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.

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.

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.