The Last Thing To Burn - Will Dean

★★★★

Genre: Thriller, Psychological, Dark, Literary 

Synopsis: A woman being held captive is willing to risk everything to save herself, her unborn child, and her captor’s latest victim in this claustrophobic thriller in the tradition of Misery and Room.
On an isolated farm in the United Kingdom, a woman is trapped by the monster who kidnapped her seven years ago. When she discovers she is pregnant, she resolves to protect her child no matter the cost, and starts to meticulously plan her escape. But when another woman is brought into the fold on the farm, her plans go awry. Can she save herself, her child, and this innocent woman at the same time? Or is she doomed to spend the remainder of her life captive on this farm?

*** 

Review: Woah. If this book wasn't so gut wrenchingly visceral, you'd nearly say it was beautifully written. I've never read anything by Will Dean, and having had not read any reviews, I was not prepared for the explicit brutality this novel. But the writing holds so much love and hope too, as twisted and shrunken as they might be by comparison with the bleakness of Jane's everyday reality. I would have liked to have known more about the backgrounds and pasts of each of the characters, particularly the captor, to understand how they reached this point (as people, not in terms of timeline).

It's brutal. I mean, it's really nasty. This is not for anyone with a weak stomach, but it is an excellent read if you can manage it. It feels horrifyingly real. 

The only criticism I have is that the resolution felt too simple and rushed. Had the ending occured much earlier in the story, it would have made more sense but the rest of the book wouldn't have happened.

But, that aside, everything else about this was amazing. This is not a thriller, this is literary fiction.

Rating: 4/5