her native country in the worst of circumstances.

Extremely well written and will stay with me for a long time

Wow, what a book! This is a very dark and harrowing read about human trafficking, which illustrates the strength of the human spirit and its ability to survive in the most dire of circumstances.

Thanh lives with Lenn on a remote farm in the Fens, after Thanh and her sister were trafficked from Vietnam with the lure of a better life. Lenn is a monster, abusive and cruel who gradually takes everything from Thanh, including her dignity, her name and her very few possessions. And yet Thanh keeps going rather than jeopardise anything for her sister, Kim-Ly, who she believes is living and working in Manchester.

Although I could not put it down this book is very hard to read at times. It is very well written and with Thanh’s first person viewpoint I felt completely immersed in her horrific world.

This was my first Will Dean book, but will definitely not be my last. It’s one of the best books I’ve read for a while and I'm sure it will be much talked about in 2021. It gets a big fat five stars from me!

OMG this is a real page turner, turn off the phone, prepare for a late night read. I was hooked from the first chapter and really couldn’t put this book down. I just had to find out what would happen to ‘Jane’ the kidnapped Vietnamese girl and the despicable Lenn. I feel weird saying I loved this book but it was more about how engaging the narrative was and how brilliantly portrayed the characters were. Just read it

This was a first for me from this author and it won’t be my last. A really well written storyline that had me hooked from the start and gripping my iPad tightly right through to the end. One of those stories that had you routing for some characters and hoping a great dose of karma comes and slaps others in their face. I won’t write about the storyline as I believe this is what the blurb is for but I will say “just wow” bloody great read and one of my rare five star reviews saved for exceptional books, and this was certainly worthy of its 5 stars.

The Last To Burn is a powerful, tense and gripping read that will be staying with me for a long time.

Firstly this isn’t an easy read due to its subject matter and I often found myself having to stop for little breaks as I was finding it very intense As in his previous books the author has a great way of describing the setting so the reader is able to see it in their mind. I really felt that I could picture the bleak, rugged countryside and I was therefore able to understand more how isolated Jane’s situation was.

Jane was a fantastic main character who I warmed to quickly and felt a lot of sympathy for, especially as the reader becomes aware of the terrifying situation she is in. She’s an incredibly strong determined lady and I was continuously amazed by her strength. The story is told from her point of view and I found it very interesting to learn more about her coping strategies. Lenn, on the other hand, was one of the most awful characters I’ve read about. He was an absolutely terrifying man who seemed to use every method available to control and bully Jane. He made my skin crawl with his behaviour and I wished I could go into the book to help in some way.

This book gripped me from the start and I found myself thoroughly absorbed by all that was going on. It was truly a nerve shredding read and I was constantly on edge wondering what would happen next. I think the reason the book is so hard hitting is that it seems so realistic, like this situation could actually happen maybe is happening somewhere at the moment (I really hope not). I felt very nervous for Jane and had to keep reading to find out if she escapes. I’ll be recommending this book to everyone and I look forward to reading more from this author!

Huge thanks to Jenny Platt for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder and Staughton, and Will Dean for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was my first book of 2021 and what a book to start the year with. I have a feeling this will be VERY popular.

This was a fantastic read, I read it in one sitting. It’s dark, gripping and scary. It had me on the edge of my seat. This is ideal for anyone who enjoys reading thrillers.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

On an isolated farm in the UK, a woman is trapped by the monster who kidnapped her seven years ago. When she discovers she is pregnant, she resolves to protect her child no matter the cost, she must meticulously plan her escape. But when another woman is brought into the fold on the farm, her plans go awry. Can she save herself, her child and the innocent woman at the same time? Or is she doomed to spend the remainder of her life captive on the farm?

Jane liveson an isolated farm with her husband Leonard. But Jane isn't her real name and Leonard isn't her husband. What a gripping, thrilling snd chilling resd this is. At times it can be brutal though. Jane had arrived in the country from Vietnam with her sister. They had paid a lot of money to get here only for Jane to be taken captive. The story is told from Jane's perspective. Lenn treats Jane like a slave and he's extremely abusive towards her. The tension builds throughout until the 70% mark where it almost becomes explosive. This is a fantasic read but it's not for the faint hearted.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #Hodder&Stoughton and the author #WillDean for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review I found this book very disturbing and very hard to read, I didn’t know what it was about before I started reading but then found the storyline very compelling. I know very little about refugees other than books that I have read about how hard their lives become. The story is about two sisters who come to Britain from Vietnam and whilst their parents have paid huge sums to the traffickers they are placed in a container when they are moved to Britain. One sister is kept at the farmhouse and whenever she transgresses and Lenn, her captor, doesn’t agree he takes something of hers and burns it in the wood burning stove.
He also imprisons a neighbour, Cynthia in the cellar and keeps her prisoner. Her sister is discovered when the women make their escape with Huong, her baby and Kim-Ly escapes with them. They all later testify against the people smugglers and remain in the village as people with a home and an identity.
A very memorable story.

Oh my Lord, what an absolute corker this book is. I've never read anything by Will Dean before. What was I thinking!! This story is so, so powerful, raw and uplifting all at the same time. Jane lives in an isolated cottage with her husband, Lenn. Except Jane isn't her real name, and Lenn isn't her husband. The truth is that Jane was trafficked into the UK seven years earlier with her sister, full of hope and the promise of a new and better life. Things could not have been further from that for either of them. To think this actually happens in real life makes this book all the more important and necessary to read, and in my opinion, it's the best book I've read in 2020.

I love Will Dean – I love his lovely, soft flowing beard, his stunning photos of life in Sweden, his gorgeous dog, his lumberjack shirts and having met him a few times, I can confirm he’s a nice, polite, unassuming gentleman but having just finished The Last Thing To Burn I am seriously worried about what goes on in his mind, under the silky, soft head of hair – because this book is DARK… so dark you will need to read it wearing a miners helmet with an extra bright torch.

I have read and loved Will’s series Dark Pines featuring the wonderful Tuva Moodyson which are all set in an isolated town in Sweden and when I heard he had written a standalone thriller I was intrigued.

The Last Thing to Burn is simply OUTSTANDING and in my humble opinion one of the best books I’ve read this year. Set in an isolated farm somewhere in the UK, the story is about Jane who lives with her husband Lenn – except Jane is really Thanh Dao, a Vietnamese women who travelled to the UK with her sister and has spent the past 7 years as Lenn’s prisoner, beated, raped and humilated every single day.

This is such a powerful and disturbing story about human trafficking, that it was difficult to read at times and often I had to put the book down and think “fluffy” thoughts.

Will Dean brings Jane to life in such a way that the reader feels her pain and despair at her situation, when she speaks about her younger sister, the love and hope is so real that it actually hurts and her inner strength and determination is inspirational.

This is a book which makes your skin crawl, your heart beat faster and your blood boil, but the underlying feelings of hope and survival make The Last Thing To Burn utterly compelling and the work of a literary genius.

A work of fiction that you just know is based on reality. I really found this a hard book to read as the story reflects so many aspects of what I believe about modern slavery. When I started the book, I had no idea how engrossed that I was going to get and so, in one sitting, I read through half the book before having to give up for the night. This gave me a real problem as I was so angry about what was going on that it took me almost 2 weeks before I could face the second half of the story. Would have been much better for me if I could have read it cover to cover in one go.

Fiction it may be but do not lump it in with all of the other fiction as I believe that this story is very close to reality. I would like to persuade everyone to read this book to give themselves an idea of what supposedly sensible and rational people can physically and mentally do to other people for personal benefit and gain and then think on the fact there are, in fact, far worse examples out there.

This was the first book I have read by Will Dean but it certainly won’t be the last. It kept me hooked from start to finish and I couldn’t put it down. Very chilling storyline which was sometimes hard to read but was absolutely fantastic

Jane has been held captive by her husband Lenn for the last 7 years in his isolated Fenland farmhouse, but Jane is not her name and he is not her husband. Nine years earlier, Thanh Dao and her younger sister Kym-Ly were transported to the UK by people traffickers with the promise of a better life and money to send home to Vietnam, instead she was sold to Lenn and her sister went somewhere else and all 'Jane' has left of her previous life are 4 possessions; her ID card showing her real name, a photo of her family, a book and letters from her sister, her every move is tracked by Lenn because there are cameras everywhere and each time she does something wrong he punishes her. The story begins by him bringing her back to the house after she's tried to escape, with one badly damaged foot she knew it was going to be futile, but then something happens which bring fresh hope for Jane and even more reason to get away from this evil man, so she bides her time and waits...

This is such a harrowing tale of people trafficking and slavery, but Will Dean depicts it with sensitivity and care. It outlines how easily a person, that is so desperate to make a better life for themselves and their family, can be taken in by the lies of others and end up being abused like Jane, and this actually happens in real life! Even though it's a heartbreaking read, it's full of hope for the future and it shows one woman's determination to regain her life and see her family again, however hard it may be and however long it may take, she knows she has to do it. When I read the first few pages I wasn't sure I would like it, but I quickly became hooked in Jane's plight and could not put the book down, devouring it in less than 24 hours. It's an extremely powerful read that will stay with me for a long time to come. It's the first I've read by this author and I'm looking forward to reading more.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

Wow ... that was one heck of a powerful read and one where the characters will stay with me for some time.

Jane - named so by her "husband" Lennie - was trafficked from her native Vietnam with her younger sister, she is kept captive on an isolated farm in what can only be described as squalid and run down conditions. She is watched every minute of every day, she is not allowed to speak to anyone, she is not allowed to go anywhere - her day is regimented from start to finish and for each perceived transgression, the treasured possessions she has are slowly burned in front of her eyes.

This is a harrowing story of a desperate life of servitude and abuse; the scary thing is that it is happening to thousands of men, women and children the world over which makes it even more upsetting. However, it is also a story of hope and the desperate will and strength to survive and fight back when things appear to be hopeless.

The whole book is written from "Jane's" perspective and she is an enthralling narrator. The setting is just perfect and described scarily accurately - my job takes me into isolated farmhouses that are pretty bleak and dilapidated and this made the story even more real for me.

This is not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination but despite that, I found it very hard to put down. I was drawn into the story hook, line and sinker; it grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go until the very last page ... it lingers still in the back of my mind and there are very few books that do this.

Highly recommended.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for my advance copy in return for an unbiased and unedited review.

Wow

What can I say?

I could not put this book down, an uncomfortable read in parts but a gripping edge of the seat read.
A simple book, disturbing in parts, brilliantly written.

I don’t want to give anything away but trust me, you just need to read it.

Oof! What can be said about Will Dean’s The Last Thing to Burn? It throws up a lot of uncomfortable and difficult subjects that are painful to read but it’s also so completely engaging that I finished it all in one sitting.

Thanh Dao is a woman trafficked to England in hope of a better life and instead is sold as a wife to a man on an isolated farm who destroys her possessions one by one if she defies him. The menacing undertones of the book makes for a sinister read and we are fully committed into Thanh’s journey. The book is so well paced that we are constantly finding out new information, whether it be the reason why Thanh’s ankle is so damaged or Lenn’s obsession with his mother, there is a lot of depth in the plot which is drip fed to us to keep us on our toes.

Although written by a male author, the female topics of periods, sex, giving birth and motherhood are really carefully drawn and evoke feeling throughout. All of the characters feel so well defined, even the awful Lenn. I liked Thanh’s defiant thoughts that stay with her even when she is unable to vocalise them, the most common being ‘Jane is not my name’. It’s one of those books that certainly needs a trigger warning and I understand will not be for everyone but if you can stomach it, it’s an important and heart-breaking story.

Overall, The Last Thing to Burn is a powerful and disturbing story that stays with you long after you put it down. Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dark, disturbing, completely absorbing. I could not put The Last Thing to Burn down and stayed awake reading late into the night on more than one occasion. I could not let the story go, or rather, the story wouldn't let me go! It seems deceptively simple but is compelling as hell.

An illegal Vietnamese woman is held captive by Lenn, a farmer on the Fenlands of England. He calls her Jane, that is not her name, he gives her the freedom to do housework, cook and go outdoors, but she doesn't escape though she longs to. What keeps her and how can this story create such an iron hold on readers?!? I'm not going to spoil this ingenious story by delving any further into the plot points. But, will simply say this book may very well be top of my pandemic reading list for 2020. I have not been so deeply involved in a story, and completely distracted from the global troubles, as when I was reading this novel. Will Dean, bless you and I beg you to start writing another novel straight away.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Last Thing to Burn’ by Will Dean in exchange for an honest review.

There has been a great deal of buzz around Will Dean’s standalone thriller due to be published on 7 January 2021. This was my first experience of Dean’s writing, though I have been meaning for some time to read his work as I have heard good things about the Tuva Moodyson series.

I won’t say too much about the plot as I feel thrillers are best read ‘cold’ for maximum impact. Its narrator is Thanh Dao, a young Vietnamese woman, who came to Britain with her sister Kim Ly with the promise of work. However, in actuality they were trafficked. Thanh Dao was sold to Lenn, a Fenland farmer.

She is basically his slave and he controls every aspect of her life, including recording her while he is working in the fields in order to review her activities. He refers to her as ‘Jane’ and uses the threat of exposing her sister, who is working elsewhere, to keep her compliant. Then one day, something changes....

There is no doubt that this novel is dark and uncompromising. I felt that Dean skilfully captured the bleak atmosphere of the Fens as well as Thanh Dao’s voice, which was raw and compelling.

This novel proved impossible to put down. So much so that I continued reading in bed and into the wee hours of the morning in order to finish as I had to know what happens. This is very rare for me.

While this is not a comfortable read, it does celebrate the resilience of the human spirit alongside highlighting a great evil that is continuing throughout the world. Following the story, Dean provides details of organisations seeking to assist the victims of human trafficking.

Overall, I felt that its subject matter, combined with Dean’s evocative writing, elevates this novel beyond the thriller genre. This is not to disparage genre fiction, which I respect, but often thrillers are about the thrills and avoids social issues.

Highly recommended and well deserving of its pre-publication anticipation.

A deeply disturbing tale of the forced labour of an illegal immigrant by a heartless farmer involved with people trafficking. The sheer cruelty of the man is graphically described as the tale builds excruciatingly slowly until the girl has a child and a neighbour seeking help is dragged literally into the action. Their eventual painful escape is interrupted by the discovery of the girl’s sister also held in another part of the farm and the necessity to return to the farmhouse leads to the shock denouement. A difficult read at times but ultimately a worthwhile story of events that unfortunately still go on around us.

EASY FIVE STARS!
Read in a day, and what an anxiety-ridden mind-blowing day that was!
I absolutely loved the protagonist, worrying for her, aching for her, and wincing for her poor injured foot.
Absolutely stunning read, and I will be recommending it till the pigs come home!

Outstanding! If I could give this book a standing ovation then that's what I would be doing right now!

I was utterly utterly captivated throughout this whole story and have never wanted to shout at characters in a book quite so much in my life!

This simple tale essentially contained within three small rooms absolutely consumed my thoughts - I worried about 'Jane' when I wasn't reading. (I'm pretty sure I felt slight anxiety for the days when I had this book on the go, so be warned!)

I don't want to spoil the story for anyone so won't say much more, other than that if you have a book lover in your life, as others have said - fans of Misery and Room - will LOVE this book.

Well, I say LOVE, but also they'll hate it so bear that in mind... Can't recommend it enough, brilliant!

An easy but hard book to read
Easy as the writing is so good and the story once grabbed you in the first chapter wont let you go until the last sentence
Hard because of the subject and what happens/ is happening
‘Jane’ arrived from Vietnam some years ago with her Sister via the back of a lorry and after an initial year or so on a farm with many others Jane is ‘married’ and her Sister is set to work elsewhere to ‘pay off her passage’
To all intent and purposes Jane is a prisoner with ‘husband’ Len her captor on a god forsaken farm in the Fens, her every moment and movement is controlled and he exerts his evil command of her in every abusive way possible, Len is evil, repugnant and base and you will hate him from the first minute, ‘Jane’ has a constant battle against escape, although tries, as she is threatened that her Sister will never be free if she does ( amongst other nasty threats)
And then the worst thing happens, Jane falls pregnant, she is bereft, with the added horror of another person arriving to ‘live’ at the house she thinks things cannot get any worse or more horrifying, they do and then..well then things start to shift
Appalling, terrifying and unnerving yet brilliantly written you will be unable to leave this as a casual read and NEED to finish it to see what happens
And just to confirm, you will hate Len with a passion
Superb

10/10
5 Stars

I am a big fan of Will Dean and his Tuva Moodyson series, so I was delighted to receive an ARC of The Last Thing to Burn.
This novel is a brutal and harrowing account of people trafficking and the people who fall victim to the lies of well presented and plausible criminals.
It's the story of "Jane" and her "husband" Lenn living in a ramshackle farmhouse in The Fens. "Jane" is not her real name, her real name is Thanh Dao and Lenn is not her real "husband" he is her captor and abuser.
Thanh Dao is not allowed to use her real name and is expected to act in all ways like a wife without any of the benefits. She is controlled by Lenn's knowledge of her sister's whereabouts and the threat of deportation. Lenn allows Thanh Dao letters from her sister Kim-Ly and she draws strength from these and they are one of her prized possessions. Thanh Dao has tried to escape and her punishment was a Misery like attack on one of her ankles, leaving her ankle like a pulsating mess of spongy bone and tissue.
Despite Lenn's best efforts Thanh Dao becomes pregnant and it is then that she realises she has no choice but to escape. After what Lenn deems to be deliberate attempts to disobey him he burns one of Thanh Dao's prized possessions e.g a photo of her family or her beloved copy of Mice and Men.
The setting of the book in The Fens is part of the scene setting. The descriptions of The Fens as dark and dismal and unrelenting flat help us understand why escape is so difficult.
This is not an easy novel to read, the unremitting violence inflicted on Thanh Dao, the awfulness of their living conditions, the expectation that everything would be done exactly as Leonard's mother had, cause a sense of hopelessness in the reader which I presume is Will Dean's intention. As the reader I cheered Thanh Dao's small victories and cringed at her failures. The tension the author creates is palpable and at times I had a dry mouth while reading. This book draws you in so quickly I literally could not put it down.
This dark and tense novel is perfectly pitched and will not disappoint. Will Dean is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.
Thanks to #Netgalley and #Hodder&Stoughton for the ARC in return for an honest review

Jane and her husband Leonard live on a farm. While he works in the fields and tends to the pigs, she cooks his meals and cleans the house.
Except Jane's name is not Jane. Her name is Thanh Dao, and Leonard has been holding her captive for years. She can't escape because he broke her ankle, but soon she will have a reason to try again...

Wow! What have I just read?
This was a fast-paced, utterly gripping read that kept me on tenterhooks from the first page to the last.
It might not be an easy read, the story was dark and disturbing, addressing the very important topic of human trafficking, but it was unputdownable.
This was my first book from this author, but it definitely won't be my last, and it receives a place among my favourite books of this year.
I highly recommend it.

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean

This book is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
It had me hooked from the first page to the last.

Lenn is vile and genuinely terrifying. He is so real and utterly believable, and that is what makes him the scariest villian in modern literature.

There are a few very good twists and turns in this novel, but they're not why you keep reading. You live this story with Jane (Thanh) and route for her on every page.

I loved the subtle nods to British culture (artic roll etc) and for me it made the novel even more believable. The references to Of Mice and Men were a lovely touch too.

Cynth was a real game changer of a character in more ways than one. I hate spoilers in reviews so I'll avoid that, but when I think back to all the really tense moments she's there, and that makes her really character special.

There were moments when I genuinely found this difficult to read, due to the graphic nature, but that is a testimony to the brilliance of Will Dean's writing.

This novel has been compared to Misery and Room - I think it's better than both and I loved those novels.

The Last Thing To Burn is a modern classic, it takes a brave writer to tackle human trafficking and Will Dean has done it brilliantly.

I've already picked up a few of his other books and I will be eagerly awaiting his future works too - read this novel, you won't regret it.

Huge thank you to Netgally and Simon & Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic book!

This book absolutely deserves 5 stars. A very tense and at times disturbing read, the plot keeps you hooked. The characters are fascinating and the dialogue used is perfect. With very few characters in the book it is still totally enthralling.

The book gives off an unsettling tone right from the outset but draws you in and compels you to continue. It has very few characters but as you get into the story you realise just what an awful position one of the main ones is in.
Thanh Dao and her sister had arrived in the UK from Vietnam seven years ago previously and Thanh Dao has been sold to a farmer, Lenn, who lives in a remote farm in the fens. She is treated appallingly by the farmer who does not even allow her to use her own name as he insists on calling her 'Jane'. He records her every move, has strict routines that she has to keep to and any deviation from these rules results in the confiscation of one of the meagre amount of personal possessions she owns.
It is a very intense story of a woman’s strength and determination to survive even though she seems thwarted at every turn, and had me rooting for and wiling her on at every set back. It is also shows how meaningful possessions can be and easily they can be used against the very person they bring hope and joy to.
It is no secret that my favourite writer is Robert Bryndza having read every book he has ever published, but after reading the dark, intense, gripping read that is ‘The Last Thing To Burn’ I think I have found another writer to add to my list of guaranteed reads.

Astonishingly good. I had trouble sticking with the last Will Dean I tried to read (Dark Pines), but this one hooked me from the first paragraph. I have been recommending it to absolutely every reader I know. One of the things I found most impressive about it was the characterisation of Lenn, the monster in this fairytale – while the aggressor in similar novels is often more of a shadow figure than a person, Lenn felt authentically realised, the kind of dangerous person who exists and has existed forever. Of course, so did the protagonist; a truly believable and sympathetic lead, whose reasons for not simply running into the fields feel sickeningly real, leaving you as trapped in the reality of her life as she is.

Great book!

This was an intense thought provoking book as it introduces a personal side to the horrors of people trafficking.It was a gripping read from the first page, dark in its raw emotions and intensity and the descriptive details are so real that it is frightening to imagine that this could happen. I laid in bed until the early hours of the morning as I had to finish and find out how the story ended.
Will Dean is a superb writer and he wrapped the story up in apleasing closure.

This book is amazing - one of the best I have read this year. Claustrophobic and tense with an unexpected twist - a total page-turner. Also one of the best portrayal of a female point of view from a male writer I've ever read. Impressive on so many levels.

I don't even know where to begin. This is not a warm a fuzzy book. Not in the slightest. Don't get me wrong, it does end on a positive, and hopeful note, but, as a reader, you have a long, dark and often brutal path to travel in order to get there. If you have come expecting a Tuva-esque mystery, you won't find this here. This time Will Dean has branched out with a story that, whilst short, and believe me you will be glad of that at times, is most terrifying because of its authenticity. This is no simple marriage and this is no simple story. You have been warned.

I don't want to go too far into the plot - at around 200 pages it is a story you need to read and understand for yourselves. Don't let it's length fool you mind, as it packs one hell of an emotional and truly powerful punch. It was a book that both forced me to a point where i needed to take a break, but also absolutely drew me in with the heartbreaking story of 'Jane' a young woman, forced into marriage after being tricked by traffickers with the promise of a new and better life in the UK.

Now, as you can probably gather from the blurb, Jane suffers the worst of lives, a prisoner in the place she is forced to call home, a victim of severe punishment should she dare to step out of line. Every moment of every day is monitored and she is subjected to such horrific forms of control, only one of which is ever really brought to bear in any kind of detail on the page, that it is hard to read the book without feeling a visceral kind of anger bubbling within. Nothing is ever really explored in graphic detail, it doesn't need to be. Will Dean has played a very canny game as the entire story is told in Jane's voice. We will inside her head, mercifully able to tune out of the worst parts of her suffering as her coping mechanisms become our own as readers. Her whole life, and the story, is claustrophobic, never seeing beyond the house and the yard in which she is a prisoner, and the author paints the grim and harsh reality so clearly that you can almost feel the damp chill surround you as you read,

Jane's strength is fed by the love for her family, the belief that her sister is leading a better life, and she will do anything. to protect that. Slowly, bit by bit her husband, Lenn, strips her of her identity, her past, the few remaining things that help her to survive. The way the author has written this is pitch perfect, the significance of the title revealed very early on in the book. Lenn is a truly awful character, the kind who absolutely made my skin crawl and a perfect blend of every abusive bully your could ever have the displeasure of reading about. And yet it forced me to look at whether his behaviour, his actions, were a case of nature or nurture. There were times when you could see a flash of humanity within him, just a tiny spark that was never enough to forgive his actions, and was extinguished almost as quickly as it appeared.

And yet Jane keeps going, her will and her determination reaching a head when her life takes a very unexpected turn, that also marks a key shift in the story too. This is the beginning of the end for this story, the first steps on the path to a conclusion of a story that is dramatic, emotional and unforgettable. A remarkable and important story that is sadly all too plausible and reflects the plight of far too many trafficked women across the globe. I don't think. I can ever really do it justice, so I will end here. I just have to say, read it. But keep an open mind. It is hard to read, and you will likely need a break or two, but if you stick with it you will find a story that, as dark as it first appears, is also a celebration of the strength of Jane's spirit. Highly recommended from me.

I love Will Dean's writing but I have to say, this took me by surprise. What brilliant descriptive writing, so good it makes this difficult subject very hard to read but that's what this book is about.
A sad, shocking and cruel depiction of a woman's life. So miserable and heart breaking you can only marvel at her tenacity to keep fighting.
It is a hard read but don't let that put you off, the situation this woman is in does happen and that is so difficult to take in, that I cannot get this book out of my head.

'Jane' is being held captive and her life is no less than a living hell. Set on an isolated farm in the flat lands of the east of England, The Last Thing to Burn is a powerful and tense novel that I did not want to put down. Jane's real name is Thanh Dao. She traveled with her sister from the Philippines in search of a better life in the UK. Through Thanh Dao's memories the risks and despair of those trafficked here are brilliantly recorded. The outcome for Thanh Dao was slavery and abuse at the hands of her 'husband' who is an extremely abusive and disturbed man.
This novel is not for the faint-hearted, but if you liked Room or Dear Child, you will definitely want to read this.
It is brilliantly written. Tension builds and the reader is kept guessing right to the end. The use of Thanh Dao's memories to describe the warmth and food of the Philippines and her relationships with her family provides such a stark contrast to the life she is being forced to live in the UK. This is a powerful read and the fact that it could so obviously be true, makes it all the more compelling.
I highly recommend it and don't hesitate to give #TheLastThingtoBurn FIVE stars.
Thank you to @NetGalley, the author and his publishers for the opportunity to read and review this excellent novel.

This is one of the most stressful things I've ever read, and I mean that a compliment. Will Dean absolutely captures the repressive situation and tension of someone being held against their will, with seemingly zero chance of ever being rescued. It's brilliantly done, dark and very unsettling. This really is a great piece of writing, and one that will stay with me for a long time.

I am a big fan of this author's Tuva Moodyson series of books so I was quite excited when I heard he had segued with a stand alone thriller. And what a chilling, harrowing and disturbing read this turned out to be. But gripping all the way through too.
We start with a woman trapped in a "relationship" with a monster on his farm. Fear rules her life. She has tried to escape, several times but never succeeded and each time she fails she loses a piece of herself - literally as he takes another of her possessions. She is also bound to him by the knowledge of her sister's life being in the balance should she harm him. But then she discovers she is pregnant and suddenly it's not all about her and all bets are off. She has to get free of this man, to save her unborn child. Can she beat all the odds and make it or is she destined to spend the rest of her life at the farm?
Oh my... this tugged at me heart strings. And what makes this book all the more sad and scary is that this stuff really does happen. There are people out there who manipulate and traffic for their own heinous needs. Shocking but it's the reality we live in. The promise of a better life, a way out from the danger of the home country, just a small travel cost to pay back on arrival and then you are free. And there are hundreds, thousands of people out there who, even knowing the outcome is unlikely to be as rosy as presented, take the chance as it is better than the life they already have. And that is so very sad. And wrong.
Going back to the book and Mr Dean has managed to convey all of what I wrote above without glorifying or sensationalising for effect. In a very sensitive way to boot too. Oh how I felt for Thanh every step of the way. Definitely not an easy read, it's definitely brutal and you will probably need to make sure you have somethng lighter queued up to follow. You might also want to take the odd break every now and again as it is dark and deep and disturbing in places. But, and this is not really a spoiler as you will find out when you read the book, but there is hope bubbling under...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

In Will Dean's series starring deaf Swedish journalist Tuva Moodyson there's often a sense of creepiness or even claustrophobia in the rural setting, enclosed by wild forest that has a sense of Grimm's fairy tales.

In his first standalone, Dean dials up those ingredients to 12. The Last Thing to Burn is an intimate, intense psychological thriller set among bleak British farmland. Lenn and ‘Jane’ are a farming couple living in isolation on the Fens, a wide-open landscape of browns and greys near the English coastline. But only Lenn is there by choice: Jane is really Thanh Dao, a Vietnamese immigrant living a harrowing life in an open prison. Escape seems impossible: attempts have harsh consequences.. It’s been a damp, dreary, despairing life for several years. When ‘Jane’ falls pregnant, she must risk everything.

Dean has crafted a superb thriller about identity, control, and courage where the pages whir by even though the subject matter can be quite traumatic. It’s a strong character study of a victim of human trafficking, humming with tension. The Last Thing to Burn has echoes of Stephen King’s Misery, with its claustrophobic, isolated setting and twister power dynamics, while being its very own thing.

An intense read; tough in places, but recommended.

As a fan of Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson series, I really did not know what to expect with The Last Thing to Burn. He has managed to create a dark and dramatic setting in the bleak Fens, a coastal plain in Eastern England, where the water encroaches into the land in a series of dykes and drains. The bleak setting is perfect for this story of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Almost immediately into the book I felt thrown into a situation that made me feel uneasy. The story centres around a Vietnamese woman, called Jane by her captor, who entered the UK illegally, and in order to pay off her debts was ultimately passed on to a farmer who lived in the middle of nowhere, and for whom she became a prisoner and a slave.

I cannot say that this is an easy read, but with the genre, would you really want it like that? This is a real page turner, and I would recommend not starting it late at night, for the simple fact that you honestly will not want to put it down. I had to force myself to put it down and get some sleep and when I woke up the next morning found I woke up thinking about Jane and what she was going through.

Pain keeps her a prisoner as much as Leonard himself, and the pain is constant throughout the book. There are scenes that will make you feel uncomfortable, from sexual assaults to physical assault and torture, but none of it feels gratuitous. It is all completely pertinent to the story.

This stunning novel took me through so many highs and lows, but it was so beautifully written, with descriptions that made me almost smell the damp, the mould and the decay at the farmhouse and the surrounding area. This is a domestic thriller that will grab your attention and keep you desperately hoping for good to triumph over evil. A firm 5 stars for this incredibly bleak and dark thriller.

A young Vietnamese girl , Thanh Dao , alongside her sister Kim Ly arrive in England after being trafficked in a container with other people . They paid a lot of money and were promised jobs in retail and Nail Bars on arrival to earn money to pay the traffickers off . This was a lie and Thanh was sold to a farmer in the fens , miles from anywhere . His wife had died and he expected Thanh to do everything in the house and provide sex when he wanted.. Everything in the house had been his mothers and he expected everything to be done as his mother had done it , even down to the way she made his meals. She was a prisoner in his house and if she made a mistake or angered him he burnt one of her few possessions from her early life. Eventually she became pregnant and had a daughter , which he delivered as he would not let her see a doctor . The child was premature but he made her carry on feeding and changing her and said she would survive. A neighbour, Cynthia visited but was unaware of Thanh's plight . She came back again later and things took a turn for the worse but eventually they made an attempt to escape the farm . An atmospheric story about people trafficking and the misfortunes of the victims ..

I chose this book without reading the blurb or any reviews. I love this author and I thought I knew what to expect. I was so wrong, it was even better than I had expected. Once I started reading I could not put this down. Phone switched off and takeaway ordered. I have never read a book like this before. Heartbraking, so emotional you will need a box of tissues. You have been warned, a story of survival against such demanding challenges. This is a tour de force of a read it blew me away. A distressing read in places, a mother's love for her child. I dare anyone to read this book and not be affected. A must must read.
Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Bloody hell this book grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go.

From the very first lines, where you find a trafficked Vietnamese woman with a broken ankle desperately trying to escape her Fenlands farm prison, this book haunted me. Its so tightly wound and balanced, you dont want to read on as you know things are going to get worse for 'Jane' - the name he calls her - but you can't leave it alone . Her captor Lenn controls everything she sees, inside the house and out, and she has absolutely no autonomy at all. Reading it I found myself stopping to appreciate the freedom and choices that I have in such small matters like closing a room door, or having shoes that fit.

Will Dean's use of words to build atmosphere and tension is excellent, and he writes female characters really well too, I will definitely recommend this and look out for more from him

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder & Staughton for the chance to read it.

This book was absolutely captivating to read and I enjoyed the characters immensely. The plot was intriguing and the pace fast. I highly recommend it

Wow! What an intense, gripping, page turning book. A story about “Jane” who is being held in slavery by a sick and twisted individual, and her experience of a horrible life, told from her point of view. At first I thought I couldn’t keep reading this disturbing story, but I found I had to keep reading and needed to find out what was going to happen. The characters and the house are so well described and I felt like I was there, that I could smell the mould and feel the pain and taste the food she had to make for her “husband”. I read the last chapters nearly holding my breath - it was so scary but exciting. The story really was about indomitable spirit.

Highly recommended but not if you are easily scared as there are disturbing scenes.

I have read Will Dean’s previous novels which have been excellent crime novels. This time Will Dean ratchets the tension up to give us a powerful novel that deals with the struggles of a Vietnamese refugee. This claustrophobic and very atmospheric novel introduces us to Thanh Dao who is trafficked to England from Vietnam but the better life that she’d been promised doesn’t materialise. She ends up being bought by Lenn a farmer who keeps her trapped in a farmhouse on the fens. Lenn keeps her in a drugged state and has CCTV to watch her every move and treats her as his slave. At the start Thanh tries to escape so Lenn smashes her ankle with bolt cutters. Thanh has very few possessions but she has one novel, John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men which she constantly reads to help her cope.
When considering the blight of Thanh Dao I think of the words of Phil Ochs ‘And there but for fortune, may go you or I’.

The poignant novel is harrowing and unsettling but it is also riveting and brilliantly written. An important, heartfelt novel that I highly recommend.

Absolutely riveting despite its grim set of events .. I could not put down this story of an enslaved woman tricked into travelling long distance .. it's the birth of her child that sets things on trail to denouement .. the first person recounting really works. Very fine piece of work setting out depredations of human trafficking.

Wow! What a book. I thought the premise sounded like it might be interesting and I'd give it a go, little did I know I'd be completely sucked in and unable to put it down until I found out how it ended.
It was an absolutely brutal tale and difficult to read at points, but very eye-opening and necessary and oh how I was rooting for Thanh.
Some parts I predicted but still found I was utterly shocked when it came to pass.
I really liked the references to "Of Mice and Men"
This is my first book by the author but it certainly won't be the last, I feel like this story will stay with me for a long time.
I thought it was very apt that it has been described as "Room" meets "Misery"
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for my eARC in return for my honest review.

This is my first Will Dean book and it definitely won't be the last. What a book! It was terrifying, horrific and absolutely shocking. But the awful thing is that these things are happening and society needs to open its eyes to people trafficking and the abuse that follows.
A lot of the book, although it is quite a short read, concentrates on quite mundane household events, which makes what is going on under the surface even worse. The bits where we find out what happened to the main character's foot for example were jaw dropping in their cruelty. The way the main character spoke reminded me of Michael Sams that kidnapped Stephanie Slater and murdered Julie Dart back in the early 1990s, If anyone has read Stephanie's book about her kidnapping, the way Sams spoke, the morose Yorkshireman who talked about Coronation Street and but was actually a psychopath, you will recognise what I mean.
Utterly chilling.

This was not what I expected! Disturbing story told from the POV of an enslaved Vietnamese girl who is kept captive by a pig farmer in the country. The inevitable pregnancy follows and he forces her to give birth with no medical help. He plays mind games with her to ensure her compliance using the threat of burning the few personal items she has left- her identity card, her sister's letters and her only book-hence the title. Cruel, manipulative and at times a difficult read but compelling and very well told. We are rooting for her to escape this hell but at the same time are frightened that if she deviates from his rules she will suffer more.
Very different from Will Dean's 'Tuva' series but well worth reading

The “The Last Thing to Burn” by Will Dean is an intense and gut-wrenching story; “Jane” has been cruelly trafficked to the UK and is now being held captive by Lenny in his remote farm where Lenny rules with an iron fist. Jane is unable to escape and must endure at least until a stranger comes calling. Will Dean effortlessly manages to convey the frustration felt by Jane and the brutality by Lenny is truly frightening. Once read, it is impossible to get this haunting story out of your mind.

This is a hit you in the gut sort of story that breaks you up into a million pieces. Thanh Dao and her younger sister Kym-Ly had travelled from Vietnam nine years ago in a cargo ship illegally, to make a better life for themselves. They found out that what they got was to be sold as slaves for their owners to do whatever they wanted with them.

The story takes place around Thanh, now renamed Jane, who lives with her ‘husband’ on a very remote farm miles away from the nearest town. No-one knows of her existence. It begins with Jane being brought back to the farm after trying to escape again and the consequences that she has to face for her actions.


It is a brutal account of Thanh’s life day in day out, and it isn’t an easy read. With each page, I was piecing together a picture of Lenn, the farmer, and it scared the living daylights out of me. Thanh knows the routines that she must follow, even when Lenn isn’t there because he has cameras everywhere in the house. There were horrendous obvious punishments that had been dealt out in the past, and continue, with both physical and mental cruelty, but things are about to change.


The characters in the book couldn’t have been made more perfect, with the descriptions of Lenn gradually building in each chapter. He was always faceless in the story with me, like I couldn’t look him directly in the eyes. The farmhouse, which was stuck in a time warp, left me feeling uneasy that this had never been a normal home way before Thanh lived there.


To say that there are very few characters in the story it never loses that intensity that something worse is going to happen. It makes me shudder to think that this could be someone’s life now.

I wish to thank the publisher and NetGalley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Having enjoyed all three of Will Dean's novels set in Sweden and featuring Tuva Moodyson, I was interested to see what this standalone would offer, and it is excellent! Taut, tense and terrific, it tells the story of a woman who lives as a prisoner on a remote farm, forced to cater to her husband's needs and watched on camera at all times. Escape seems impossible but she is determined not to live like this for ever. I loved it!

Wow. The Last Thing to Burn is an incredible book. The tense tale of ‘Jane’, imprisoned by a man who holds himself out as her husband. It is a brutal story but Will Dean’s skill is in keeping the reader absolutely enthralled and appalled in equal measure. I read it in a day and really couldn’t put it down.

Having read and enjoyed Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson books, The Last Thing to Burn takes the tension up several notches and also masterfully tackles a very difficult topic. I would highly recommend this book. It’s a rare 5* from me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC in consideration of an honest review.

"It's not a bad life this, is it Jane?" is a line that will stay with me for a long time.

Told from the perspective of women held against her will in a remote farm cottage, The Last Thing to Burn is incredibly well written. I stormed through this book and enjoyed every dark, twisted second. The character of Lenn is so despicable, but Will Dean has created him in a way that makes him believable. You can almost see the logic in everything he does, which makes it all the creepier.

A lot of the pain, misery and turmoil was repetitive, but I think this just added to the claustrophobic feel of the book with no let-up.

In places, my knuckles were white willing Thanh-Dao to make it to freedom. I'd say this book is the epitome of a page-turner.

Jane lives on an isolated fenland farm with her husband. She never leaves, never sees anyone and is watched constantly by her husband. But Jane isn't her name and the man she lives with isn't really her husband.

Holy heck this story. I went into this book not really knowing anything. I read the tagline only so I found it a pretty shocking read. Jane's life is utterly depressing and so incredibly sad. Leonard, her 'husband' is a vile human being but written so well.

It's a well paced book with a compelling narrative. It's very character driven. Jane had me rushing toward the end of the book, fingers crossed and tears in my eyes. At times it is brutal. The setting was written expertly, descriptions of the house and the cold had me shivering on my comfy sofa. Jane endures so much and although her inner strength wavers at times, she truly is a survivor.

A gripping story that deals with some serious issues. It's quite intense and you need to have thick skin to make it all the way to the end. Bleak is definitely a good way to describe it but there is hope and it's a quick read. Powerful and thought provoking. Would recommend.

Many thanks to the publisher for the gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book of the year! Easy!

Outstanding writing by Will Dean. It is visceral and oh, so real. It is heartbreaking that what is transcribed in these pages is what actually happens to so many people in this world. Who we are yet to even know.

Will Dean's writing has improved to such a degree that he will be the name on everyone's lips after this hits the public realm. It is honestly an absolute pleasure to have been provided this title.

Coming back to the writing...

A reader needs to be transported. And in "The Last Thing to Burn", we are sat next to "Jane" as she has to endure the torment of her captor. We see her world that has been, is, and is to come. All the while trying to find a way out for her, and us both. This is what captivating writing does, it places you in the scene. It is heartbreaking to have to endure the atrocities this poor woman is faced with on a daily basis.

Whoever sees this, buy it. Buy three and give them away. It is worth every single cent that could be spent. I know I will certainly be purchasing this when it is released.

Wow I don’t how to start this review. This is not an easy read but a powerful and heart-breaking one. This story is about ‘Jane’. Not her real name but it’s the name that her captor Leonard has been calling her for the last seven years. She is held captive in an isolated farm. Where she is watched all day by cameras while her captor goes on and works on a pig farm. When he returns, she must cook and clean and does all duties that a wife does even in the bedroom. But she cannot escape because she is frightened what will happened to her sister who she came with her illegally from Vietnam and she herself will be severely punished. Anytime she disobeys her captor burns a personal object of hers. The only items that she has left from the outside world. As he has taken everything else from her and gave her dead mothers things even to wear to stop her from escaping.
This is an intense and frightening story about Human trafficking and modern-day slavery and of one person’s survival and the determination to escape the clutches of her captor. There is a lot of heart stopping and shocking moments and I really felt the pain for ‘Jane’ and what she was going through, and I was routing for her to escape. Even though this is a hard subject to portray I thought it was very well written so much that I couldn’t put this down.

WILL R DEAN –THE LAST THING TO BURN

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This has to be one of the most claustrophobic and exhausting and yet compelling novels I have read in a very long time. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

It follows the story of a young Vietnamese girl, trafficked with her sister with the promise of a new life in England, only to find herself sold to the foulest man who could ever have bought her. The story is told in minute detail by her, a virtual slave in his ramshackle, cold and miserable and isolated farmhouse, frozen in time in the middle of the bleak flatness of the Fens; how, even with an ankle he has smashed beyond use to prevent her escape, her determination to do so and find her sister fills her every waking moment.

This is a triumphant story, both for the character and the author who wrote it. It deserves to be read, not just as a brilliant piece of writing, but as a behind the scenes look of what can happen to someone in her position. The human behind the headlines.

Her story will stay with me for long long time.

Thank you for the advance review copy of this remarkable book. I hope it flies up the charts. Through the narrative of a trafficked Vietnamese woman, it relates the experience of a slave on a Lincolnshire farm. The setting is absolutely authentic - I'm a local and feel I know it well - and the voice is compelling. It's a slow burn that reaches a gripping climax. I found the voice of the perpetrator less than convincing in parts, but this did not detract from the overall creative endeavour of expressing real voices and addressing real themes.

This is a book that tugs at your heartstrings over and over again, a book that was so engrossing that I forgot about everything else I just lived every page it was that good. I had read a little about the premise of the book but nothing prepared me for the many emotions it brought out in me and I found myself stopping reading lot’s of times and taking a moment to ingest the words that had been written.
I knew I was in for a good read as I previously read the Tuva Moodyson series by Will Dean and I loved those but this book was something else it’s a read to make your heart break with some moments that are painful to bear but also some of the most tender scenes I have read that were filled with so much love and hope.
So beautifully written this is a book not to be missed, a book that will stay with me for a long long time and a book that goes straight to the top of my list of best reads this year and many many thanks to Will Dean for an amazing read.
So please don’t miss this one I can promise you want be disappointed its an important book and it everything you want from a fabulous read and more.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Content warning: abuse, violence, trafficking

A young woman lives in a remote farmhouse in England, keeping house for the farmer. She doesn't leave the house- every move she makes, he is watching, controlling. He calls her Jane. To keep herself sane she reads and re-reads a favourite novels or the letters from her sister, who had made the long journey with her some years ago. She dreams of a time when she can escape and be reunited with her sister.


Wow! From the first page I was gripped and could not bear to put this down until I'd found out if 'Jane' would prevail.
It's grim reading a lot of the time, but breathlessly, beautifully written and so expertly plotted and paced I was in awe of the writing even as I wanted to race through the story.
An amazing book.

Oh my goodness. What a fantastic book. Will Dean has excelled with this novel.
Jane lives with her husband in a isolated cottage with no one for miles.
But Jane isn't her real name and he isn't her husband, Jane has been living there for over seven years with no one to help her apart from her husband Lenn.
She was sold to Lenn after leaving her home country of Vietnam with her sister Kim-Ly.
She believes that her sister is safe and sound in Manchester by the letters Lenn gives her and he has told her many times that if she tries to escape then her sister will be deported back and not clear their debt to bring them both over to the UK.
Lenn has a routine and every night he has to have the same different meals every time and God forbid if Jane doesn't get it right.
She did try to escape once but Lenn caught her and used a claw hammer to her ankle and foot so she cant walk properly again.
Once Jane finds out she is pregnant everything changes but is it for the best?
There maybe hope on the horizon by a way of a new neighbour, Cynthia but is Jane putting everyone in danger by telling Lenn about their new neighbour?

I really enjoyed Will Dean's writing in his Tuva Moodyson series, so I knew I wanted to read this stand-alone as soon as I first heard about it. I mean, have you seen that blurb?! A man keeping an illegal woman trapped in his home, pretending to be his wife... That most definitely sounds like a rock solid premise to build your story around. I had a feeling that I was going to enjoy my time with The Last Thing To Burn, and my instincts turned out to be absolutely right. You will want to clear your schedule for this one, as it will be REALLY hard to stop reading before you reach that final page. Unputdownable indeed!

Like I said, the premise itself is rock solid. While you can argue that nothing much is going on, as it is basically the two main characters inside the same house in the middle of nowhere during most of the story... But its power is in its simplicity. With other distractions stripped away, the sole spotlight is on that house and what happens inside. This gives the story an even bigger impact, and the descriptions of the tired house and its surroundings most definitely set the right tone for the story. An air of desperation, loneliness and a hint of foreboding... You will know things will escalate, and the future seems bleak, but you won't be able to stop reading to see if things will improve against all odds.

The Last Thing To Burn is a character-driven story, and the focus is mainly on Thanh (Jane) and her 'husband'. We see the events unfold through Thanh's eyes as we learn a little about the past, but mainly about what happens in the present. It's a truly terrifying and inhumane situation she finds herself in, something so hopeless that it is hard to imagine how she could ever find a way out of it all... Plot developments and twists will arrive along the way, both showing her strength and moral dilemma as she considers the consequences of her actions if he finds out. The last part of The Last Thing To Burn definitely amps up the suspense and action, and I was literally biting my nails as I kept turning those pages. The ending was more than satisfying!

All in all The Last Thing To Burn is a brilliantly written, atmospheric and suspenseful character-driven thriller and a title to watch out for in 2021. Enjoy thrillers and wonder what to put on your wishlist for next year? You have found your next addition.

5 "my name is not Jane" Stars
Holy heck. This is 1o0% not the type of book I would ever ever pick up. It really grabs your attention and holds it. This book was emotional. You find yourself in this book as the main character, feeling her pain, feeling her loss and feeling her fight. This was wow.. I really cant figure out how to tell you anymore without ruining this intense book.... BURN IT ALL DOWN!

When I first started this book, the first few pages trying to understand what was going on, I wasn’t sure this book was for me. Then a couple of pages in I felt intrigued and by the time I had read another couple of pages I was hooked. What a brilliant, well written book. Human trafficking is something I’ve very ignorantly not paid more attention to and I found myself feeling quite ashamed of myself for not making myself know more, be more aware. The whole book you are rooting for Thanh and her beautiful Huong - I loved the strength of a mother’s love shown in their relationship - and quite frankly, until I knew the end of the story I couldn’t put it down. Will be recommending this read to everyone!

Creepy from the outset this is a fast paced book with many moments when you just want to scream out loud at the characters!
Trapped in a small farm with a crippling leg injury "Jane" is captive and desperate. Her "husband" who is holding her captive is so remote and disassociated with reality that he becomes more and more menacing with each chapter- truly believing his life is just about perfect with his wife.
Desperate, Jane tries to escape on multiple occasions but never quite reaches civilisation until one day help comes in the form of a second captive.
I was on the edge of my seat for much of the latter third of the book, willing Jane on to make good her escape and devastated as each attempt was thwarted.

A brutal read, I have no words, but have donated to www.unseenuk.org. Thank you for opening my eyes.

One of the best books I have read this year. "Jane" is kept prisoner by her husband on a remote farm, and feels completely trapped. When she becomes pregnant this gives her the impetus to flee, and we see the consequences of that. Really well written, highly recommended.

A compelling and chilling story of human trafficking and modern-day slavery written in the first person and is horrifyingly tense and totally unputdownable! Jane (not her name) is 7 years captive and is controlled, spied on and exploited every second of every day. She complies with her brutal captor only to enable the freedom and safety of her sister. This is a gripping, tense and unfortunately true to life novel that is brilliantly written.

This is a gripping story about the harsh abuse suffered by Jane, who is held captive by Lenn, in an outlying farm miles from anywhere.
Jane (whose real name is Thanh Dao) and her sister Kim Ly were brought into the country from Vietnam by people traffickers, being promised high wages and good working conditions. However, they were lied to and Jane is no more than a slave without any means of escape from the brutal treatment of her abuser. The book title refers to Jane’s small amount of precious possessions which is all she has left. If she disobeys Lenn, he burns one of her possessions and she has few left to give her comfort. She bravely suffers all this in order to give her sister Kim Ly a better life.
The author describes the characters so skilfully, you feel that you know them, and empathise with Jane, which isn’t her real name, but the name chosen by Lenn. He is a brutal, domineering character who has no respect for his captive who is watched by cameras every hour of the day, which he sees as his right.
The story tells in graphic detail about the harsh reality of people trafficking, and I felt total empathy with Jane, who has no escape from the brutality and drudgery of her existence. I needed to know that she would eventually find freedom from the bitter depravity of her life and find freedom and peace. And became totally absorbed in how she managed to put up with such pain and anguish, and became totally engrossed in the story.
The last few chapters of the book were so fast-paced I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended.

Wow I was unable to put this book down. It was fast paced and I read it in two sittings.

It was not an easy read at times and my heart went out to Jane and the way she was forced to live and the mental cruelty inflicted on her. Just when you thought she was about to break free events changed.

I would highly recommend this book it really was a great read. One of my top reads of the year..

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a copy of this ARC for which I have given my voluntary and unbiased review

This is probably the most thrilling book I have read this year. Two sisters brought to England with the promise of a better life. "Jane" (not her real name) lives on a remote pig farm in the middle of nowhere, a place with no escape, she is watched every minute of everyday by cameras which are viewed by her captive every night. Treated as a slave she is abused both physically and sexually and penalised by having her prized possessions from home removed one by one if she dares to step out of line. Her only happiness is reading the letters she has been sent from her sister who appears to happy and loving life.
When "Jane" finds out she is pregnant her grit and determination kicks in. She must protect her child at all costs.
This book was riveting from start to finish, I seriously could not breathe until the last page. I would urge anyone who loves a psychological thriller to buy this book. I look forward to reading more by Will Dean.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for an ARC
This is the first Will Dean book I have read. It is a stand alone thriller. It isn't "twisty turny" beloved of so many but then a stonking good read doesn't have to be, especially when a lot of twists and turns are so contrived as to be off the scale with unbelievability.
Jane- not her real name is "married" to Lenn. She lives in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. She has to cook, clean, have sex with a monster who videos her every move and keeps her a virtual prisoner. Jane has been trafficked and what follows is a harrowing story of every human right's abuse imaginable.
Lenn is utterly loathsome, a vile, evil man with seemingly all the power until Jane gently begins to start to assert herself, using her new circumstances to exert pressure on him. Jane is a brave, strong woman. These two characters mostly dominate the book and the powerplay between the two is riveting. Some call the ending predictable, I disagree. In these situations there are only a few scenarios that will happen at the end. Beaming onto an alien starship would be unbelievable. I am thankful for the way it ended. The book does offer helplines at the back for anyone to report trafficking or seek help if a victim. This also highlights our attitude to refugees. They face the most appalling atrocities and seek a new life only to be abused when they arrive in what is supposed to be a civilised country. This is the 21st century and slavery was supposed to have been abolished centuries ago.. This is a cracking read, tense, full of drama and I hope it opens people's eyes

Wow, what a wonderful, albeit brutal story of despair and hope which is hard to read at times but so very satisfying in the end. I won’t repeat the blurb of the story but will just say if you’re looking for a gripping read that is a little uncomfortable in places whilst willing on the survival of an abused human being then this is as good as it gets. The characters are engrossing and the descriptions of the dilapidated farmhouse along with the Fens is just so atmospheric and perfect.

Just when you thought there was hope the author brings it all crashing down forcing you to keep turning the pages to see whether survival for anyone is possible.

An absolute brilliant, well written read with parts you’ll enjoy not enjoying!

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a read, i think slightly terrifying to be honest and reminds of some sinister horror movie. That said i didn't want to put it down to be honest as i had to know what happened in the end. No spoilers but the book is basically about a woman that was human trafficked from Vietnam, and is now trapped in the house with her British husband. Basically it's a depressing situation for the lady and grim at times but that made the read even more exciting to know what happened. i finished this in 3 days.

Don't want to give any spoilers away, but the premise is that 'Jane' not her real name has been trafficked from Vietnam along with her sister. Jane lives in a farm with her British 'husband' who treats her like a slave, she believes her sister got away and is living happily somewhere else..... Until one day she finds out the truth. Such a harrowing story of human trafficking that unfortunately still happens in the 21st century.

Thank you net galley for the opportunity to read this novel and to Will Dean for writing it, will certainly be looking out for more from you.

Jane. That’s what he calls her but that’s not her name and never will be, but she must play along as he has her trapped on his farm miles from anywhere. Jane has to cook, clean and fulfil his every wish or she will be punished. She can’t escape as he records her every movement. She’s imprisoned. Then she discovers she is pregnant and this gives her a reason to fight back. But when another woman is imprisoned by him, Jane’s life becomes desperate. Can Jane fight back, for her and her baby and also save this strange woman, or is she condemned to be his for the rest of her life?
Will Dean has created a masterpiece of dark intense literature that is nothing short of perfection. With its highly emotive scenes and sense of utter desperation, every page leaves you on edge. This is a book that’s impossible to put down until it’s dramatic end. A truly great piece of writing.
Simply put, you won’t read a better book than this all year. The easiest five star review I’ve ever given. Just brilliant.

Amazing, clapping and cheering for all four of them. A moving and stomach churning look at human trafficking. This story gives a brief glimpse into the horrors and daily abuses of one young girl whose identity is slowly stolen from her each time Lenn thinks she has transgressed. The last thing is the letters written by her baby sister, she is living free, out in the world and "Jane" dreams of the day their debt is paid in full.

With thanks to #NetGalley and #Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC.
Thanh Dao, aka Jane to her “husband”, is human trafficked from Vietnam to England, held in a farm cottage surrounded by miles of nothingness. Leonard believes he is her loving husband, monitoring her every move, each breathe she takes he is there to hear it or at least play it back when he watches the tapes every single day like clockwork. Thanh has to stick to his routine, she has to wear his mothers clothes, and isn’t even allowed sanitary products instead using moth eaten towels. A story filled with punishment, degradation and revolting control. How can Thanh ever leave when her every move is watched, her last remaining possessions are burned to a crisp when she ‘steps out of place’ and her ankle is destroyed with her only option being able to take unlabelled pills meant for animals. A claustrophobic novel that traps you in that very farm with Thanh, desperate to escape.

This was an absolutely fantastic read, and one I just couldn’t put down! I read it in one day, despite there being many parts that were too difficult for me to read. Prepare for your heart to break and your body to shiver, the book explores every detail of Thanh’s traumatising ordeal.

The author’s clever writing style constantly creates unsettling imagery for the dark, decaying farm house that you almost believe you’re there yourself, trapped as prisoner.

I would have liked to hear more about Lenn’s back story, I was surprised when we didn’t hear more about his childhood, his upbringing and his mother. I wanted to explore the inner workings of Lenn’s mind and how he came to be such a monster. But perhaps some people are just the way they are. Some monsters are just seemingly ordinary people with no real reason for their unjust and cruel crimes.

If you’re after an intense, thrilling and horrifying read, then look no further!

‘I remember his terrible threat every time I see the long dyke. I look at that unending line of still water and my heart collapses in on itself.’ So says ‘Jane’, the latest in the number of Vietnamese wives whom Lenn has incarcerated in his Fenland farm cottage. He has threatened to drown their baby daughter in one of the surrounding dykes should Jane ever think of escaping, an almost impossible act given that he has horribly maimed one of her feet. Geographically, too, she is up against it. Given the extraordinarily flat scenery, Lenn can see her outside wherever he is on his farm. Cameras inside follow her every move too. Flight is impossible.
This novel is extremely painful to read. Nevertheless, whilst never sinking to gratuitous description of the horrors that unfold, Will Dean conjures up Jane’s terrible half-life so convincingly. It would be a mistake to write off Lenn as a stupid ox of a man; he knows just how to punish Jane psychologically as well as physically. Yet, above all, it is a celebration of human resilience, a tribute to the power of love, and an acknowledgement that people can be braver than they ever thought possible.
At a time when we have become more aware of modern-day slavery, this novel is a prescient reminder that it can happen in the most ordinary of places, executed by those who appear entirely conventional. This is an engrossing, powerfully written story, very well told. I urge you to read it notwithstanding the pain it will bring in thinking of the many real stories yet to be told.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Outstanding writing! A suffocating, gruelling, heartbreaking, IMPORTANT book about human trafficking, an abusive relationship and a mother’s love. This book will stay with me for a long time, as will the brave and brilliant protagonist, Thanh Dao. I haven’t read anything from this writer before and I was pleasantly surprised that this novel was written by a male.

I am recommending this to everyone. I rarely hand out 5 stars but this beautifully horrific masterpiece deserves every star.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

My thoughts about this brilliantly written gripping intense thriller, was just mindblowing, what can I say just fantastic, Author Will Dean has written a powerful story that deals with human trafficking,slavery and cruelty, that is so painful, you feel sorry for its lead character Jane. Will Dean's The Last Thing To Burn, tells the story of Jane what her husband calls her,who is kept as a prisoner, in a farm house in Fenland, by her husband Leonard, who is watching Jane's every move on CCTV, if she does something wrong, he punishes her, Jane tells her side of story, about what she's going through, you feel sorry for her character. Talented author Will Dean, not only writes a fantastic story, but he takes you on a journey through darkness, bravery, and survival, being kept as a prisoner in middle of nowhere, you have to make a choice to survive. A well  written thriller, that had me turning the pages. The Last Thing To Burn, is completely different what I've read before, and its definitely different what Will Dean's written before. This book is going to be a game changer for Will Dean. A brilliantly gripping thriller that takes you on a journey through darkness,bravery and human  trafficking in a different way. Highly Recommended. Will Dean's The Last Thing To Burn, is just a incredible book,that you won't be able to put down. Will Dean's writing is just incredible. I would like to say thank you to author Will Dean, Publisher's Hodder And Stoughton and Netgalley, for giving me a chance to read and review this outstanding thriller. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐💥💥💥💥💥

Having read and enjoyed, but not loved, previous Will Dean books featuring the character of Tuva, I was hoping I would enjoy a stand alone book more and boy was I right!

What an incredible book.
This gripped me from the beginning and as much as it's a cliché to say, I couldn't put it down and when I had to, it was all I could think about.
Incredibly well written and well paced. The descriptions of the house, surrounding areas and everything else were so good I felt I was there seeing, smelling and tasting everything.

The story is tense, atmospheric and claustrophobic which at times took my breath away.
Although the story is told through the eyes of a female character, written by a male author, it worked well which is brilliant (as some times men writing female characters just doesn't work)

Sensational.

Oh, my! Prepare yourselves for this amazing book about the incredible strength of the human soul and the appalling things human beings can do to each other.

This is a heart wrenching, poignant tale, so beautifully written. Thanh Dao has been human trafficked and is being held against her will by an oaf of a man who, amongst other things, insists that she answer to Jane and does his bidding, all the while, suffering a terrible affliction. It's such a difficult, emotional read, but, one that has human survival at it's very core.

Thanh Dao's life is only made bearable by her 'treasures' which are burnt if she disobeys her captor and the thought of her Sister, Kim-Ly who is working in a nail bar in Manchester. One of the treasures is a copy of the literary masterpiece ‘Of Mice and Men’ and that’s a book that had a profound effect on me in my youth and this book resonated in the same way. Despite the bleak situation, so vividly described, there is hope, so, hang in there.

I began reading this book just before sleep and then found that I couldn't and that when I eventually did, my sleep was haunted by kidnappers and fear. It's that powerful.
I honestly can't explain how deeply this book affected me and Thanh Dao is the most fabulous character, beautifully crafted and one that will stay with me forever.

Overall, an amazing, difficult, heartbreaking, important book and I'm incredibly grateful to Will Dean, NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the opportunity to preview this excellent read.

I’ve read and enjoyed all Will Dean’s previous books but when I started to read this one, I was initially a bit taken back, as it wasn’t what I was used to or expecting but wow! I’m glad I stuck with it. What a book! I felt so many emotions reading this book, as I got further into it I couldn’t read fast enough to get to the end and my pulse was physically racing.. This book is very dark, intense and atmospheric. It is so well written and seriously it is so good and definitely a recommended read.

Jane lives with her husband in a small farm cottage, except Jane can’t remember getting married and that is not her name. She is trapped. No one knows she is there and when visitors do come she is never seen. Her every move is caught on camera and if she displeases her husband He takes something of hers to punish her. But one day something changes and she has something to live for her and so she starts watching him...

The Last Thing to Burn, was not a novel I was expecting. The rugged, raw brutality and cruelty of the characters and landscapes in the novel provide a compelling backdrop to the real torment. The story between Lenn and Jane is really upsetting, and I would read this without any distractions. This is an abusive relationship that builds into a story of desperation, hope and perseverance. I felt like I was with Jane every step of the way. When she ran, I ran with her.

The last time I read a novel where I had so hope, so many times that the female would escape the clutches of an evil man was Stephen King's Rose Madder. This is similar in many ways and the writing is excellent.

The Last Thing to Burn, will stay with me for a very long time.

Outstanding and deserves all 5 stars!

A harrowing, heartbreaking and unputdownable novel that will have you glued to the page. I sat down to read a few chapters and, after what felt like minutes, I found that I was near the end — I just really needed to know what happened to Thanh.

Thanh — or ‘Jane’, as she’s first introduced to the reader — is being held captive by Lenn. She lives in a small cottage on a farm, which is surrounded by wide open fields. Nobody knows how she got the UK, or even that she’s there — there aren’t really any visitors to the fair and, if there are, they aren’t really seen.

Lenn records Jane’s every movement and, if he doesn’t like what he sees, she is punished. For a long time, escape seemed impossible. But now, something has changed: she has a reason to live and a reason to fight. Now, she is watching him, and waiting.

The book can be difficult to read at times; it’s an unflinchingly brutal story about people trafficking and the want to survive in the face of extreme cruelty. But I found that I couldn’t put it down. 

While it’s a big change from the Tulva series, The Last Thing To Burn is superbly written — and it’s definitely going to be a book everyone will be talking about in 2021.

This was brilliant.

I didn't think it was possible for a book set in one location to hold my attention but it did that and more - I couldn't put it down!

Will Dean’s “The Last Thing to Burn”, quite frankly, is phenomenal. Painfully brutal, distressingly tense and viscerally affecting. This will take 2021 by storm.

Lenn is a farmer who lives in a small, rugged farmhouse with his wife Jane. But Lenn and Jane aren’t really married. In fact, Jane isn’t even her real name... Kept against her will, her every move monitored and terrorised when she puts a foot wrong, Jane fears she will never escape Lenn. All and knows is that she must do all she can to get away...

“The Last Thing to Burn” is exceptionally gripping. Told from the viewpoint of Jane (real name Thanh Dao, a Vietnamese refuges), this is a stark tale of abuse and abject horror, but also a story of perseverance and determined hope. It’s a very timely novel too, as it epitomises the darkest, depraved depths of white male privilege too. Dean has expertly captured the sheer agony of Jane’s torture, whilst also weaving a string sense of hope throughout the narrative. The plot is peppered with many moments of breathtaking suspense, as Jane plots how she can escape. Throughout the novel, I was willing her to escape the shackles of her imprisonment on each page and I felt every failed attempt, every mis-engineered break out like a dagger to the heart - that is how passionately I felt for Jane, which is testament to Dean’s power as an affecting and gifted writer. The narrative is a perfect blend of human emotion and drama, nail-biting suspense and action, plus plausibly graphic violence. This makes it a thriller that is second to none.

With only a handful of characters, characterisation is really important in “The Last Thing to Burn”. Jane is a brilliantly crafted lead character. She is equal parts victim and heroine, making her a deep and engaging character. I was immediately drawn to her through the first person narrative from her perspective. Dean writes of her pain (both emotional and physical) with great power - Jane’s words are emotional and draw you completely into her life and situation. Despite enduring unspeakable abuse, the defiance and unspoken detest for Lenn that permeates through her voice is infectious. I loved the strength of her character, despite all she had suffered and she is an inspirational character on so many levels. Whilst it would have been hard to create a lead character that readers didn’t sympathise with in these circumstances, Dean has excelled at creating a character that is not just a victim and someone the reader is one hundred percent behind. Lenn is undeniably a monster of the most horrifying kind. However, true to life, there are moments where he shows a fragment of humanity or a slither of compassion. These moments made me want to know more about him - what had happened in his life to make him the way he is? He’s a complex character - barbaric, ignorant, repulsive - and in those moments of compassion he showed, I really wanted to believe that they would offer him retribution and that the evil inside of him would repent and die. However, his moments of kindness simply served to strengthen his grip on Jane, furthering his abuse, manipulation and power. There is no remorse in Lenn and I came away feeling like I had experienced the epitome of putrid black evil. He is the worst kind of villain - one without any redeemable qualities. This makes him a genuinely terrifying character and one that I will not forget. Dean perfectly exhibits how the very worst evil can so easily be found in the most ordinary of people.

Symbolism plays a huge role in this novel too. I loved how the bleak and rugged landscape seemed to so inherently match the prospect of Jane’s future, but how eventually it may just be her means of escape. The frequent references to Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” were well incorporated too. For example, where the dream farm in that novel is a symbol of the unattainable American Dream, the farm Jane is trapped in is not only opposite (as it’s a horrific nightmare) but also similarly depicts the unattainable dream of a better future that she had when travelling to England. The symbolism of Jane’s possessions (that Lenn burns one by one when she does not behave as he dictates) is also incredibly powerful. Each of the 17 items Jane arrived with were precious to her and in her mind, defined who she really was. However, as her possessions dwindle and she feels her identity ebb away in a cloud of smoke, what she finds is that none of these items define her. Her spirit, her determination and her deep-rooted strength are who she is and Lenn can never take these things from her.

“The Last Thing to Burn” is harrowing, exhilarating and genuinely unputdownable. I highly recommend this incredible read!

Will Dean's writing is remarkable in this book. It's very grim, heartbreaking, but he told the story he wanted to tell excellently.

The characters, the atmosphere and plot jump off the page. It was truly amazing.
Thanks a lot to NG nad the publisher for this copy.

I've heard nothing but good things about Will Dean books, namely the Tuva Moodyson series, so when I saw that his new book was a standalone thriller I decided that the time was right to see what all the fuss was about. The Last Thing to Burn is a hard-hitting book dealing with human trafficking so it's not easy to read at times but oh my word, it's absolutely brilliant.

Will Dean really manages to portray Thanh Dao's every emotion as we read about her being held captive by farmer Lenn. I refuse to call her Jane as that isn't her name, which Thanh Dao keeps reminding us. Thanh Dao holds on tightly to her identity through her meagre possessions that Lenn burns one by one in the Rayburn stove every time he perceives that she has stepped out of line. Lenn watches Thanh Dao's every move through video cameras set up in the house so she really can't do anything without Lenn seeing.

Thanh Dao and her sister Kim-Ly were brought to the UK from Vietnam in a shipping container but their dreams of a better life were shattered when Thanh Dao was sold to Lenn. Kim-Ly is working in a nail bar in Manchester to pay back the cost of their passage and Thanh Dao is warned that if she tries to escape, Kim-Ly will be sent back to Vietnam with the full debt to repay. What a predicament to be in; Thanh Dao is desperate to be free of Lenn but her love for her sister is the only thing that keeps her going.

Thanh Dao has to clean, cook and lie back and think of Vietnam so it felt like I had stepped back into a different century; back to a time when a woman's place was in the kitchen. Lenn is an absolutely odious man, treating Thanh Dao like a slave which of course is what she is. Some of the things he does and says had my mouth gaping in shock and horror, he really is very selfish and doesn't have a caring bone in his body. No wonder he had to buy a 'wife'. There's certainly no fear of Thanh Dao suffering from Stockholm Syndrome!

As Thanh Dao's hatred for Lenn intensifies, and circumstances change, she becomes braver and starts planning her escape. The tension is ramped up to fever pitch and I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest; it felt like there was a string on a fret board being tightened and tightened until it reached breaking point. Even my reading pace increased as if any extra seconds I could give Thanh Dao would help. As I raced towards the conclusion, I was totally floored by another twist in the tale - to say I gasped out loud is an understatement.

The Last Thing to Burn is a heart-pounding thriller that is as taut as a bowstring. Filled with tension and suspense, this is a dark and disturbing novel that is difficult to put down because Thanh Dao's story completely draws you in. It's horrific and shocking but incredibly powerful, evoking so many emotions in me (especially negative emotions towards Lenn, admittedly). Human trafficking is a difficult subject to read about but full marks to Will Dean for drawing attention to the plight of so many women who leave their home country in search of a better life, only to find themselves enslaved.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

I could not put this book down. The subject matter is topical and cruel but the book written in such a way that you engage with the main characters and at times even start trying to understand the reasons behind the behaviour. I read until the early hours of the night to find out what happened. I will recommend!

A stunning, timely, heart wrenching read and sadly only too believable. A very important book as well as an excellent thriller

Thanks netgalley and Will Dean for giving me the opportunity to read an early edition of this very disturbing story about Jane, which is not her real name. Jane was brought over from Vietnam with the understanding that she would work to pay for travel expenses,then get paid for doing a job so she could send money back to her family, this was a long way from the truth.
Jane was taken to a farm in the middle of no where, and forced to work all day in an old cottage.
She was starved and beaten by a man, and all she wanted to do was run away.
Jane tried many times to run and each time she was brought back and beaten again.
Jane then became pregnant and life got harder once she had the baby as she knew if she misbehaved the baby would be taken from. Her and killed.
This was a very sad story, but it also shows you what you can overcome when you become a mother and you want to live.

Human trafficking is a pretty nasty business. You think you know how bad it is and have maybe come across some news reports and true stories about it, but living through it is probably a lot worse than you imagine. There are certainly a few well-documented accounts of young women abducted as children who have been kept in sex slavery for years, but it's still hard to imagine how traumatising and damaging an experience that can be.

You would hope that Will Dean's fictional story of just such an occurrence with a young Asian woman in The Last Thing to Burn might make it a little more palatable but the experience and circumstances of Thanh Dao is still horrific enough, so horrific that what keeps you reading is the hope - and since it is fiction not unreasonably have some expectation - that there's a way out of it. And if you can feel like that, then you have some idea of what keeps Thanh Dao going, kept captive in a farmhouse in the north of England.

To Lenn, the farmer, her name is Jane, just like his mother and just like his first wife. Jane came over to England with her sister Kim-Ly, shipped illegally into Manchester, leaving their home in Vietnam with hopes of a better life. As they are illegal immigrants, they are forced into working off the huge debt to be paid for cost of their journey. Kim-Ly is working as a hairdresser and as long as she is there, sending Jane regular letters, Jane knows she can't afford to escape, but despite a busted ankle causing constant pain that is alleviated by horse pills, it hasn't stopped her trying.

Thanh Dao has been stripped of almost everything, even her name. She only has a few precious belongings including her sister's letters and a well-read - almost word-for-word memorised - copy of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but each time there's an infraction of Lenn's strict rules, he takes one her possessions and burns it in the old wood-fired oven. Soon there will be nothing left to burn, and what will keep going then? As bad as things are, as brutally as Jane is treated as a slave things are about to get worse when a visitor arrives, and Jane discovers that she is pregnant.

You think there's probably only so much horror you could take in a situation like that, but Will Dean has a way of making this thoroughly gripping and compelling. A lot of this of course depends on how real you can make the characters and how - even in spite of the decline of circumstances - you can simultaneously still retain hope that there is a way out. That of course is easier to achieve in fiction than in real-life, where you can't rely on the approaching end of a book wrapping up the narrative. Perhaps that's why Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is so important to Jane, since it gives her the assurance that one way or another, there will be an end to this story.

The real strength in the book, and what makes the circumstances so harrowing that the reader is also willing to endure the horror in the hope of resolution, is in how well the characters are drawn. That is just as essential for Lenn as well as Jane. Lenn has the most insensitive, unthinking, blunt and brutal way of putting things. Incredibly Will Dean makes every single word, every ordinary commonplace phrase Lenn speaks seem utterly hateful. And yet, as utterly despicable as he is clearly is, you wonder if in his own warped mind, Lenn really believes that what they have is a fair and cozy arrangement.

If The Last Thing to Burn is as gripping, as tense and as dramatic as it is, even with the fictional reassurance that one way or another there will be a way out, that's the principal reason for the book's success. You want to understand how far Lenn can go before even he realises the injustice and horror of the situation. And on the part of Jane, you wonder how much she can withstand, how many of her scant possessions she can see destroyed before there is nothing left to hold onto and she breaks. And believe me, there are some shocking revelations to come before the last thing is burnt.

As the discussion continues about who gets to tell which stories, into the deep steps Will Dean with this novel about a trafficked Vietnamese woman called Thanh. It is certainly a bold move. An unflinching, first-person account from Thanh who is existing as a slave, its pages take you to a place that you really don’t want to go to — and yet you go there anyway, unable to abandon Thanh in the hellhole that the monstrous Lenn has trapped her in.

Dean’s visceral, lyrical writing compels immediately, forcing us to imagine the horror inside this stinking, tumble-down fenland cottage. While The Last Thing to Burn has all the desperation and claustrophobia of Room by Emma Donohue, the opening chapters put me in mind of the equally excellent All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld.

Thanh is not allowed to shut any door in the cramped hovel of a house. Even when she goes to the loo, Lenn can stand there in the doorway watching her. She is made to sit on the hard floor in the evening while Lenn watches Match of the Day, entangling his massive fingers into her hair and saying things like ‘it’s a good life, this’ all while flicking occasional sweets down to her.

He calls her Jane, after her his mother and his first wife — a name that takes on an ominous portent. But as Thanh often reminds us, ‘My name is not Jane.’ Every time I turned a page, I hoped that this would be the moment when Thanh would batter Lenn to death with the red hot poker for the Rayburn, or that Lenn would choke on his Spar-bought pre-sliced cheese.

This story raises that question again — just how many trafficked women are forced to exist in these inhumane conditions? There really is modern slavery in our midst and is often all but invisible to us.

Dean gives this story his heart and soul. He never once descends into melodrama or saccharine sentimentality. There is empathy and tenderness here and the novel eventually reminds us of what MP Jo Cox once so famously said, that we ‘are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”

This is a powerful, deeply unsettling and riveting read. You will be rooting for Thanh all the way.

This is the story of ‘Jane’, the name given to her by her ‘husband’ Leonard who keeps her captive on his isolated Fenland farm. He has cameras watching her all day long and if she does something he doesn’t like she is punished. Thanh Dao aka Jane tells her story.

I’m not going to pretend this is an easy read because it’s not. It’s a brutal personal tale of the outcome of people trafficking and the overwhelming desire to survive in the face of superior strength and terrifying cruelty. It’s a tense and smothering tale of control but overwhelmingly of resilience. It’s incredibly well written, some of the descriptions break your heart and you feel Jane’s pain at every step. The Fenland setting in its unrelenting flat, brown landscape is a perfectly matched atmospheric setting for this bleak story and you are able to visualise the decrepit farmhouse in which she’s trapped. One of Jane’s prized and diminishing possessions is a copy of Mice and Men and I love how the author cleverly weaves this into the narrative.

Overall, this is hard to read but I’m very glad I have. It drew me in right from the start and you become invested in Jane’s survival. It’s a story of incredible bravery, of cruelty but also of deep love and I confess to a lump in my throat at the end.

With thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC for an honest review.

Digging deep into a heartbreakingly human crime,The Last One to Burn is an uncomfortable yet utterly absorbing read by an author who does not shy away from difficult subjects. I was captivated by Jane's story, horrified as it unfolded, and left with a feeling that this book would stay with me for a long time. Tense, emotional, and highly recommended.

This novel pulls zero punches. It makes no concessions to sensitive or squeamish readers. With precise delicacy, author Will Dean exposes a festering wound of western society and challenges the reader to hate the crime – but love the storytelling. Where a lesser writing talent might’ve stumbled into the sleazy territory of titillation through graphic brutality, Dean skilfully avoids presenting emotional and physical abuse for the reader’s gratification while making it absolutely clear what’s happening.
The Last Thing To Burn takes us into the nightmare territory of a young woman imprisoned in a domestic setting. She’s one of those unfortunate souls sold a lie in her homeland, whose family may be indebted for her ‘new life’ in Europe, and who then is kept in 21st century slavery. The bars of this young woman’s cage are both literal and psychological: her tormentor has broken her body so that she cannot run and he’s imprisoned her psyche so her familial duty keeps her tethered in domestic servitude.
This sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it? Fear not. This story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, to the sheer grit of the survivor. This woman may be fictional but she’s 100% convincing, and channels the indomitable determination of trauma casualties who stubbornly cling to life and to what they love.
At first, the similarities with Stephen King’s Misery are inescapable, but where King’s story is an obvious flight of imaginative inventiveness, Burn is blisteringly grounded in the real. It explores unsettling aspects of Stockholm syndrome, of intentional drug addiction and of the massively powerful forces of parenthood. All this, and tension strung so tight it’s a surprise the pages don’t squeak as you turn them. Don’t start this unless you have the time to finish it!
Oh, and the title is brilliant too. But you’ll have to read the book to find out why…
9/10

This is a tough book to read. If you can't deal with the 'hobbling' scene in Misery you're not going to like this. At several points in the book I was wincing as I actually felt 'Jane's pain and that's a reflection on the strength of the writing. A testament to the strength of the human spirit, a mother's love and female friendship this book takes the reader to the depths of despair and to the giddying heights of hope. An absolute powerhouse of a novel I could not stop reading it.