Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on April 20, 2021

Frank Tussock is a farmer in rural England. He is holding captive an undocumented Vietnamese immigrant named Thanh Dao. Frank broke Thanh’s ankle to keep her hobbled. Whenever Thanh tries to escape, Frank burns one of her possessions, stealing everything from Thanh that helps her remember her identity. Among Thanh’s last possessions are letters from her sister, another undocumented immigrant who took up residence elsewhere in England. Frank uses Thanh’s sister against her, promising that the sister will be deported if Thanh kills him or escapes.

Frank uses Thanh as a servant and as a sexual slave. He expects Thanh to prepare meals as is mother did, to wear his mother’s bra, to use his mother’s rags in lieu of sanitary napkins. Frank has serious mommy issues. When Thanh becomes pregnant seven years into her captivity, Frank seems moderately happy, perhaps envisioning a future servant. But he doesn’t want to have sex with Thanh while she’s leaking milk (he was equally fastidious about her period before she got pregnant), so he takes another woman captive. Cynthia Townsend dropped by on a couple of occasions to inquire about buying some of Frank’s land before he captured her. Frank holds Cynthia in the basement and presumably uses her as a sexual substitute for Thanh, although none of those scenes are explicit.

The Last Thing to Burn tells a simple story, perhaps a bit too simple given that it has only three characters until a fourth makes a brief appearance near the end. I didn’t entirely buy Frank’s decision to risk kidnapping Cynthia, particularly after learning late in the novel that Thanh wasn’t Frank’s only sexual option. Nor did I entirely buy Thanh’s decision not to tell Cynthia that she was being held captive when she first had the chance, before Cynthia also became a prisoner. Finally, I didn’t regard Cynthia’s strength at the novel’s end to be plausible after behind held in a dank basement and subsisting on scraps.

Still, the story is chilling. Will Dean uses Thanh’s first-person narration to place the reader inside her head. Her fear and hopelessness, eventually replaced by fear and determination, seem perfectly authentic.

Frank’s accent, speech pattern, and ill-educated vocabulary add to the illusion that the story is real. Frank is one of the creepiest characters I’ve recently encountered, but his creepiness seems perfectly consistent with his upbringing and rural isolation. Dean’s prose develops the plot with understated power. An epilog is perhaps too optimistic — the promise of quick healing is a bit hard to swallow — but as a horror story of evil endured and defeated, The Last Thing to Burn is largely a success.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you @atriabooks for sharing a copy of The Last Thing To Burn by Will Dean for review. This super dark character thriller is out now.

The Last Thing To Burn is completely different from Will Dean’s Tuva series and I was not at all expecting how dark it would be. Multiple content warnings for all kinds of abuse and postpartum issues. Please DM if you want details but also get ready for a dark read if you go for this one.
This book follows Jane, as she’s known to her keeper. She came to England from Vietnam with her sister to work and was instead sold to a pig farmer to be a wife. Thanh is recorded or watched every second of every day and is punished by having one of her few possessions burned.
Well written and very claustrophobic as it takes almost entirely locked in a small farmhouse, I do think this one would have been better if I was ready for the content.

Absolutely unputdownable!! Great read. Pulled me in right from the get go. Thank you NetGalley for this arc

Reading Between the Wines book review #57/115 for 2021:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: The Last Thing to Burn
Author: Will Dean
Genre: General Fiction (Adult)
RELEASED on April 20, 2021!!! GRAB YOUR COPY TODAY!!
Recommended to readers who liked Room and Misery but with a twist.

Sipping thoughts: Sad, devastating, heart-wrenching and sickening are the words that come to mind after reading TLTTB. The book starts with a captivating scene that creates that edge of the seat feel and never let’s go. The entire time I was reading, I couldn’t wait for Len to get what was coming to him and for Jane to be victorious. I just did not expect that one little BIG twist that I should have seen coming but I just didn’t! This book is not for the weak. As I said before, if you like the feel of Room meets Misery and can deal with the vile things monsters like Len do then pick this book up and enjoy the ride.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley, @willrdean and @AtriaBooks for an advanced copy of @TheLastThingToBurn

#WillDean #TheLastThingToBurn #AtriaBooks #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #generaladultfiction

I am going back and forth on my rating for this one. I can't say I didn't enjoy it because I did. The synopsis grabbed my attention and I immediately requested it. I listened to the audio and also read along with the book. I found myself getting aggravated with the audio. Had I read the book by itself, I think I would have enjoyed it so much more. The beginning was good, the middle drug out a little for me but the ending...OMG! I was on the edge of my seat and holding my breath. I would definitely recommend this book, just maybe not the audio. I found myself sneaking in pages and listening when I could. Looking forward to more from this author.

3.5/5 rounded up

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean was an incredible book. It reminded me a bit of Emma Donoghue's The Room, if only because of the subject matter. "Jane," who has been renamed by her captor, has been trapped on/in his farm in the UK for seven years. He is cruel and has punished her both physically an mentally. When Jane realizes she is pregnant, she decides she has to protect her child, so she begins to plan an escape. Then, another woman is brought to the farm and Jane's plans are thrown awry. Can she save her child, this woman, and herself or is it all just completely hopeless? No spoilers. Go read this book. I highly recommend it.

This was harrowing, dark, emotional and absolutely unputdownable!!! It deserves ALL the stars!

Will Dean takes us straight into the disturbing, evil world of human trafficking and enslavement and it's brutal. You will never be able to forget "Jane" or the cruelty and horrors she endured. Jane is really a young Vietnamese woman named Thanh Dao who along with her sister, Kym-Ly, arrive in the UK in the hopes or work and a better life only to find they have been conned. Instead of the promised life of work and freedom Jane is held prisoner but in her mind and heart, she is never enslaved. I LOVED Jane - what a fighting spirit! She had such a sense of determination and strength in spite of the daily horrors she endured. I was riveted, rooting for her all the while my heart broke for her.

This is not a book to be entered into in lightly but it was absolutely amazing. I listened to this on audio and I felt transported into Jane's world. There were parts that gave me goose bumps and parts that made me want to cry because it felt so real. A highly recommended must read!

14% into this book and I was ready to give it up. Not because is wasn't good but because it was pure brutality. I felt bilious reading it. But on the advice of the brilliant The Book Club on Facebook I persevered and I'm so so glad I did. A fantastic book! One that will stay with me for a long time.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗡 by @willrdean was an utterly compelling story of survival, which captivated me from start to finish leaving me no choice but to give it all the skulls!⁣
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A victim of human trafficking, "Jane" displays tremendous raw emotions and pain at the hands of her captor, Lenn. And it pissed me the hell off to no end. While reading, you can't help but connect so deeply with "Jane" and what she feels on a daily basis.⁣
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This perfect psychological suspense will leave you feeling heartbroken while at the same time keep you sitting on the edge of your seat just waiting for what will happen next. As a mother, certain scenes in the book made me want to jump in and rip Lenn to complete shreds! What an absolute jerk! Even though it's 256 pages, there's a lot to unpack and discuss, but–wow–it will leave you feeling so many emotions and that's something about books that I absolutely love. To be that engrossed and involved in a novel means the author wrote a doozy!⁣
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Now, please excuse me while I go find out what other books Will Dean has written while you add THE LAST THING TO BURN to your tbr.⁣
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Thank you, @maudee and @atriabooks, for sending me an ARC and my finished hardcover copy!⁣

A really dark, captivating story that kept me up reading well past bed time. Really gripping and disturbing. Very highly recommended.

Jane is living with her husband Lenn on a farm. A seemingly happy life. But then, appearances are not everything. And Jane is not Jane at all.

When a farmer named Lenn buys an illegal Vietnamese refugee named Thanh Dao, little does she expect her life to take this turn. She is Jane to him. He has cameras trained on her at all times. She cannot leave the farm. He is always watching. One wrong move and she might lose her precious belongings or even her life.

What keeps her going is that her sister is somewhere safe, working at a nail salon, and paying all the debts that got them to this country in the first place. Her sister's letters are the light in Jane's dark life and she fights hard to keep them.

This is a tale of survival against all odds - one of the best books I have read this year. The pain throughout the book is real and raw. You feel the pain and the anger. You feel like reaching into the pages and killing Lenn yourself. But you cannot because then what will happen to Jane?

It also brings to light the horrible issue of human trafficking and how it impacts those who are less fortunate than us.

5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Will Dean and Atria Books for the ARC

I had no idea what I was in for when I picked this one up. Wow, what an intense read!

An innocent Vietnamese woman and her sister think they are headed to America for a better life. NOT! This is a story of sex trafficking. It follows one of the sisters Thanh Dao who is sold to a horrible man. He keeps her hostage and renames her Jane. Jane is the narrator of this story and I felt as if I was with her every step. All her private thoughts and all the trauma she experiences had me riveted to every word. I was hooked the moment I started and couldn’t put it down.
Excellent read!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

On an isolated farm somewhere in England we meet Jane and her captor Lenn. Jane is not her real name, that is what he calls her. Jane has been held against her wishes for over 7 years. She and her sister was brought here illegally. He tells her that her sister has been found and deported back to Vietnam. He has injured Jane in such a way that he knows she will not try to escape, again.

OMG, this book is filled with suspense in a mind bending sort of way. Once I started, I could not put it down.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for this advanced readers copy. This book released in April, 2021.

Wow. This book was positively breathtaking. I was *literally* on the edge of my seat for the last 20% of the book. While very hard to read at times, I still couldn’t put it down. So while it’s not really a “thriller” in the conventional sense, it was very suspenseful.
The writing was amazing as we are in Jane’s (not her real name) head, enduring her years of captivity at the hands of a brutal man. Her thoughts are heartbreaking and her circumstances horrific but she never gives up hope as she dreams of a better life.
This was a short, fast read, & really packed a punch. 5 amazing stars.

Three words to describe The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean: horrifying, heavy, and heartbreaking. I finished it late last night, and my mind was racing for at least an hour before I was finally able to fall asleep. Reading a story about a woman being held captive for seven years is not easy to do. The terrifying events kept going over and over in my head. I could barely breathe while reading the conclusion of this novel. My chest was tight, my eyes were wide, my heart was pounding, and my hands were in my mouth. My fingernails are completely gone. I’m going to need a nice, light read after this one! Major trigger warnings include: human trafficking, rape, psychological torture, physical and mental abuse. So, read at your own risk. This book isn’t for everyone. It’s a short, but extremely intense and suspenseful read. I won’t ever forget it. 5/5 stars for The Last Thing to Burn!

Nothing too bad will happen on the street of a small town like this because people are everywhere. If something heinous occurs, then it’s likely to be short-lived. Terrible acts are more difficult to conceal in a place like this. Someone will eventually step in or call the police. Horrors can still take place, but people look after people even though they might never think of it that way.

My name is not Jane.

I felt extremely uncomfortable and claustrophobic listening to The Last Thing to Burn. I’m one of those people that when something happens to someone that they don’t deserve I get very upset and just turn it off. While I wanted to stop this audiobook several times, I was drawn to Thanh Dao and her fight for survival. I needed her to fight, I needed her to win. I needed her to overcome.

While this is not your stereotypical thriller, I will say I was itching in anticipation needing Thanh Dao to be okay. It was masterfully written to where I felt anxious in anticipation and had to settle myself. The reader of the audio book did an amazing job and really made Thanh Dao real to me. The pleas for her baby really struck a chord for me, and made her pain almost unbearable. That is brilliant writing and brilliant narration.

Overall, I am glad I read this and took a chance on it. It’s not something I would have chosen, but man, did it really hit! The horrors of human trafficking are real, and Dean painted the atrocities perfectly. Plus, there was a lot I was not expecting, and that had me shocked! Thank you so much Simon Audio for the gifted copy.

I really wish I could have loved this as much as so many others did. It had excellent literary value, addressed an important topic, and was atmospheric. The male author did a fantastic job capturing a female perspective and it seemed evident that he did a significant amount of research to create this story. All of this is highly commendable.

But, marketing matters. If you tell me that a book is a thriller, I expect it to thrill. This isn’t the author’s fault, but the synopsis did create an expectation. I do, however, like literary fiction, so I don’t think I would have enjoyed this significantly more, even if it had been promoted differently.

I felt that the narrative spent too long fixating on certain details. It took almost the entire first half of the book for anything that matched the summary’s description to actually happen. Really, this is a book about a victim of human trafficking, a Vietnamese woman who is being held in captivity, and if you want anything more from that storyline, you’ll be waiting a while.

As is often the case for me, I did find the repetitiveness irritating. I think I understand what the author intended with some of this. Thanh Dao, aka “Jane,” clung tightly to her identity, rightfully so, and wasn’t going to give it up for anyone, even the reader. I understand using repetition to emphasize a point, but it all felt superfluous after a while.

I felt similarly with some of the vocabulary used, as the author would sometimes use two words consecutively that meant the same thing (e.g. abandoned and derelict). While I do find this writing style effective in poetry, it always ends up bothering me in novels. It feels as if it drags everything out.

The story is interesting and Dean throws some decent surprises the reader’s way. He created a wholly detestable character in Lenn, but I still wanted to make sense of some of the choices he made. Based on how Lenn’s character was presented, I had a hard time believing he’d succeed with certain things.

Every issue I had did pull me out of an otherwise disturbing story, but it was still immersive enough that I found myself crying at the end.

I can see why so many have loved this, even though it didn’t completely work for me. There is a level of intensity, especially in the last quarter, and it, undoubtedly, pulls at the heartstrings. I do believe Will Dean is a promising and insightful writer and I’m looking forward to seeing what he brings us in the future.

I am immensely grateful to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for my digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

A story told from a captive. A captive who has her name changed, her clothes , food, fresh air dictated by her captive. In constant pain, she is controlled by this pain and her captors. If she is good she’s allowed a modicum of release. Living under constant surveillance, she seems to be resigned until a moment changes not only her plan for escape but her life as she has known it the past seven years. It is stark, you will scream if frustration, you will cheer in the end. I hope

Dark, but incredibly moreish - as I found myself compelled to read 'just a little more' at each sitting. This story of human trafficking is a must read, and gives an idea of some of the horrendous things that go on in this world. Jane, real name Thanh Dao, is being kept as the 'wife' of captor Lenn; and she is always just a mistake away from being punished. There is a claustrophobic tension as we realise that she is being emotionally blackmailed in such a way that she feels it is impossible to escape her terrible situation. Gripping, disturbing and a must read as Jane goes through this emotional and physical abuse and tries to find an answer. Very highly recommended. Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for this read.

The Last Thing to Burn is an incredible novel that takes you in the home of a human trafficker and his captive, easing us in their daily routine, day by day until we realize we cannot escape it.

This is a brilliantly written book. I went in not really knowing what to expect, and got out less than 48h later with so many feelings. Will Dean could have walked into a huge trap by creating a plot set in only one location, with only 2-3 characters, and not much dialog. However, we are given such details about what is going on inside Jane's mind, who is always thinking, trying to resist that man who forces her to stay in this farm, away from everyone, that I never felt like the action was dragging on. There are also sprinkles of action every now and then, just enough to have the plot move on, but still being able to savor the characters and everything around them. Does that make sense?

The whole book is centered around its characters, as we are in a closed location, with a captive person. I loved Jane, the captive, immensely. Even if she's going through hell, she is creative enough to figure out how to keep hope as well as her sanity. Still, she was not my favorite character. I enjoyed reading about her captor much more. I'm a sucker for a good deranged person in a novel, and I got my fill here! This is definitely a guy who loves having power over the others, that much is clear. However, we also get to understand more about this guy's odd brain, when he keeps comparing Jane to his mother, and how he loves everything done like his mother did. Since we never really know what happened with her mother, we can guess something traumatic happened, which ended with him having psychological trauma, and therefore leading him to this behavior. It's also interesting to watch him turn more and more into a huge psychopath, as he clearly enjoys Jane's suffering.

The psychological aspect here is so important, and so well done that I can only recommend it warmly. Just be aware that it can be stressful for you to read if you're sensitive to such topic, as it can sometimes feel a little oppressing to be in that farm, stuck with a psychopath along with Jane. Overall a captivating book that had me flying through it!