The book gives off an unsettling tone right from the outset but draws you in and compels you to continue. It has very few characters but as you get into the story you realise just what an awful position one of the main ones is in.
Thanh Dao and her sister had arrived in the UK from Vietnam seven years ago previously and Thanh Dao has been sold to a farmer, Lenn, who lives in a remote farm in the fens. She is treated appallingly by the farmer who does not even allow her to use her own name as he insists on calling her 'Jane'. He records her every move, has strict routines that she has to keep to and any deviation from these rules results in the confiscation of one of the meagre amount of personal possessions she owns.
It is a very intense story of a woman’s strength and determination to survive even though she seems thwarted at every turn, and had me rooting for and wiling her on at every set back. It is also shows how meaningful possessions can be and easily they can be used against the very person they bring hope and joy to.
It is no secret that my favourite writer is Robert Bryndza having read every book he has ever published, but after reading the dark, intense, gripping read that is ‘The Last Thing To Burn’ I think I have found another writer to add to my list of guaranteed reads.

Astonishingly good. I had trouble sticking with the last Will Dean I tried to read (Dark Pines), but this one hooked me from the first paragraph. I have been recommending it to absolutely every reader I know. One of the things I found most impressive about it was the characterisation of Lenn, the monster in this fairytale – while the aggressor in similar novels is often more of a shadow figure than a person, Lenn felt authentically realised, the kind of dangerous person who exists and has existed forever. Of course, so did the protagonist; a truly believable and sympathetic lead, whose reasons for not simply running into the fields feel sickeningly real, leaving you as trapped in the reality of her life as she is.

Great book!

This was an intense thought provoking book as it introduces a personal side to the horrors of people trafficking.It was a gripping read from the first page, dark in its raw emotions and intensity and the descriptive details are so real that it is frightening to imagine that this could happen. I laid in bed until the early hours of the morning as I had to finish and find out how the story ended.
Will Dean is a superb writer and he wrapped the story up in apleasing closure.

I am a huge fan of Will Dean's Tuva series, so was excited to read this standalone.
The Last Thing To Burn is the dark and harrowing tale of 'Jane'. An illegal immigrant who is being held prisoner on an isolated farm. Constantly under surveillance and expected to meet all her captor's demands, Janes story, while not a comfortable read, is certainly a gripping one. The tension at some points was palpable and I found myself holding my breath on more than one occasion.
As I said, this is a difficult read at times, but it is also a beautifully written tale of hope and love even when there is not much of either on show. It hits even harder as sadly this situation is all too real for a lot of people and can only praise the author for highlighting this.

A well written book about an important contemporary issue, with a male writer giving an authentic feeling voice to female characters. However, not wanting to give spoilers, but I found Cynthia's fate a bit far fetched, and it would be difficult to read this and not compare parts of it to "Room" and I must admit I found the claustrophobia and tension in the latter more acute.
Thank you to netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an advance copy of this book

This book is amazing - one of the best I have read this year. Claustrophobic and tense with an unexpected twist - a total page-turner. Also one of the best portrayal of a female point of view from a male writer I've ever read. Impressive on so many levels.

I don't even know where to begin. This is not a warm a fuzzy book. Not in the slightest. Don't get me wrong, it does end on a positive, and hopeful note, but, as a reader, you have a long, dark and often brutal path to travel in order to get there. If you have come expecting a Tuva-esque mystery, you won't find this here. This time Will Dean has branched out with a story that, whilst short, and believe me you will be glad of that at times, is most terrifying because of its authenticity. This is no simple marriage and this is no simple story. You have been warned.

I don't want to go too far into the plot - at around 200 pages it is a story you need to read and understand for yourselves. Don't let it's length fool you mind, as it packs one hell of an emotional and truly powerful punch. It was a book that both forced me to a point where i needed to take a break, but also absolutely drew me in with the heartbreaking story of 'Jane' a young woman, forced into marriage after being tricked by traffickers with the promise of a new and better life in the UK.

Now, as you can probably gather from the blurb, Jane suffers the worst of lives, a prisoner in the place she is forced to call home, a victim of severe punishment should she dare to step out of line. Every moment of every day is monitored and she is subjected to such horrific forms of control, only one of which is ever really brought to bear in any kind of detail on the page, that it is hard to read the book without feeling a visceral kind of anger bubbling within. Nothing is ever really explored in graphic detail, it doesn't need to be. Will Dean has played a very canny game as the entire story is told in Jane's voice. We will inside her head, mercifully able to tune out of the worst parts of her suffering as her coping mechanisms become our own as readers. Her whole life, and the story, is claustrophobic, never seeing beyond the house and the yard in which she is a prisoner, and the author paints the grim and harsh reality so clearly that you can almost feel the damp chill surround you as you read,

Jane's strength is fed by the love for her family, the belief that her sister is leading a better life, and she will do anything. to protect that. Slowly, bit by bit her husband, Lenn, strips her of her identity, her past, the few remaining things that help her to survive. The way the author has written this is pitch perfect, the significance of the title revealed very early on in the book. Lenn is a truly awful character, the kind who absolutely made my skin crawl and a perfect blend of every abusive bully your could ever have the displeasure of reading about. And yet it forced me to look at whether his behaviour, his actions, were a case of nature or nurture. There were times when you could see a flash of humanity within him, just a tiny spark that was never enough to forgive his actions, and was extinguished almost as quickly as it appeared.

And yet Jane keeps going, her will and her determination reaching a head when her life takes a very unexpected turn, that also marks a key shift in the story too. This is the beginning of the end for this story, the first steps on the path to a conclusion of a story that is dramatic, emotional and unforgettable. A remarkable and important story that is sadly all too plausible and reflects the plight of far too many trafficked women across the globe. I don't think. I can ever really do it justice, so I will end here. I just have to say, read it. But keep an open mind. It is hard to read, and you will likely need a break or two, but if you stick with it you will find a story that, as dark as it first appears, is also a celebration of the strength of Jane's spirit. Highly recommended from me.

I love Will Dean's writing but I have to say, this took me by surprise. What brilliant descriptive writing, so good it makes this difficult subject very hard to read but that's what this book is about.
A sad, shocking and cruel depiction of a woman's life. So miserable and heart breaking you can only marvel at her tenacity to keep fighting.
It is a hard read but don't let that put you off, the situation this woman is in does happen and that is so difficult to take in, that I cannot get this book out of my head.

'Jane' is being held captive and her life is no less than a living hell. Set on an isolated farm in the flat lands of the east of England, The Last Thing to Burn is a powerful and tense novel that I did not want to put down. Jane's real name is Thanh Dao. She traveled with her sister from the Philippines in search of a better life in the UK. Through Thanh Dao's memories the risks and despair of those trafficked here are brilliantly recorded. The outcome for Thanh Dao was slavery and abuse at the hands of her 'husband' who is an extremely abusive and disturbed man.
This novel is not for the faint-hearted, but if you liked Room or Dear Child, you will definitely want to read this.
It is brilliantly written. Tension builds and the reader is kept guessing right to the end. The use of Thanh Dao's memories to describe the warmth and food of the Philippines and her relationships with her family provides such a stark contrast to the life she is being forced to live in the UK. This is a powerful read and the fact that it could so obviously be true, makes it all the more compelling.
I highly recommend it and don't hesitate to give #TheLastThingtoBurn FIVE stars.
Thank you to @NetGalley, the author and his publishers for the opportunity to read and review this excellent novel.

This is one of the most stressful things I've ever read, and I mean that a compliment. Will Dean absolutely captures the repressive situation and tension of someone being held against their will, with seemingly zero chance of ever being rescued. It's brilliantly done, dark and very unsettling. This really is a great piece of writing, and one that will stay with me for a long time.

An extremely harrowing read, this is the story of a young Vietnamese woman who has been trafficked. She is struggling to hold on to her identity as her "husband" tries to mold her into being "Jane". It is not an easy book to read, the violent drudgery and the gritty descriptive quality of the writing, along with the subject matter were upsetting in places.

I am a big fan of this author's Tuva Moodyson series of books so I was quite excited when I heard he had segued with a stand alone thriller. And what a chilling, harrowing and disturbing read this turned out to be. But gripping all the way through too.
We start with a woman trapped in a "relationship" with a monster on his farm. Fear rules her life. She has tried to escape, several times but never succeeded and each time she fails she loses a piece of herself - literally as he takes another of her possessions. She is also bound to him by the knowledge of her sister's life being in the balance should she harm him. But then she discovers she is pregnant and suddenly it's not all about her and all bets are off. She has to get free of this man, to save her unborn child. Can she beat all the odds and make it or is she destined to spend the rest of her life at the farm?
Oh my... this tugged at me heart strings. And what makes this book all the more sad and scary is that this stuff really does happen. There are people out there who manipulate and traffic for their own heinous needs. Shocking but it's the reality we live in. The promise of a better life, a way out from the danger of the home country, just a small travel cost to pay back on arrival and then you are free. And there are hundreds, thousands of people out there who, even knowing the outcome is unlikely to be as rosy as presented, take the chance as it is better than the life they already have. And that is so very sad. And wrong.
Going back to the book and Mr Dean has managed to convey all of what I wrote above without glorifying or sensationalising for effect. In a very sensitive way to boot too. Oh how I felt for Thanh every step of the way. Definitely not an easy read, it's definitely brutal and you will probably need to make sure you have somethng lighter queued up to follow. You might also want to take the odd break every now and again as it is dark and deep and disturbing in places. But, and this is not really a spoiler as you will find out when you read the book, but there is hope bubbling under...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I requested this ARC after hearing great things from two respected authors.

Oh my, it is a harrowing experience! I read the book over two days but felt as though I'd lived a year in 'Jayne's sandals by the time I'd finished.
Dean's writing captures the atmosphere perfectly, the impoverished, cold, captivity pours out of the pages. I found myself feeling Jayne's relief each time Lenn showed her the tiniest scrap of mercy.

Dean employs Jayne's repetition of certain phrases throughout The Last Thing To Burn to remind the reader how hard she is working to hold on to her own identity and sanity.
MY NAME IS NOT JAYNE.

Lenn is super creepy, a hideous parody of an English farm hand from the 70s, as if his land had frozen in time whilst the rest of the world moved on. All the recognisable brands Dean referenced and the familiar grammar patterns of the English countryside heightened my discomfort.
Having enjoyed Arctic Roll bought from the Spar shop as a young girl with my loving family, reading the same action through the eyes of a rapist kidnapper gave me serious jeebies!
I also like that we didn't get an over-explanation of how and why Lenn came to be. The antagonist is always better when they are awful without in depth reason, you can glean enough from the story but it isn't force fed or justified.

The reader is kept on their toes whilst Jayne leads us through the mundane inescapable household rituals Lenn enforces day after day, only for Dean to throw shocking events and twists at you just when you think you've settled in. I held my breath far too often whilst reading The Last Thing To Burn, I think you will too

In Will Dean's series starring deaf Swedish journalist Tuva Moodyson there's often a sense of creepiness or even claustrophobia in the rural setting, enclosed by wild forest that has a sense of Grimm's fairy tales.

In his first standalone, Dean dials up those ingredients to 12. The Last Thing to Burn is an intimate, intense psychological thriller set among bleak British farmland. Lenn and ‘Jane’ are a farming couple living in isolation on the Fens, a wide-open landscape of browns and greys near the English coastline. But only Lenn is there by choice: Jane is really Thanh Dao, a Vietnamese immigrant living a harrowing life in an open prison. Escape seems impossible: attempts have harsh consequences.. It’s been a damp, dreary, despairing life for several years. When ‘Jane’ falls pregnant, she must risk everything.

Dean has crafted a superb thriller about identity, control, and courage where the pages whir by even though the subject matter can be quite traumatic. It’s a strong character study of a victim of human trafficking, humming with tension. The Last Thing to Burn has echoes of Stephen King’s Misery, with its claustrophobic, isolated setting and twister power dynamics, while being its very own thing.

An intense read; tough in places, but recommended.

As a fan of Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson series, I really did not know what to expect with The Last Thing to Burn. He has managed to create a dark and dramatic setting in the bleak Fens, a coastal plain in Eastern England, where the water encroaches into the land in a series of dykes and drains. The bleak setting is perfect for this story of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Almost immediately into the book I felt thrown into a situation that made me feel uneasy. The story centres around a Vietnamese woman, called Jane by her captor, who entered the UK illegally, and in order to pay off her debts was ultimately passed on to a farmer who lived in the middle of nowhere, and for whom she became a prisoner and a slave.

I cannot say that this is an easy read, but with the genre, would you really want it like that? This is a real page turner, and I would recommend not starting it late at night, for the simple fact that you honestly will not want to put it down. I had to force myself to put it down and get some sleep and when I woke up the next morning found I woke up thinking about Jane and what she was going through.

Pain keeps her a prisoner as much as Leonard himself, and the pain is constant throughout the book. There are scenes that will make you feel uncomfortable, from sexual assaults to physical assault and torture, but none of it feels gratuitous. It is all completely pertinent to the story.

This stunning novel took me through so many highs and lows, but it was so beautifully written, with descriptions that made me almost smell the damp, the mould and the decay at the farmhouse and the surrounding area. This is a domestic thriller that will grab your attention and keep you desperately hoping for good to triumph over evil. A firm 5 stars for this incredibly bleak and dark thriller.

A young Vietnamese girl , Thanh Dao , alongside her sister Kim Ly arrive in England after being trafficked in a container with other people . They paid a lot of money and were promised jobs in retail and Nail Bars on arrival to earn money to pay the traffickers off . This was a lie and Thanh was sold to a farmer in the fens , miles from anywhere . His wife had died and he expected Thanh to do everything in the house and provide sex when he wanted.. Everything in the house had been his mothers and he expected everything to be done as his mother had done it , even down to the way she made his meals. She was a prisoner in his house and if she made a mistake or angered him he burnt one of her few possessions from her early life. Eventually she became pregnant and had a daughter , which he delivered as he would not let her see a doctor . The child was premature but he made her carry on feeding and changing her and said she would survive. A neighbour, Cynthia visited but was unaware of Thanh's plight . She came back again later and things took a turn for the worse but eventually they made an attempt to escape the farm . An atmospheric story about people trafficking and the misfortunes of the victims ..

I chose this book without reading the blurb or any reviews. I love this author and I thought I knew what to expect. I was so wrong, it was even better than I had expected. Once I started reading I could not put this down. Phone switched off and takeaway ordered. I have never read a book like this before. Heartbraking, so emotional you will need a box of tissues. You have been warned, a story of survival against such demanding challenges. This is a tour de force of a read it blew me away. A distressing read in places, a mother's love for her child. I dare anyone to read this book and not be affected. A must must read.
Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Bloody hell this book grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go.

From the very first lines, where you find a trafficked Vietnamese woman with a broken ankle desperately trying to escape her Fenlands farm prison, this book haunted me. Its so tightly wound and balanced, you dont want to read on as you know things are going to get worse for 'Jane' - the name he calls her - but you can't leave it alone . Her captor Lenn controls everything she sees, inside the house and out, and she has absolutely no autonomy at all. Reading it I found myself stopping to appreciate the freedom and choices that I have in such small matters like closing a room door, or having shoes that fit.

Will Dean's use of words to build atmosphere and tension is excellent, and he writes female characters really well too, I will definitely recommend this and look out for more from him

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder & Staughton for the chance to read it.

This book was absolutely captivating to read and I enjoyed the characters immensely. The plot was intriguing and the pace fast. I highly recommend it

Seriously depressing story of two young Vietnamese sisters smuggled into U.K. One sister ends up as a sex slave to a farmer, named Lenn, on an isolated farm. He calls her Jane, though she keeps reminding the reader this is not her real name - which I found very poignant.
The details of her every day life are pitiful- particularly since he captures everything she does on camera. She tries to escape several times but he always catches her and then punishes her.
‘Jane’ ends up pregnant but he refuses her any outside help even when the baby comes early. The writing on her feelings about her baby after the birth is sensitive and quite beautiful.
He cruelly uses the baby to keep her there and also tells her shocking news about her sister.
Unwittingly he gives Jane even more determination to escape.
It took me several attempts to finish this book because it was so depressing but the quality of the writing brought me back to finish it.
4 Stars ⭐️
Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and #NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair review.