My oh my.
Although it is not my genre of choice, The Last Thing To Burn hit a hard punch and became one of my favorite reads of the year. It gripped me very early and easily and I couldn’t stop reading. Wall Dean tells a tough story. It is dark, depressing, claustrophobic, and very gripping. It is impossible not to worry about Thanh.
We follow Thanh (a.k.a Jane), a human trafficking victim through many years of her captivity. She is originally from Vietnam, went to England with dreams of a better life with her sister, now lives on a remote farm, against her will.
While it was a very quick read (the kindle edition is only 256 pages) it is not easy. Reading what she’s been through is hard to stomach. The times when I stopped reading were when my chest felt tight and I wanted to breathe.
I picked this book up because I thought it was a thriller; I knew nothing about the plot. I think this label is misleading. It is suspenseful and heart-pounding but not because of the high degree of intrigue. It is because you feel for her. She is trapped, and that makes your heartache and brain scream in hate. It makes your skin crawl because of how actual stories like this one actually happening out there somewhere. I would categorize The Last Thing To Burn as fiction with dark, dark themes rather than a thriller.
In the end, I was going to give The Last Thing To Burn four stars because I think it drags a bit in the middle and a lot of repetition but no, this story deserves a five-star rating and all the recognition it can get. Will Dean’s story is very compelling, brutal, and not for the fainthearted.
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