Got this one as a physical book as well. Great little thriller and kept me wanting more. I wasn’t able to figure it out either, which is always a plus for me (tho not a deal breaker).

I really tried to get into this one, but alas it just wasn’t for me. It was a bit of a slog, mainly because the story premise required that kind of internalized languidness. The writing is good stylistically, which is always a plus. This is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” I’m sure many will find this appealing.

When Thanh Dao and her sister Kim Ly came to the United Kingdom illegally, it was with hope. A better life, more opportunities, and being able to send money to their parents in Vietnam. It does not go as planned, and The Last Thing To Burn tells a horrific tale, of human trafficking and sexual slavery. Lenn is a farmer who has made Thanh Dao, who he calls Jane, his prisoner, and his wife. She cooks, cleans, and is forced to share his bed, night after agonizing night. She has tried to escape, but that has only ended in physical and emotional abuse. She endures his punishments which end with a horrible injury, and a dependence on the horse pills Lenn doles out. She tries desperately to hold on to who she was, Thang Dao before this nightmare began, but it gets harder and harder each day. Her personal belongings dwindle as Lenn forces her to choose one to burn as an almost crueler punishment than the physical ones he inflicts. Letters from her sister let her know that she has a job, friends, and life keeps Jane hopeful. The day will come when Kim Ly has paid her debt to those who brought her here, then Jane can find a way out without putting her sister at risk. Yes, Lenn's cruelty has no bounds as he straight out tells Jane that if she escapes, her sister will pay the price. When Jane becomes pregnant and Lenn brings another woman into the house, the tension becomes unbearable. Is it possible for Jane to save herself, the baby, and this woman from Lenn with so much stacked against her? Does she even have enough of herself left still to try? The characters in this book were so well written. With every passing page, I felt more and more as if I was trapped alongside Jane, who was losing a little more of her soul one cruel day at a time. There is certainly nothing redeeming to say about Lenn, but the character is written in a way that makes you think he truly believes that what he has created is truly a happy home and family. He dishes out cruel words in the same tone as saying it is a sunny day. It was terrifying because I just knew that he could hurt Jane with the same ease as he watched TV. If you think losing her last possession to the fire is the worst thing that will happen to Jane, be prepared for more shocks. I am not going to say more and risk entering into spoiler territory. This was one of the most brutal and thought-provoking books I have read and I am stunned by how very real Will Dean made the setting and the characters. This is an author to watch.

“The Last Thing To Burn”, by Will Dean

“The Last Thing To Burn” had my attention from the first page. It is a character driven dark novel that tackles a very difficult subject. Human trafficking is a real life horror that affects a portion of the population. These victims experience rape, abuse and enslavement. Dean writes a story that throws the reader into this nightmare.

Jenn, but that is not her name, is the victim of human trafficking. She is kept as a prisoner in Lenn’s farm. She is expectged to do it all: cook, clean and fulfill Lenn’s needs. She is broken mentally and physically.

“The Last Thing To Burn” is not an easy read. The book is told in first person and Jenn’s desperation oozes off the pages. There was a bit of repetition in the story in regards to the loss of her personal belongings and her foot. Her mangled foot received a lot of airtime. I will forever remember the state of her foot and her excruciating pain.

The reader really starts to root for Jane. Dean really shows her struggle and fear. When I am reading dark subjects, it is imprtant that the author evoke those emotions in me. Dean was able to really bring these characters to life.

I have seen readers compare this book to “ROOM”. I guess that is being added to my TBR immediately.

The drama and suspense in this story is claustrophobic. To me it’s a slow burn character driven intense book. Woman is kidnapped seven years ago. After she realizes she’s pregnant she plans her escape but when another victim is brought to the farm she changes her plan . She now needs to save herself, her baby and this new victim. What happens during this time will have you gripping your throat .

I have never read this author before and for that I am very sorry! I plan to correct that and get more of his books and read them. He writes gripping page turners that make you want to stay up all night to finish them and then be full of regret because you have finished it! I recommend that you run right out and get yourself a copy and a nice hot cup of whatever will help you stay awake and start reading this great book! Thanks for writing such a great book!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Really great read, creepy af and parts made my skin crawl but really great and loved the ending

Thanh Dao came to the UK with her sister and the promise of a good job, but instead, it was a trafficking operation and she was sold to Lenn. Lenn names her Jane and keeps her prisoner for seven years. He uses threats against her sister to keep her submissive. Every time she does something he doesn't like, he burns one of her possessions. When Jane realizes she is pregnant, she knows she must escape. When she realizes that there is another woman being held prisoner in the basement, she knows that she must save her as well. Will they escape?

This story was similar to others I had read, yet also different. Jane had no one looking for her, she was pretty much alone and isolated except for a neighbour lady that occasionally stopped by. She went into town with Lenn, but didn't let anyone know she was actually his prisoner. I felt for her and the helplessness she felt, but I wasn't gripped with this story. Lenn was a creepy character. Jane was a replacement for his mother and wife and she had to do everything they had done, every day, over and over. He tested her constantly and just gave me the heebie jeebies. This is a cringe worthy story that won't be for everyone. The twists did surprise me and I loved the ending, so I do recommend it to those who enjoy twisty thrillers.

A book that is both fast-paced yet feels like it drags on forever. In this book you are following the life of the main character who is a woman who has been taken against her will and held in a home by a sociopathic disheveled pig farmer.

The book reads like a slow torture. You really get a feel for what each long day is like in the main character shoes, size 11 old and worn out.

This book is not for the faint of heart. The author does a good job about putting you in the moment without being too descriptive however, the subject matter is pretty tough.

This book explores what the human spirit will do in order to save the ones they love. What you are willing to endure in order to protect yourself in those around you.

I did get sucked in right from the beginning and kept reading because I really wanted to see how the story went end. The author does a great job with character development and really makes you love certain characters and viscerally hate other characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

WOW! This book was like nothing I have ever read before. We are introduced to a woman, "Jane" who is being held captive by a horrendous, nasty, cruel man, Lenn, in his home, out in an isolated cottage, where no help can be found for miles away. There is no chance of escape for Jane, who is constantly videotaped, and thrown orders from Lenn. If she does not obey him, he will burn one of her remaining treasures that she has from her life and her memory of her family back in Vietnam. Lenn also has made sure that Jane will not escape by purposefully giving her a crush injury with a bolt cutter to her ankle. He feeds her pain pills meant for animals to dull her pain enough so she can take care of the cottage and Lenn's needs. It was hard at times to read about Jane's daily struggles, particularly reading about her ankle, and how the injuries were described. Nevertheless, I could not put it down. The survival story of Jane, and eventually her daughter Huang, Kim-Ly and another woman, Cynthia, who enters the story almost brought tears to my eyes. The strength and resilience of these women, when bound together to escape was very heartwarming and had me glued to every page. I so enjoyed this. 4.5 stars!

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Oh my! What did I just read?! I feel like I shouldn’t give it 5 stars because it was so disturbing and creepy….but yet it was one of those books that no matter how much you are disgusted by what’s going on, you just can’t put it down! Lenn, the main character, was a monster and he completely grossed me out! My heart ached for “Jane” throughout the whole book. It is terrifying to think that things, like what happened to her, happen in real life. Every other chapter I would say to myself “I can’t read this anymore” but then I also really needed to know how it ended for “Jane”, her baby, and the other woman who was held captive. There was also a twist at the end that I absolutely did NOT see coming! I can totally imagine this book as a movie. I can see why it’s been compared to Misery. I highly recommend this one to anyone who likes a page turning suspenseful novel. I will warn you though, that there are many things that are hard to read because Lenn is just so repulsive, cruel and terrifying. Honestly, this is one of the most intense books I’ve read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

To read other reviews I’ve written, check out my Instagram and Goodreads pages:
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This was definitely a page-turner, and I loved that ending. It starts bit slow and is pretty repetitive, so I considered DNFing, but it was short so I held on. The ending was worth it.

Something was off though that I can't put my finger on.

Lots of possible triggers here: kidnapping, rape, torture just to name a few.

I believe there were two huge plot holes. With all the talk of Jane the first (the mother) and Jane the second (the wife), I really want to know for sure what happened to them.

A big thanks to the author, the publisher, and netgalley for a copy of the arc.

This book got a lot of hype on bookstagram and I wanted to give it a shot. I should have known that I would struggled because the book is baed in the UK. I'm not sure why I struggle with books in this location but I find it harder to connect to the characters and plot lines. I had to DNF but I may try again at a later date.

Thanh Dao and her sister were promised employment and a better life in England. But Thanh was taken by Lenn to his farm to be his wife.  Everything has been taken from her in the seven years she's been imprisoned on his farm. The first time she tried to escape,  he caught her and made it nearly impossible to try again. Now she's watched constantly by Lenn and the cameras that film her every move. He even takes her name,  calling her Jane after his mother and his first wife.  But when she discovers she's pregnant,  she's more determined than ever to escape. 

I was shocked and horrified by the conditions "Jane" was forced to endure for years. I was rooting her on throughout the book that even though she suffered endless pain for years she still stayed strong,  plotting against Lenn every second of every day. This story was hard to read but well worth it. 

I received an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

Phenomenal read! One of those books where you can't wait to finish it but you force yourself to read slow to savor it.
There are tons of triggers in this book and it's dark and disturbing on a whole new level, but I can't recommend it enough! 5⭐‼️

I have read some of the other books by this author from his series, and this one is a stand-alone which I was keen to read as I enjoyed the others. This was a powerful, tense domestic thriller which deals with some hard hitting subjects, including domestic abuse and human trafficking (an issue close to my heart due to my job.)

The author deals with these topics well and sensitively and I was completely invested in this from the start. My heart completely went out to the main character, and I absolutely detested her husband and his treatment of her. My heart was in my mouth at many points of this, and I was completely rooting for this lady and desperate for her to escape this horrific excuse for a man. The emotions this brings out in you for these characters shows how well written they are. This also shows the worst and the best parts of humanity, and definitely packs an emotional punch. I would highly recommend and will definitely be reading more from this author.

4.5★
“I spend three hours sewing and repairing his shirts and his socks and some of his mother’s cloths now that they’re dry. With every puncture of steel needle through fabric I imagine it’s his skin. Rough. Punctured all over. Dying.”

Thanh Dao is a trafficked Vietnamese ‘wife’ held captive by Leonard, an English farmer living in his mother's mouldy, smelly old farmhouse.

“My sister and I arrived in Liverpool inside a shipping container nine years ago. It was the coldest time of my life. From the heat of Saigon to that icy metal box.”

Years later, she has almost nothing of her own left. An ID card, a photograph, a few letters, and a paperback of John Steinbeck's classic, Of Mice and Men. Lenn has cameras all over the house. When he sees she’s disobeyed his rules or displeased him, he takes something of hers and burns it.

She cherishes the letters from her little sister, because Kim-Ly writes about working to pay off her debt to the man who recruited them. But Lenn has threatened to tell the man her sister works for to deport her sister if his rules aren’t obeyed.

“I live in an open prison surrounded by wall-less fields and fence-less fens.”

Lenn smashed her ankle, crippling her, and he gives her “horse pills”, painkillers for livestock. This makes her memory foggy so she’s losing a sense of who she is.

“I remember his rules and his meal schedule, what he eats each day of the week, and how he likes his ham, eggs, and fries. It’s myself that I forget sometimes. Who I really am. From before.”

He calls her Jane, his mother’s name. She always refers to what she’s using as “his mother’s apron” or his mother’s towel. He buys the same food his mother cooked and makes her stick to a fixed menu.

“He looks over at the potatoes in the sink. ‘Make sure there’s no lumps in it this time, Jane.’ He turns back to the desktop screen. ‘Me mother’s never had lumps. I don’t like eatin’ no lumps.’”

Her other cherished item is Of Mice and Men, which she has almost memorised. She thinks about George and Lennie, a pair of itinerant workers, who dream of having their own perfect small farm.

George is small and smart and he’s the boss. Lennie is big and simple-minded, and he doesn’t know his own strength, which makes him dangerous. George tries to keep him calm and away from cuddly puppies for their own good.

Lenn could be Lennie. He tries to pretend he and ‘Jane’ are a family, living the dream. He has her sit by his feet, like a dog, while he strokes her hair.

“‘It’s alright, ain’t it, this life?’ He sips his beige tea and the fire from the stove lights one side of his face. ‘We’re warm, under a decent roof, full bellies, together, not all bad, is it?’

I sit, my crushed ankle throbbing, his broad, rough fingers in my hair, patting my head, and I swallow the half pill.”

The difference between Lenn and Lennie is that Lenn is the boss, now that his mother is gone, and Jane has to figure out how to outwit him. When she becomes pregnant (which is revealed in the publisher’s publicity), she has even more at stake.

I found the story painful to read. There was little relief from the misery of her crushed foot and her complete subjugation. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I certainly admire it. The author does a wonderful job of putting us inside the head of a young Vietnamese woman, which is quite a trick.

His writing is great, but I was surprised at the use of the words Mom and Mommy when the action takes place in England (where he was born and raised). North Americans are familiar with the words Mum and Mummy, which would have sounded more natural. Perhaps that was the publisher’s idea.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.

P.S. If you haven't read Of Mice and Men, do. It's short, moving, and readily available everywhere.

Wow wow wow. Is literally all I have to say about this book. It was truly an awestruck horror story.

I had such a hard time putting this book down yet at times I didn’t want to read it because I felt so attached to the character. One of the best redemption stories I’ve read this year.

This is a quick, fast-paced, thrilling read.

I was looking forward to this book, and while it is good, I did find myself a little let down after reading it. Maybe it was the material. Maybe the heaviness of the content. I'm not sure. I did like it. But while reading, I found myself growing in sadness. Maybe I was triggered by something in it and just didn't realize. i don't know. I would read further books by the author though.

3/5 Stars

Just wow. This book is absolutely amazing. I was gripped from the first page to the last. The pace and suspense of the book was spot on and there was absolutely nothing to be faulted with it. A must read.