Urgh, yuck, evil, horrible = there are no words to describe Will Dean’s creation in The Last Thing to Burn
Last Thing to Burn – the blurb
He is her husband. She is his captive.
Her husband calls her Jane. That is not her name.
She lives in a small farm cottage, surrounded by vast, open fields. Everywhere she looks, there is space. But she is trapped. No one knows how she got to the UK: no one knows she is there. Visitors rarely come to the farm; if they do, she is never seen.
Her husband records her every movement during the day. If he doesn’t like what he sees, she is punished.
For a long time, escape seemed impossible. But now, something has changed. She has a reason to live and a reason to fight. Now, she is watching him, and waiting . . .
Speed read
In the space of pretty much a week my mum, my auntie and then I had read The Last Thing To Burn about a woman held captive by her evil husband. That’s some speed reading. The opener grabs you immediately and you barely look up again until you are done. I’m now a little bit scared of Will Dean to have created such a monstrous character in Lenn. He is never angry, rarely looses his cool, yet he has total control over ‘Jane’. From what she eats, to the clothes she wears, living in his mother’s house untouched since the day she died. I really would have liked to have read about his mother (prequel hello?!) Was she responsible for how twisted he was?
As the book progresses the full extent of his depravity is shocking. I don’t want to give too much away but certain scenes are so tense that you have to deliberately read slowly so as not to skip bits just to find out what happens. If you are after a page turner this is it. Just be warned you are about to meet one of the most evil, horrible twisted characters in all of story telling ever!