Human trafficking is a pretty nasty business. You think you know how bad it is and have maybe come across some news reports and true stories about it, but living through it is probably a lot worse than you imagine. There are certainly a few well-documented accounts of young women abducted as children who have been kept in sex slavery for years, but it's still hard to imagine how traumatising and damaging an experience that can be.

You would hope that Will Dean's fictional story of just such an occurrence with a young Asian woman in The Last Thing to Burn might make it a little more palatable but the experience and circumstances of Thanh Dao is still horrific enough, so horrific that what keeps you reading is the hope - and since it is fiction not unreasonably have some expectation - that there's a way out of it. And if you can feel like that, then you have some idea of what keeps Thanh Dao going, kept captive in a farmhouse in the north of England.

To Lenn, the farmer, her name is Jane, just like his mother and just like his first wife. Jane came over to England with her sister Kim-Ly, shipped illegally into Manchester, leaving their home in Vietnam with hopes of a better life. As they are illegal immigrants, they are forced into working off the huge debt to be paid for cost of their journey. Kim-Ly is working as a hairdresser and as long as she is there, sending Jane regular letters, Jane knows she can't afford to escape, but despite a busted ankle causing constant pain that is alleviated by horse pills, it hasn't stopped her trying.

Thanh Dao has been stripped of almost everything, even her name. She only has a few precious belongings including her sister's letters and a well-read - almost word-for-word memorised - copy of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but each time there's an infraction of Lenn's strict rules, he takes one her possessions and burns it in the old wood-fired oven. Soon there will be nothing left to burn, and what will keep going then? As bad as things are, as brutally as Jane is treated as a slave things are about to get worse when a visitor arrives, and Jane discovers that she is pregnant.

You think there's probably only so much horror you could take in a situation like that, but Will Dean has a way of making this thoroughly gripping and compelling. A lot of this of course depends on how real you can make the characters and how - even in spite of the decline of circumstances - you can simultaneously still retain hope that there is a way out. That of course is easier to achieve in fiction than in real-life, where you can't rely on the approaching end of a book wrapping up the narrative. Perhaps that's why Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is so important to Jane, since it gives her the assurance that one way or another, there will be an end to this story.

The real strength in the book, and what makes the circumstances so harrowing that the reader is also willing to endure the horror in the hope of resolution, is in how well the characters are drawn. That is just as essential for Lenn as well as Jane. Lenn has the most insensitive, unthinking, blunt and brutal way of putting things. Incredibly Will Dean makes every single word, every ordinary commonplace phrase Lenn speaks seem utterly hateful. And yet, as utterly despicable as he is clearly is, you wonder if in his own warped mind, Lenn really believes that what they have is a fair and cozy arrangement.

If The Last Thing to Burn is as gripping, as tense and as dramatic as it is, even with the fictional reassurance that one way or another there will be a way out, that's the principal reason for the book's success. You want to understand how far Lenn can go before even he realises the injustice and horror of the situation. And on the part of Jane, you wonder how much she can withstand, how many of her scant possessions she can see destroyed before there is nothing left to hold onto and she breaks. And believe me, there are some shocking revelations to come before the last thing is burnt.

As the discussion continues about who gets to tell which stories, into the deep steps Will Dean with this novel about a trafficked Vietnamese woman called Thanh. It is certainly a bold move. An unflinching, first-person account from Thanh who is existing as a slave, its pages take you to a place that you really don’t want to go to — and yet you go there anyway, unable to abandon Thanh in the hellhole that the monstrous Lenn has trapped her in.

Dean’s visceral, lyrical writing compels immediately, forcing us to imagine the horror inside this stinking, tumble-down fenland cottage. While The Last Thing to Burn has all the desperation and claustrophobia of Room by Emma Donohue, the opening chapters put me in mind of the equally excellent All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld.

Thanh is not allowed to shut any door in the cramped hovel of a house. Even when she goes to the loo, Lenn can stand there in the doorway watching her. She is made to sit on the hard floor in the evening while Lenn watches Match of the Day, entangling his massive fingers into her hair and saying things like ‘it’s a good life, this’ all while flicking occasional sweets down to her.

He calls her Jane, after her his mother and his first wife — a name that takes on an ominous portent. But as Thanh often reminds us, ‘My name is not Jane.’ Every time I turned a page, I hoped that this would be the moment when Thanh would batter Lenn to death with the red hot poker for the Rayburn, or that Lenn would choke on his Spar-bought pre-sliced cheese.

This story raises that question again — just how many trafficked women are forced to exist in these inhumane conditions? There really is modern slavery in our midst and is often all but invisible to us.

Dean gives this story his heart and soul. He never once descends into melodrama or saccharine sentimentality. There is empathy and tenderness here and the novel eventually reminds us of what MP Jo Cox once so famously said, that we ‘are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”

This is a powerful, deeply unsettling and riveting read. You will be rooting for Thanh all the way.

I found this book not anywhere near as good as his first, very childish plot and predictable ending. Bit disappointed.

This is the story of ‘Jane’, the name given to her by her ‘husband’ Leonard who keeps her captive on his isolated Fenland farm. He has cameras watching her all day long and if she does something he doesn’t like she is punished. Thanh Dao aka Jane tells her story.

I’m not going to pretend this is an easy read because it’s not. It’s a brutal personal tale of the outcome of people trafficking and the overwhelming desire to survive in the face of superior strength and terrifying cruelty. It’s a tense and smothering tale of control but overwhelmingly of resilience. It’s incredibly well written, some of the descriptions break your heart and you feel Jane’s pain at every step. The Fenland setting in its unrelenting flat, brown landscape is a perfectly matched atmospheric setting for this bleak story and you are able to visualise the decrepit farmhouse in which she’s trapped. One of Jane’s prized and diminishing possessions is a copy of Mice and Men and I love how the author cleverly weaves this into the narrative.

Overall, this is hard to read but I’m very glad I have. It drew me in right from the start and you become invested in Jane’s survival. It’s a story of incredible bravery, of cruelty but also of deep love and I confess to a lump in my throat at the end.

With thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC for an honest review.

Digging deep into a heartbreakingly human crime,The Last One to Burn is an uncomfortable yet utterly absorbing read by an author who does not shy away from difficult subjects. I was captivated by Jane's story, horrified as it unfolded, and left with a feeling that this book would stay with me for a long time. Tense, emotional, and highly recommended.

This novel pulls zero punches. It makes no concessions to sensitive or squeamish readers. With precise delicacy, author Will Dean exposes a festering wound of western society and challenges the reader to hate the crime – but love the storytelling. Where a lesser writing talent might’ve stumbled into the sleazy territory of titillation through graphic brutality, Dean skilfully avoids presenting emotional and physical abuse for the reader’s gratification while making it absolutely clear what’s happening.
The Last Thing To Burn takes us into the nightmare territory of a young woman imprisoned in a domestic setting. She’s one of those unfortunate souls sold a lie in her homeland, whose family may be indebted for her ‘new life’ in Europe, and who then is kept in 21st century slavery. The bars of this young woman’s cage are both literal and psychological: her tormentor has broken her body so that she cannot run and he’s imprisoned her psyche so her familial duty keeps her tethered in domestic servitude.
This sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it? Fear not. This story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, to the sheer grit of the survivor. This woman may be fictional but she’s 100% convincing, and channels the indomitable determination of trauma casualties who stubbornly cling to life and to what they love.
At first, the similarities with Stephen King’s Misery are inescapable, but where King’s story is an obvious flight of imaginative inventiveness, Burn is blisteringly grounded in the real. It explores unsettling aspects of Stockholm syndrome, of intentional drug addiction and of the massively powerful forces of parenthood. All this, and tension strung so tight it’s a surprise the pages don’t squeak as you turn them. Don’t start this unless you have the time to finish it!
Oh, and the title is brilliant too. But you’ll have to read the book to find out why…
9/10

This is a tough book to read. If you can't deal with the 'hobbling' scene in Misery you're not going to like this. At several points in the book I was wincing as I actually felt 'Jane's pain and that's a reflection on the strength of the writing. A testament to the strength of the human spirit, a mother's love and female friendship this book takes the reader to the depths of despair and to the giddying heights of hope. An absolute powerhouse of a novel I could not stop reading it.

Known as Jane, but that is not her real name, she is being kept captive by her husband, her every move is watched and she must cater for his every need. Any discretion is punished and no one knows she is missing. The house where she is being kept is remote, her ankle is badly injured and there seems to be no escape from this horrific situation.
Things change when a new distant neIghbour knocks at the door but escape is still elusive.
I found the hopelessness of the story rather drawn out and depressing, it wasn’t really for me.

I never repeat the blurb. I skim read this in the end, to see what hapened, but didn't really enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. Seemed a little superficial to me, unlikely.

Two young sister make the journey from Vietnam to the UK for a better life and to earn some money to send home to their parents.
A sad and frightening story about human trafficking and modern slavery than I found difficult to read but also hard to put down.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an 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

Firstly, I love a stand alone. And u love it even more when you actually finish the book satisfied with the ending as I did here. Very dark and very well written

“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!

The locked-in captive premise is given a modern twist in this new novel addressing the issues of human trafficking. Dean’s strengths of creating an unsettling and claustrophobic atmosphere continue to provide the background but this time it isn’t the dark Swedish forest of his previous novels but a house in open British fenlands which become a prison.

This isn’t a page turner ; more a slow burner ( with no intended reference to the title) as the one person narrative is slow at times but this only serves to reflect the repetitive daily routine of Jane, the Vietnamese refugee held prisoner by her abusive husband , and of course the reader needs to discover how or if she will escape this hell.

The Review
This story is told from the point of view of “Jane”, a woman held captive by her abusive husband, on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Originally from Vietnam, Thanh and her sister Kim-Ly, came to the UK in search of a better life, but, as is all too familiar, the people they relied on to help them, had their own agendas and instead, they were sold in to slavery.

As we learn about Thanh’s life now, we get to discover what her life was like before, and what has happened to her since she fell in to the hands of her husband, Lenn. It doesn’t take long for us, as the reader, to get our hopes up that she will find a way to escape, despite the obvious barriers, especially when she discovers she’s pregnant, and has an even more urgent reason to get away.

This is a hard book to enjoy, in the traditional sense, given the subject matter. Whilst the abuse is not as graphic as it could be, in many ways it’s the classic “it’s what’s not said” that makes it really quite harrowing. Dean has done a brilliant job of creating a terrifyingly atmospheric setting and situation, that I found to be quite haunting.

I note other reviewers have commented on, and at times, complained about the repetitive nature of elements of the narrative. It’s true, there are a lot of references that are repeated throughout; her name not being Jane, the fact things belong to her husband, or his dead mother etc. Whilst I understand the frustration this can cause, I also admire the relevance of it. Thanh is trapped in an endless cycle of repetition; the words merely reflect this bleakness and, as such, help with the overall storytelling.

I found the ending perhaps a little rushed, and I had a few unanswered questions. Nothing major, just a few little niggles. I also struggled with the epilogue, in comparison to the rest of the book. I understand the contrast in the telling; however, it just felt odd, given all that had come before. Like coming out of a darkened room, I found myself blinking in the bright light.

The Stars
A really strong 4 stars from me, as I found this to be an absorbing and pacey read. It captured my attention, and I continued thinking about it long after I put it down and tried to go to sleep! Definitely an author to watch.

Brilliant book, so sad and so real. I devoured this in two days, and found the ending so suspenseful, it was amazing. Very very sad that human trafficking still happens to this day, this book was really good to read and I felt it would raise awareness over these real life issues.

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

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.