Hitting you right in the face with raw, unfiltered reality, Three Burials starts off with a dead refugee, radical police officers, a head-nurse drowning in emotion and in search of justice and purpose. And how did she, the head-nurse, end up in a pink convertible, with a dead body in the trunk and a bulky police officer on the passenger's seat?

Anders Lustgarten’s debut novel goes beyond boundaries and tells us about problems not only the U.K. is facing, but most of the European countries face at this point. Bad politics, immigration, mental health, healthcare in general, private contractors taking over public services, racism, discrimination, police violence, corrupt police officers, injustice, and lack of purpose. Just to name a few.

With all these heavy topics, you might expect a book so depressing and dark that even Dostoyevsky would raise his eyebrows, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, I have been absolutely howling of laughter at some points. Yes, the humour is incredibly dark and cynical, but in my opinion that is the only way to make this combination work.

And fortunately, that is not all. The heavy topics and dark humour also occasionally make way for some very beautiful writing about the search for purpose and love in life. Two elements that eventually tie all the characters together, some even in very unexpected ways.

Before reading this book, I was very much unaware of the existence of the author Anders Lustgarten. Next to being an author now, Lustgarten is also a political activist, has a PHD in Chinese politics, volunteered in American and British prisons, and above all also a playwright. His style of writing is definitely influenced by his work as a playwright, which you can see in his use of multiple POV’s, but also in his very descriptive style of writing. It is a feature that I personally very much like, but I can imagine that it can feel a little chaotic.

Overall, this book is definitely a top contender for my favourite book of the year. There is really nothing I didn’t like about it. The raw, unapologetic writing is a little confronting in the beginning, but that feeling disappeared after about 5 pages already. It’s actually the raw and unapologetic that made it such a good read, that and the incredible sense of dark humour.

I think I could write another 20 pages, but that would mean I’d have to give away (parts of) the plot and I really don’t want to spoil anything. I can only say that I highly recommend this book, not just as an entertaining read, but also as an absolute eye-opener. Let’s hope Anders Lustgarten is coming back with another brilliant book, but till then you can find this one at your local bookstore or at Penguin, who I am very grateful for, for sending me a digital copy!

(This review will also be up on my website and an additional post will follow on my social media)

The best book I’ve read so far this year.

I was a little reluctant to start reading it due to the subject matter of refugees in small boats which I thought I’d find distressing, And, OK, some parts of the book were painfully sad, but the way it was written…. Wow. Sweary, hilarious, radically compassionate and politically savage. I actually laughed and actually cried, which is rare for me.

A life affirming read which I’ll be recommending to everyone. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

I can guarantee that you won't forget this book in a hurry.

The story centres around Omar, an illegal immigrant, coming to the UK to be with his girl and for the so-called "better life" he thinks he can work for. Standing in his way is the roid-raging Freddie Barratt, a police officer whose mission in life is to keep anyone from Britain's shores that he doesn't think should be there. In his shadow is Andy Jakubiak, who really wants to get on in the police force and has been brought on in Barratt's image, believing his senior officer's way to be the right one.

That is until one night when Barratt and Jakubiak are fighting the good fight when they meet Omar in the English Channel. Omar thinks they are there to save him from drowning, right up to the point where Barratt attacks.

The following morning Cherry Bristow, mourning the loss of her son and failing to come to terms with her own mistakes, finds a body on the beach. She is a nurse, a mother, a woman who knows something badly wrong has happened to this corpse and she's determined that she will find the girl whose image is clasped in the boy's hand and give the boy a decent end.

After this the story takes off in the most maniacal way. Cherry is determined that the policeman trying to hush up the death will not get away with it, no matter what she has to do. Asha is determined to find out what happened to Omar. Cherry's grieving husband and daughter are caught up chasing after Cherry. Jakubiak is trying to find his own voice in the chaos and Barratt is bent on making sure that the corpse is never found, all the immigrants he can lay his hands on are made to suffer and that he will get a promotion for removing as many people as possible from his country.

There's a lot of swearing; there's a lot of violence. Anders Lustgarten does not hold back in his utter disdain for the government, the police and the corrupt society he finds himself in.

It is a very powerful book. It will keep you riveted to the end.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the advance review copy.

A nurse on the run, corrupt cops, family in ruins and a brutual look at the human cost of political injustice.

Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten is a debut novel about lives becoming intertwined when a boat of refugees makes it way to the South English coast.

The pace of this book was phenomenal and I absolutely raced through it. The lives of Lustgarten's characters offer a brutal vision of political injustice and the personal suffering that goes into the often faceless statistics.

I sometimes found the 'darkly comic' moments jarring and felt they slightly undercut the more emotionally impactful scenes featuring the refugees Omar and Abdi Bile. To me, this gave the book a slightly inconsistent tone which didn’t always work as well as it could but still kept me hooked.

I really did not know what to expect going into this as I haven't read any of this author's previous work, but the synopsis sounded so interesting to me and peaked my interest! Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. I liked the social commentary and that it pulled at my heart strings and got me quite emotional in parts. However, it took a while for me to get into it, and by the end of the book I wasn't really too bothered about it anymore. Its strong in some parts and then really lacking in other parts for me,.

I am not sure what I was expecting from this Anders Lustgarten book, but it was not this incredible, close to the bone, wildly funny, ironic, edgy, genius state of nation novel, with its razor sharp, incisive analysis of contemporary Britain, with its collapsing public services, cost of living crisis, austerity, inflation etc., led by a criminally mendacious, malevolent, malicious government, impossible to respect, intent on destruction, strife, division, and culture wars. All amidst a background of global crises, wars, famine, tyranny, climate change, refugees, and fortress Europe. All contributing to problems of identity and scrabbling for a sense of belonging in wider society. Cherry Bristow is drowning in grief, as head nurse working through the trauma of Covid within the NHS, and the added burden of unbearable personal loss and her family splintering apart with the death of her son, Liam.

So when Cherry comes across the body of a murdered refugee, the dead Omar, who looks the spit of Liam, on a Kent beach, she is galvanised into action, determined his corpse is restored to his loved one and receives a decent burial. Not caring about breaking the law, Cherry is doing this for herself too, to reconnect with the brimful of life woman she once used to be. Which is how she ends up as a bandit Queen, in her own version of Thelma and Louise, on the road, with a policeman handcuffed to a dead body in the car, chased by a vicious bald, racist cop on steroids, and being followed her husband, Robert, and daughter, Danielle. There is a wide and disparate mesmerising cast of characters, that include Czech housekeeper, organic chemist and witch, Radka, traumatised refugee Abdi Bile, Asha living her shadow London life, and a string of other eye catching figures.

Lustgarten has a real gift when it comes to creating and developing magnetic characters, sensitively illustrating the nature of grief, within a family, and its never ending presence in the chaotic lives of courageous refugees, and the horrifying challenges they are forced to endure. He draws with a few strokes characters that resonate, feel authentic and distinct, such as Jakubiak struggling for a sense of identity and belonging, no-one caring enough to support him, leavving him wide open to be groomed for nefarious purposes. This is superb, powerful and painful read, balanced by comic humour, and that left me enthralled, laughing unbelievably hard, captivated by the absurdities it highlights, and left heartbroken too. It is a vibrant, electrifying read just waiting to be turned into a movie! After this, I will read anything this author writes, and I have no doubt this will be a raging success upon publication. A must read that I highly recommend to other readers of all genres. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I had seen a couple of Anders Lustgarten’s plays and was interested to read his first novel, Three Burials.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The heroine of the piece is Cherry, a no-nonsense nurse, who is actually quite the tour de force. One thing is for sure, I really want Cherry in my corner!

The refugee crisis facing Europe is front and centre of this book. It’s a book with harrowing stories of migration, but also it’s about friendship and people trying to do the right thing. The world is far from perfect and there are people with deep prejudices - But I think this book focuses on the human spirit.

Despite the serious issues, it’s actually rather entertaining and there are some laugh out loud moments. Cherry and Andy get into some scrapes and they meet great characters willing to go the extra mile to help them. There are also some other entertaining characters in another thread of the story who help Asha.

I loved the references to Thelma & Louise in the book and also the humour. I look forward to other books from Anders Lustgarten.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers, Penguin, for making this e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Anders Lustgarten’s “Three Burials” explodes like a Molotov cocktail of social commentary and thrilling absurdity. We meet Cherry, a head nurse whose seemingly ordinary life shatters when she finds herself on the run with a dead refugee and a corrupt cop in tow. Their pink convertible becomes a chariot hurtling through the underbelly of Britain, exposing festering wounds of prejudice and neglect.

The novel doesn’t shy away from depicting the harsh realities faced by refugees. We see their desperation, their vulnerability, and the systemic failures that leave them exposed. But Lustgarten balances this darkness with sharp wit and moments of laugh-out-loud absurdity. The cop, struggling with his internalized biases, becomes a source of both tension and comic relief. Cherry’s own transformation, from ordinary citizen to reluctant revolutionary, is both believable and inspiring.

“Three Burials” is more than just a thriller, it’s a gut punch that forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about our own society. It challenges our perceptions of right and wrong, leaving us grappling with complex questions about justice, identity, and what it truly means to belong.

I loved this, it was un-put-downable – drama, politics and social justice collided. It took me back to the radical days of my youth and our hopes for a juster society that seem not to have been fulfilled.

This isn’t a comfortable read, but it’s a necessary one. The story lingers long after the final page, a testament to its emotional impact and thought-provoking themes.

Thanks as always to PRH for the early access! I enjoyed this so much, its a funny, witty, political roller coaster that left me laughing, outraged and thinking about the state our world and society is currently in. The novel highlights everything that is wrong with our country but also that there are a lot of people out there who want to male a change and want humanity to prevail. Its all underpinned with a pretty bonkers story which for me just added to the baffling views and political stand points that some people today still seem to hold. Any one who rates this low or says its "too political" are probably the ones that need to take a look in the mirror and learn some lessons from it the most. Everyone should read this book in 2024!

3.5 🌟


What a force of nature Cherry is! Definitely one you'd want on your side if things go wrong.
Like they do here, on quite an epic scale.
It hits the perfect note between farce, horror and tugging on the emotions.
It made me smile a lot, but definitely played on my emotions too.
It's got the dark humour down nicely too.
Really enjoyed.

Absolutely amazing! I couldn't put it down and it really did give such an honest commentary into the world we live in.

I saw some reviews saying it was political or too political but I actually didn't find anything particularly political about it. Its the reality of Britain today. There are refugees, they can become victims, police aren't always the good guys, sometimes it takes an outsider to go above and beyond to do whats right.

I laughed, I cried, it really was moving and heartfelt ad well as being hillarious - especially the comparison ti the late queen being paraded about the country like a misplaced ocado delivery.

I feel the only people who would deem it political as opposed to just being accurate would be those who just don't want to know what goes on and those who don't care as long as it doesn't effect them. Very much the same people who changed their fb profile to a flag of Ukraine but felt Palestine was "too complex" to comment on.

Absolutely amazing and a must read for everyone

This was not for me and i struggled to finish it, in fact i flicked through some of it. Rather to political for me. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

Three Burials is ,at times,literally a riot of a book. I was reminded very much of Ben Elton's early books from when he was both anti-establishment and funny,and you have to be very old to remember him being either of those things. As with Mr Elton's early output the politics do at times get a bit much even if you largely agree with them, as I do.

The book begins with a boat full of refugees finding their route across the Channel blocked by people determined to stop them landing,an incident that leads to tragedy. When nurse Cherry finds the body of one of the migrants on a beach with the picture of a young woman still clutched in his hand she's determined to trace her,identify him and make sure he has a proper funeral. From then on things get wild to the point of surreal as a psychotic policeman with inside knowledge of the murder pursues Cherry and one of his younger colleagues who is for part of the journey handcuffed to the body of the deceased. As the tale unfolds the backstorys of the main characters are revealed,the refugees journey across Africa and Europe,Cherry's dysfunctional family and the insecurities of the young policeman.

This is very funny,often dark and with a sobering insight into the exploitation and demonisation of refugees. It's very political,to the point at times of hectoring. That aside it's a very entertaining and often moving read,probably less so if your politics aren't aligned with those of author Anders Lustgarten, with some incisive social comment