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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
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
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
⭐️ 3.5 ⭐️
The Last Thing to Burn is certainly a compelling read; I just couldn’t put it down. I was gripped from the first page and desperately needed to know what was going to happen next.
The book is well-written and the characters are well-drawn but I wasn’t completely convinced by the voice of ‘Jane’, I didn’t find her narrative particularly authentic.
It is a dark, disturbing, read with a chilling, claustrophobic sense of atmosphere but unfortunately I thought it became quite repetitive. I was also a little disappointed with the ending; for me too many questions were left unanswered and too many loose ends were left untied.
An enjoyable read. I really liked it, I just didn’t love it.
The Last Thing to Burn is certainly a compelling read; I just couldn’t put it down. I was gripped from the first page and desperately needed to know what was going to happen next.
The book is well-written and the characters are well-drawn but I wasn’t completely convinced by the voice of ‘Jane’, I didn’t find her narrative particularly authentic.
It is a dark, disturbing, read with a chilling, claustrophobic sense of atmosphere but unfortunately I thought it became quite repetitive. I was also a little disappointed with the ending; for me too many questions were left unanswered and too many loose ends were left untied.
An enjoyable read. I really liked it, I just didn’t love it.
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.
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.
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is one of those books that you can’t put down, and then you’re unable to speak about it for days. As you can tell, 5 days later I still don’t know what to say about it, other than: If you love twisted thrillers, pick this up.
Have you read Room? Many are comparing the two and the big difference, and what made Room so effective, was the voice of the child. Here, this child is in utero so essentially not a character. Instead it's a trafficked Vietnamese woman, tortured and maimed by her captor, and sadly it was not a new plot, not a new take on the issue. No DNF but close.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No