The Last Thing to Burn

I kept hearing this book raved about and having read it in one go in a few hours I totally get why.
Thanh or Jane as she becomes known is a Vietnamese victim or people trafficking. Her and her sister were sent over on the promise of a job in retail and a better life. However Jane is made to live in a farmhouse with Lenn. She is watched on cameras, is not allowed to shut the doors. He expects specific food to be cooked on specific days exactly as his mother used to. Jane must wear his mother's old clothes, all the time with a busted ankle. A sadistic act that leaves her not only in constant pain and reliant on strong painkillers but also less likely to escape.
The title comes from the possessions, 17 to begin with, that get burnt each time Jane breaks a rule.
I liked the atmosphere, you could almost feel the cold from the creaky old house, the creepiness of Lenn running his fingers through her hair. Despite it being a book about control its different, it's not violent.
It's hard to say too much without giving anyway away but if you haven't read it yet then do!

The Last Thing to Burn is a gut-punch.
I remember the first time I watched The Handmaid's Tale adaptation and thinking that as much as I am accustomed to instant gratification popularized by Netflix, some things are just not made for binging. Some things you can only take and digest in small doses because they are too hard, too strung out and too heavy to process otherwise.
This book is just like that.
Entire story spawns in a period of one year or so (it felt like 20) in an isolated farmhouse where Thanh Dao, who came to UK from Vietnam searching for a better job, lives the life stripped of everything, her family, her freedom, even her own name. There are only few precious possessions to remind her of her identity, but with every desperate act of rebellion she losses them one by one. And then another woman is thrown into this nightmare with her and she can't afford to lose the most precious thing she has.
Being tagged as claustrophobic thriller is really on point because the book is entirely told from Thanh's point of view. We are constantly in her head, privy to her anger, her despair, her powerlessness and her resilience, but closed along with her between walls of that damn farmhouse. Following a hellish everyday experience of abused woman held in captivity, it's what makes this story so entirely focused on victim and it doesn't give a moment of a reprieve to reader at all. You are in constant state of discomfort, with clenched stomach, because in this book the small things are what counts of suspense, for "oh, my god, what can she do now?!" questions. The reality of dinner not being made in time, of not having basic hygienic products, of chains and constant pain are in this setting things that have a gravity of insurmountable obstacles. Of course, that's fitting because captive victims don't have a moment of reprieve nor the luxury of simply... not worrying, but that's what makes it hard to process. The other thing that made me leave the book for some time because I was so angry, is Lenn, the captor. He is vile. Pure evil. But not in cartoonish, moustache curling way- he is simply undeterred in his decision to bring misery to the woman he threats in the worst way possible. He rationalize the irrational, he forces himself on her in more ways than just the obvious one and he made my blood boil.
I took the story off because, as much as I hated reading it, the simplicity and the realistic scenario of the situation was what made Thanh's thoughts compelling. But that ending twist, the feather in every thriller writer's hat, had to happen and oddly, I found it unnecessary. I always found the unexplained wrongness of antagonist in a thriller novel far more interesting and a point better made than the necessity to give some backstory that would explain why they do evil things.
I never read Dean's Tuva Moodyson Mystery series, but I'll have to correct that. I like that he sometimes brings the lyrical, moody and sombre cadence to his storytelling and he's not afraid to go dark. And I imagine putting himself in the head of an abused woman in an effort to tell her story was not an easy task to do, but I found he'd done it with much thought and preparation, seriousness and respect her story deserves.
Recommended, but with caution: all the triggers apply.

Thanh-Dao and Kym-Ly leave Vietnam with promises of a new and better life in the UK. Instead they are trafficked into horrible situations. This book is hard to read due to the subject matter, but is well written with realistic characters. "Jane" (Thanh-Dao) is an incredibly strong woman and is determined to save herself and her baby from the hell she is living. If you can handle the subject matter, then you will like this book.

Thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for the arc.

OMG this book.
The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

I swear, I picked it up, but when I started reading it, I could not stop myself. This story follows "Jane", a woman who has been human trafficked from Vietnam to England. She thought she was going to be working and earning her freedom, but is instead sold to a man who allows her nothing. The twists and turns this book took were breathtaking and let me just say, I could not stop reading. The continuing downward spiral of what occurs is horrific but compelling.
I could not get enough of the story of how "Jane" came to be Jane, and how this could be transferred to real life and how we can help to avoid these things in the future.

Beware, this book might be triggering for some, but I think it approached the subject matter really well.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so. incredibly. disturbing.

The Last Thing To Burn was a horrid story and it was not good for my anxiety but holy hell Will Dean's writing really drew me in and I FLEW through it! A lot of people describe locked room mysteries as claustrophobic but, no. This. This book is claustrophobic.

"My name is not Jane."

Thanh (not Jane) is Lenn's captive and this is the story of what she endured for years but also of her fight to cling on to who she really is. Her fight for freedom. Her fight to live. You will hate this book but (hopefully) in a good way. You will feel for Thanh, you will root for her and you will not forget her. (How long will it be until I stop thinking about this book while bleaching my sink? ... tbd)

I was tense the entire time while reading this because I wanted everything to work out for our protagonist so badly. It was heart-breaking.

The Last Thing To Burn will not be for everyone. The whole novel is a content warning... mental and physical abuse, human trafficking, a captive enduring such terrible things at the hands of a vile captor. I do have to say that some scenes tastefully lacked description, which I appreciated.

If you like books that are dark, sick & twisted, disturbing and uncomfortable, then this may be for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

With the promise of work and new opportunities, two young sisters are smuggled out of Vietnam into the UK. Upon arrival, Kym-Ly is working in a nail salon and paying off her debt and Thanh-Dao is “married” to an abusive farmer who keeps her imprisoned in an isolated farm house. Jane, as she is now known, has no means of escape due to physical and mental abuse as well as being monitored by cameras in the house. When she finds out she is with child, she is willing to risk everything in order to survive.
This Last Thing to Burn is an eye opening example of human/sex trafficking that unfortunately happens more often than we think. Will Dean is a great story teller and writer, this book will evoke many emotions and tug at your heart strings. It is dark, horrifying, but also a tale of survival. Is it a thriller? I don’t think so. Is it worth a read? Absolutely!
4.5⭐️

Fiction

Timely, gritty and wildly disturbing.

Thanh Dao and her sister each paid $18,000 to leave Vietnam. They were shipped to the UK in a container with several other women. When they arrived, they were first put to work on a farm working non-stop to pay for their release. Thanh was sold to Lenn. He calls her Jane and makes her live and work in his house as his wife. After one of her escape attempts, Lenn breaks her ankle and twists her foot to the side to keep her from being able to walk very far. He doesn't take her to the doctor to get it fixed and keeps her drugged up on pills meant for cows or sheep. As a reader, you live and breathe Thanh's despair and desperation.

This book is a powerful. It's almost too difficult to read in some ways because you know that even though this book is a work of fiction, women all over the world are living this reality. This book needs to be at the top of everyone's must read list. One of the best of 2021.

Omgosh, this is one mind blowingly fantastic read!! It is dark, disturbing, and realistic, but make sure you do not have triggers, because it’s one that might really trigger them! I’m a fan of dark, disturbing, so this book was unputdownable for me! Well written, with phenomenal character development, keeping me flipping pages like I was in a race! It left me gasping in shock, chilled to my spine, thrilled beyond belief, and dizzy for the many twisty turns! A must read for anyone, who enjoys dark, disturbing thrillers! It will induce a hangover, bit well worth it! Cannot wait for more by this author!

Will make sure to buzz around and use low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

On an isolated farm in the UK, a woman is being held against her will by a man who kidnapped her seven years ago. When Thanh Dao realizes she is pregnant nothing will stop her from planning her escape. But when another victim is brought to the farm, her plans change. Now Thanh needs to find out if she can save herself, her baby and the innocent woman. Is she doomed to never get away?

This is being described as Misery meets Room in a claustrophobic thriller. They could not have been more right. First off, I will be getting all of Will Deans backlist because wow! This is creepy, gripping and intense. His writing is so descriptive that you feel like you too, are stuck in the farm house. I flew through this in one night because I just had to know if Thanh got away. This is so much more then a thriller. It shows us the dark and desperate side to sex trafficking and the horrors these individuals experience when promised tales of a better life. The story is visual, uncomfortable and pretty gut churning at time but I think that was the point Will Dean was trying to make. This was extremely well done. Do yourself a favor and pick it up!

Oh my gosh, this book! It was so absorbing I read it in one sitting. It was painful and heart wrenching and loving and hateful. It had me feeling all emotions possible and it was so suspenseful and beautifully written. How is it possible to have a thriller as good as this also be literary fiction?

This is a wonderfully crafted novel, complex and subtle. The reader is immersed in the story line, in vivid, intimate details of daily life, as layer after layer of lies and deception are peeled back to reveal a difficult truth. There are moments of great beauty and passages that make us examine some profound and ultimately unanswerable questions.

I highly recommend this book to everyone and I can't wait to read more from Will Dean, great work on your first release on this side of the pond! I commend you and truly feel honoured to be one of the first readers of this magnificent story. This will definitely be in my top list of 2021.

I received an e-ARC of The Last Thing to Burn on NetGalley.

Synopsis: The Last Thing to Burn is about Thanh, a young Vietnamese woman who was manipulated into human trafficking with a promise of a better life. Her sister Kim-Ly is sent to the city to pay off her debt, and Thanh is sent to a farm.
After several years of abuse and rape, Thanh has a baby that she loves more than anything. With a mutilated foot, done years ago by Lenn, and being constantly monitored, Thanh has little hope of escaping.
Until a new woman is being held captive in the small cellar below the house, Thanh has a chance and she will do anything to free all three of them.

Review:
This book is very intense, each page more gripping than the last. Trying to grasp the life Thanh is forced to live everyday is too much to bare. Every time something happened I was asking myself, what would I do?

It’s a very dark story about human trafficking, abuse and rape. Amazingly enough there was always a glimmer of hope that shined through on each page.

It’s being compared to Misery and Room and I can definitely see the comparisons and feel like it’s an accurate statement. Though both of those books don’t channel human trafficking, they both involve some form of abuse, a disturbed captor, being held against there will and a confined living situation. I haven’t read those two books but I have seen the movies so I can’t speak to the books when I say that the difference is, The Last Thing to Burn really captures the feelings and thoughts of Thanh and painted an extremely vivid picture, so much so you really feel like you’re right there with her experiencing it all.

It’s a great psychological thriller, it’s less than 300 pages but it definitely doesn’t feel that way. Nothing is left out, it feels complete.

This is a 4/5 for me

The Last Thing To Burn, as we discover, is a spot-on title for this dark and disturbing story of human trafficking that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. This is a slow-build, tension filled, almost journal-like novel,, with writing that will mesmerize you, and I don’t think I rooted harder for a protagonist in any other book I’ve read. This will be perfect for book club fans, and I think it’ll be on many “best of” lists. It can be a little slow at times, and if you’re looking for an “action” story, this isn’t for you, but it’s a haunting narrative that will have an impact. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Atria for my eARC in exchange for my honest opinion! Truly fantastic!

Excellent story, absolutely gripping! This book was a solid 3 stars for me. I found the story itself interesting and so horrifying to think about being trapped like our main character is. I did find the story a bit repetitive in parts but overall I was able to really dive into the story and found myself pulled in so I could finally find out how the story would end.

Overall, I loved the twists and the ending really pulled it together for me. Thank you again for providing me with the advanced copy of this story!

Gripping and terrifying. ⁣
⁣
This story has been done before- a girl held captive by an evil man. We all know the narrative and what usually ensues. And yet I was riveted the entire time. I cared so much about “Jane” and her plight - I had to turn the page to find out what happened. A mark of a very successful thriller and very late nights. ⁣

I'll rate it from 3.5 to 4 stars
I'm a generous in rating usual..If I love any book I even give it 5 stars
It was an emotional read .I really liked it but why it was categorised as 'thriller,mystery,suspense'
It was more like a psychogical fiction
There was so much repetition
All 18 chapters were almost about Baby food and making food on Rayburn (spolier ahead)
Or taking Horse pills ...
Ending was also rushed
I needed a proper end .The explanation .
But overall I liked it

Thanks to #NetGalley and Will Dean for providing me an opportunity to read an ARC

Thank you Netgalley and Atria for accepting my request to read “The Last Thing To Burn”.
I requested to read this book because of the numerous glowing 5 stars.

I’m not as successful in choosing - the right fit-thriller to read as I am other genres. Yet... I absolutely love the ones that I do.

I was hoping to rave about “The Last Thing To Burn”.... which started promising when - at the very- beginning- with a powerful excerpt included before chapter one by author Kim Thuy, Ru.
“I should have chosen the moment before the arrival of my children, for since then I’ve lost the option of dying. The sharp smell of their sun-baked hair, the smell of sweat on their backs when they wake from a nightmare, the dusty smell of their hands when they leave a classroom, meant that I had to live, to be dazzled by the shadow of their eyelashes, moved by a snowflake, bowled over by a tear on their cheek”. ...........
But....
As important as it is to educate the world about human trafficking...I don’t enjoy reading horrific torture... which I found this book to be:
ABSOLUTE TORTURE!!!

I appreciate Will Dean’s writing gifts — very skillful — but honestly.... I repeat...
For me....
IT WAS TORTURE to read.

For starters, I have a bionic ankle. Fourteen doctors were in the surgery room in San Francisco when I was given a new ankle five years ago.
I know a thing or two about razor-sharp throbbing ankle pain .... so it’s not a subject I care to read much about in a story.

Example excerpt:
“My ankle is ruined. The nerves and bones and tendons and muscles are as one damaged bundle; sharp flints and old meat. Fire. I feel nothing else. The pain is something I live with every day of my life, but not like this. This is wretched. My mouth is open. A silent cry. A hopeless and unending scream”.
Written well? Sure! For me? No.

I kept reading...FAST. QUICKLY. I lost interest in taking notes.
‘Misery’ by Steven King gave me nightmares for days!!
“Room”, by Emma Donoghue, didn’t.
Fair description to say “The Last Thing To Burn”, is a cross of both novels.
But I was more ‘miserable’ than ‘room’ enthralled.

I was too distraught- devastated reading this (well written), story.

A young girl, from Saigon, Thanh Dao, was being held captive, by an evil farmer, named Lenn.
Lenn called her Jane.
Seventeen other girls were abducted that same day.

Thanh Dao, and her sister, Kim-Ly arrived in Liverpool inside an ice cold metal box—shipping container, hiding behind other packages and crates, nine years ago.
Of course the sisters were separated.... sold off to different evil men.
Evil continued.

And truthfully, I didn’t care if Thanh (Jane), was strong or resilient... or if the novel ended with justice....
NOTHING could make this story happy.
A human torturous life — a point of no return — years and years of brutal abuse .... were “stained indelibly on Thanh’s soul, engraved into her bones” .....FOREVER!!

Hated this book.
Can’t recommend it.

But.... most readers felt differently than me.

My 1 star rating is not because the book wasn’t well written.... but because it was too dark, HORRIFIC... for me personally.
I don’t need to read about suspense torture.... to already know human trafficking ‘is’!!!

I ended with a pounding headache.

Excellent story, absolutely gripping! This book was a solid 4.5 stars, it has stayed with me for weeks. It keeps I keeps popping in my head and I continue to thinks, “what I would do if I was in this nightmare?”

I loved the twists and the ending really pulled it together for me. I will be recommending this to friends and family.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Atria for my eARC in exchange for my honest opinion! Truly fantastic!

I love novels by this author so was thrilled to get my hands on this eARC and I was not disappointed.

Meet Thanh Dao - a woman who is kept captive and in isolation by a man that calls her "Jane". Who is this man, why does he call her Jane, and why is he keeping her a prisoner in his home? What does he want with her? What is wrong with him? How long has she been here living this way? Why hasn't she tried to escape?

So many questions and all will be revealed as you read this pulse-pounding novel. There were many times I gasped in shock, and felt all the feels as I read this novel. I felt so bad for "Jane" being held captive in his home and the way that she was treated for such a long time. A gruesome story that will give you chills, and have you feeling all types of emotions as you read the chapters. Some parts are quite disturbing and heart-breaking nd might be difficult for you to read.

I really enjoyed this novel and was rooting for "Jane" the entire way through. Despite being held captive for so very long she was still a strong woman when she had to be and she did what she felt she had to do in order to survive the situation she found herself in.

A great novel that I really enjoyed and recommend!

(4.5 stars rounded up) Dean has created an intensely horrifying novel about the trauma of human trafficking. This book was so well executed that I felt trapped within, unable to put it down in spite of how dark and twisted it was. It was imperative for me to know what happened to Jane, which made me finish the book in one sitting.

Jane is a victim of human trafficking. She is imprisoned, tortured, and dominated. Each day she fights to remember who she was before she was forced to become Jane. Her emotions are raw and powerful. With every trauma she encountered, I physically felt her despair and fear as if it were my own. My chest felt tight. My stomach turned.

But it wasn’t all anxiety and terror. I also felt a deep loathing. There are few characters I have hated with such vehemence as I did Lenn. Dean has perfectly crafted Lenn as the most vile and manipulative of creatures. No amount of hatred felt sufficient for him.

While incredibly well executed, this book is one of the hardest I’ve read so far this year. I was drawn in to this suffocating and anxiety causing story even when I didn’t want to be. And ultimately, given the subject matter, that reveals the adeptness with which Dean has written this book. It will haunt me for some time to come.

Many thanks to Will Dean, Atria Books, Emily Bestler Books, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The last time I was this excited about a book’s release was two years ago, when The Silent Patient (by Alex Michaelides) ARCs were doing their rounds.

Word of mouth is one hell of a marketing tool and probably the best that exists. I couldn’t wait to get stuck into The Last Thing To Burn by Will Dean. Why? It could be the attention-grabbing headline, or the cover, or the fact that I had never heard of Will Dean, which means I was coloured-me-curious thrice.

The book opens with the female protagonist Thanh Dao. She has been abducted for a number of years and is in the middle of planning an escape from her kidnapper Lenn, a farmer who keeps her prisoner on remote farmland. He has taken over her life and controls every minute of it, from the time she opens her eyes to the moment she closes them. The story is all about Thanh, how she copes, what her thoughts are, how she misses her family. It is all very, very sad and stomach-churningly frustrating. Because you want to help her, and you want her to get the gumption to leave, but she is so engrained in her life of servitude and imprisonment, that you don’t quite know that she’ll make it.

Thanh’s character is surprisingly strong. I can’t even imagine where she draws her strength from, or what makes her arise in the morning. In a life that revolves around her abductor, who mistreats and violates her, it is tough, really tough to see how she can lift herself every day to another level of survival. And that’s what this tale is about – survival of the human spirit, and to turn corners and never give up. From suffering physical and mental pain, we get to know the real Thanh and what makes her special. Her fortitude is what makes her extraordinary, and Will Dean has one hell of a mind to put his character through that. (That’s a compliment, honest.)

The book is shocking in content, but that is exactly what it aims to be – to draw the reader into its murky depths of human trafficking, enforced labour, imprisonment, abduction. I could go on, but I don’t want to horrify you because I want you to read this book.

It is a stonkingly good read. I finished it over one weekend and emerged from the book bleary eyed and in shock. The thing is, you hear of stories like this all the time, which is what makes it so real. Switch on the news, be it BBC or Sky and I can guarantee there will be some iteration of this tale in the flashing images across your screen. And I think this is what is equally engrossing and alarming, because what is described in the book actually does happen in real life.

The Last Thing To Burn is not an easy read, just because some sections are horrifying to read because of the appalling conditions Thanh suffers. But it is imperative reading all the same. A very well written book that has opened my eyes to other books by Will Dean.

I recommend The Last Thing To Burn so heartily, that I have actual heartburn. Go read it now.