Oh my God, what a book! I finished reading it in one seating, I couldn't put it down before knowing what happens with Jane and to Jane.

You see, Jane is not the real name of this courageous woman, it is the name given to her by her captor and torturer.

Jane, or Thanh Dao, and her sister Kym-Lyn travel from Vietnam to England under the false pretense of getting good jobs. Nothing can be further from the truth. They become one of the many victims of human trafficking.

The chilling and compelling story makes you want to continue reading even though you feel the pain, and there is lots of pain here, the despair and the physical and mental abuse that Jane endures by the hand of Lenn her captor.

Although you do feel everything bad that she feels while reading you also feel her resilience, bravery and her will to survive, especially after becoming pregnant and giving birth to her child.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book who loves to read thrillers and is not thrown away by a disturbing and sometimes difficult to read story.

LOVED THIS BOOK. So dark but so original and unlike anything I've read lately. An excellent choice for thriller fans!

I absolutely could not put this book down. Not to make more coffee, not to eat, not even to wiggle my foot when it fell asleep. It was that good. Engaging right from the first page, and especially fast paced for a book that takes place in one location. Loved it!!

Goodness this one was intense! I picked up The Last Thing to Burn one afternoon and finished the entire thing before bed! This story was addicting, dark, and absolutely unputdownable.

A woman is being held captive and willing to risk everything to save herself, her unborn child, and her captor’s latest victim. The Last Thing to Burn explores human trafficking and enslavement in this horrific and atmospheric story. The plot moves quickly and I felt so much hope for Jane. She’s facing so much pain and abuse, yet she absolutely refuses to give up.

Words I’d use to describe this book- gut-wrenching, brilliant, claustrophobic and intense.

I’d recommend this one to thriller lovers! Five stars.

(Trigger warning- rape, torture, enslavement, and abuse.)

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 Atria 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺.

Disturbingly realistic and gut-wrenching. I was gripped from the first page and could not stop till I found out Jane’s fate.

I wish everyone would read this book to see how terrible and horrific this crime is. Imagine having your life stolen from you and treated like property. With a plot so compelling, this book will have you glued to the pages till the very end.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for this advanced reader's copy.

4.5 stars....

WOW! I read this in less than 24 hours...

Dark, disturbing, & unsettling, but a page turner! A story about human trafficking, captivity, and the perseverance of one person to never give up for herself, her daughter, and her family…

Thank you @netgalley & @atria! & @kmc_reads for telling me to read this!

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean is a tense thriller about a woman that has been held captive for seven years. She is on an isolated farm with her "husband," and she is required to do whatever he asks of her. After she ends up pregnant and gives birth, she starts to plan their escape; but then another woman is kidnapped and is held in the crawlspace under the house. Can the three of them get away from their captor? This book was rather hard to read at times as it covered many triggering events, but it certainly kept my attention. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

Meet Jane, not her real name. She lives on a farm, is married to Lenn, keeps house, has bad days and worse days, and is held captive so that her sister might have a chance at a normal, everyday life. The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean focuses on human trafficking and the remarkable resilience of humans.

While The Last Thing to Burn did not grab me as soon as I started reading, it will stay with me. Told from Jane's point of view, this slow-moving story describes the brutality and humiliation she endures to keep her sister safe. Dean's description of her home and her life are dark. He makes you taste the dirt in the yard, feel the cold and rot seeping in, feel Jane's pain, and experience the shifts between her hopelessness and resoluteness.

Lisa Jewell and Ruth Ware both use the word terrifying in their blurbs about this novel. I found the situation Jane is in to be terrifying but not the story itself. It is slow but appropriately paced. Lenn does not need to hurry because he thinks he has broken Jane, so, therefore, will not leave him.

Never doubt the human resilience factor.

This 200-word review will be published on Philomathinphila.com.

Some say rules are meant to be broken, others can't afford to break them because their life is on the line.
Thanh (Jane) has been living a nightmare for seven years. She must complete her daily chores and make him happy or suffer the consequences. His food must be perfect, the sink should be scrubbed properly, and she should not sit around for too long as there is work to be done. He knows everything, he has eyes everywhere. Thanh does what she needs to in order to survive, but then one day she realizes she is pregnant. What will he do when he finds out? Can she save not only herself, but also her child?
This book was amazing! I read it in its entirety in two days, not wanting to put it down for even a second! I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. I will definitely be reading more of Will Dean's work. He is a very talented writer; I am so glad I stumbled upon this book! I definitely recommend this to anyone that enjoys a good Suspense novel. Warning: Some parts of this story were very hard to read, which is to be expected with the content that is within this book.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Got the book twice on NetGalley (not complaining :) ) so im posting the review in both places.

Holy bananas. That take you from page one and does not let go. It is a very "room" type of book. Very well written. Content could be triggering for some people. I read it in once day. Lets just say i liked the epilogue. :)

Thanks Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley.

Will defiantly look up this author..

Jane, not her actual name, is being held captive by Lenn. As a refugee, she has no one to turn to and is threatened that her sister will be sent back if she tries any "funny business." Will Jane ever be free of Lenn? How will this story end?

Often times, it is said that an author needs to show and not tell. For example, instead of saying X was horrible, the author should describe the experience and allow the reader to conclude that the situation is horrible. This is a textbook example of an author shows the reader how awful the situation is. This book is raw, dark, and gritty. It is not a mystery but a thriller. The reader is constantly kept in suspense and wondering what the outcomes will be. The author has beautifully captured the emotions and terror of Jane as if we were sitting along beside her.

However, this book was a bit slow moving for my style. It also reminded me of Even Silence Has An End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle which was a true story. This book is nonfiction and wasn't bounded by sticking to an established set of facts and stirred up emotions and thoughts - What are the things that are important to us? What makes us uniquely us? If no one else knows our name, does it still count? These were some weighty thoughts that I enjoyed simmering on. This book is told in chronological order; however, although this is an incredibly overused style, this book would have benefited (if executed well) from shifting timelines (switching from past to present timelines).

This book was such a heart-pounding, unforgettable, suspenseful rollercoaster! I have never read a book by Will Dean, but after seeing a few good reviews and realizing it would probably be a good, quick read, I started reading and I could not stop!

The narrative voice is Jane, which is the name her captor has given her. She is being held against her will by a man named Lenn, and you are right there with her on every page. She is suffering physically and mentally, always thinking of ways to escape, but with every misstep, he destroys a piece of her identity that she holds dear (a family photograph, her Vietnamese ID card, letters from her sister, and a precious copy of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.) She knows his expectations, and while she doesn’t fully comprehend why he refers to her as Jane (his previous wife) she tries her best to fulfill that role, keeping the house clean and food perfect to his liking. Eventually she becomes pregnant, and things start to get scary not only for her but her baby.

Later in the book, another woman arrives, locked below the floorboards in the cellar. Jane hears her screams and wants to help her, but is terrified to risk her and her baby’s life to do so.

The ending is like the end of a horror movie. I was so scared for them, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book so fast!

If you’re looking for a good, thrilling binge-worthy book to get lost in—pick this up!

(Admittedly I am not a fan of the cover. I almost didn’t want to read it because it looked cheesy, however I’m so glad I dove into this anyway. I prefer the red cover from other editions)

Thank you to #netgalley and @Atriabooks for my free ARC and e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was quite the ride. It delves into the world of human trafficking & the pacing made it very hard to put down. We are introduced to sisters Thanh & Kim-Ly who have been trafficked to the UK from Vietnam. The girls are quickly separated & most of the story centers on Thanh (Jane) & her daily existence with her captor, Lenn. We quickly learn that anytime Jane doesn’t comply with Lenn’s demands, he burns one of the few possessions she arrived with. When Jane becomes pregnant, the stakes get higher & her daily struggles at the abusive hands of Lenn become more costly. Will she be able to escape? Will someone rescue her before she has her baby? What happens when the last thing has burned? I highly recommend this book. Thanks to #NetGalley and #Atriabooks for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This offering from Will Dean is a nasty, suffocating story about a Vietnamese woman trafficked to the UK and kept as a domestic slave in an English farmhouse.

The Last Thing to Burn is not an easy read at all. This poor woman is forced to re-pay the 'debt' supposedly incurred due to the cost of bringing her and her sister to the UK for a better life. She is subject to horrific mental, physical and sexual abuse for seven years. The monster keeping her captive is twisted, ignorant and physically imposing. The farmhouse is run-down, dark, damp and mouldy. When you start reading this story, you know it wont be nice.

This is set almost entirely in the farmhouse - there are only a couple of characters, this could very well be a play. But I couldn't imagine how much more horrific this story would be if you could see and hear the victim.

The story is very well written, the author captivated me - which is no small thing, considering the subject matter is so abhorrent. This sad story highlights the plight of so many people from poor countries who are exploited and abused in the horrible world of human trafficking.

It is a very sad reminder, and a visceral experience for all of us.

4 Stars

“ ‘I won’t have it, Jane.’
My name is not Jane.”

Will Dean, a UK writer, makes his stateside debut with this dark, disturbing and profound story about human trafficking, a woman’s resilience, and a mother’s love.

On an isolated farm in the United Kingdom,
a young woman, who is the victim of human trafficking, is trapped. Lenn, her captor, watches her every move via cameras strategically placed throughout the house. She is physically, mentally and psychologically abused. Beaten down. Stripped to her bare bones, both literally and figuratively. But then she finds out she is pregnant and with that, a strength she didn’t know she possessed.

Oomph this one hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. My my my. I literally cringed at multiple points during this book. The visuals...I felt them. Like chills on my arms felt them. This book was so well written I felt like I was peering in a dirty window watching these events unfold. Some aspects were incredibly difficult to stomach but the emotions that this book conjured up in me are those I only feel with the best of books. This is the first book that I have read by this author but it will not be my last!

If you liked Room, you will love this one!

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, Simon and Schuster and the author for this arc in exchange for an honest review. Available now!

This book was amazing. It's short - it took me less than 6 hours to finish it in one sitting. Start it early in the day when you have a lot of time because you won't want to put it down.

Thanh and her sister, Kim-Ly, arrived in England in a shipping container, thinking they would have better lives than in Vietnam, but they were sold into slavery. Thanh is now Jane and lives on a farm in a very isolated area with a man who makes her do everything the way his mother did, has cameras watch her every move and burns her things if she disobeys him in even the slightest way. She becomes pregnant and has a child and the man abducts another woman. Thanh/Jane realizes they will all die if she doesn't figure out a way for them to escape.

Edge of your seat. Can't put down because you feel like you are abandoning poor Thanh/Jane and you want to make sure she gets out of this horrible situation.

This book does an amazing job of bringing attention to human trafficking.

The Last Thing to Burn is a heart-pounding, disturbing, and truly claustrophobic story of a young woman held captive on an isolated farm. Thanh and her sister, Kim-Ly, moved from Vietnam to Britain in hopes of providing for their family but instead found themselves in the hands of human traffickers. Thanh’s narration is absolutely harrowing and it left me flying from page-to-page. The plot is not particularly action-packed but the tension is so tangible that I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entirety of the book. I cannot recall ever having such a visceral response to a book. The suspense builds until an absolutely shocking climax that makes the entire journey more than worthwhile. Thank you so much to Atria and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley in exchange for an honest review!

As an avid and (I think) thoughtful reader, one of my biggest gripes is the way books are often marketed. My biggest complaint is the use of the adjective "unputdownable." It's a fractured, sloppy, overused term, although -- in its defense -- we instantly get the meaning. And in the case of The Last Thing to Burn, it is apt. I hated every hour I was, by necessity, away from this book.

I also grumble when retailers target the largest audience, by staking out a single genre and not portraying the book as unique. Yes, The Last Thing to Burn is a thriller -- but it is so beautifully written and so topically current that it deserves to be discovered by people who give thrillers a wide berth. (At least the publishers categorized it as General Fiction!)

This is literature, not genre fiction. And yet it's so compelling and so readable that you forget how well it's crafted. I must read it again, just to pay more attention to the structure, and I've never done that with a mere thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance readers copy.

The Last Thing To Burn by Will Dean.

This book has been compared to both Room and Misery and I think that’s fair enough. But make no mistake, The Last Thing To Burn is also a book well able to stand on its own. It’s (really!) well-written, sad, scary, unnerving, freaky and absolutely thrilling. Read it!! You won’t regret it.

Thanks as always to NetGalley and to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was surprised by how much I liked this book, especially since the plot of this has been portrayed many times on tv. I found the main character strong and likable and resilient,

But be forewarned this book is shocking. There is rape and torture and psychological abuse. "Jane" withstands it, but it's horrifying and there are many twists.