Book Review: "Three Burials" by Anders Lustgarten

It's late March 2025 and my mental health has been here and there. I've had stints where a lot of my hair has fallen out and others where I no longer get hungry enough to eat dinner in the evening. Be that as it may, I still find a joy in reading books and writing about them. This is probably one of the few joys in my life at this point and I really did want to share this important book with you. I didn't expect it to be this way at all and now that I've read it - ist seems a lot better than just its blurb. Let's explore Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten.

Somali friends Omar and Abdi Bile embark on a dangerous journey across the English Channel, seeking refuge in Britain. Their small boat encounters a violent storm, leaving them vulnerable and desperate for assistance. I absolutely loved their story and how it was interweaved with another part of the narrative. This story in which Omar and Abdi face horrific encounters shows us that sometimes we need to look at ourselves as humans and evaluate where we went wrong. If you cannot have empathy for Omar and Abdi then I have nothing to say to you, you may as well move on from this review entirely.

During the storm, off-duty police officers Freddie Barratt and Andy Jakubiak, affiliated with the extremist group "Defenders of the Realm", intercept the refugees. In the ensuing chaos, Barratt fatally assaults Omar, an act inadvertently recorded by Jakubiak. This scene is action-packed as some of the men try to jump on to the other boat as their boat sinks. The assault is violent and horrifying, honestly I was absolutely terrified by this point about how one person could do this to a fellow human being after knowing damn well what they had been through.

The next morning, Cherry Bristow, a dedicated NHS nurse grappling with the recent suicide of her son, finds Omar's corpse washed ashore. Struck by his resemblance to her late son, she feels a profound connection and a moral obligation to honour his life. I think that this is where the story starts to get really interesting. Cherry has absolutely no connection to the person who has washed up on the shore - only that he looks like someone. The thing is, she still has empathy for the other person and ultimately, we can argue that it is empathy that makes us human. Cherry was possibly my favourite character in this whole state-of-the-nation novel.

As she is unwilling to let Omar be buried anonymously, Cherry takes the drastic step of stealing his body from the morgue. She embarks on a journey to London, aiming to find Asha and provide Omar with a dignified burial. Asha is a woman and when Omar died, Cherry found a picture of her in his clutched fist. Asha is such an important character and has her own struggles and story - therefore, she is not simply a plot device. I love the way the writer does this and if you want to see how each character becomes hugely important to the narrative then you want to read this book.

Cherry coerces Andy Jakubiak, the conflicted young officer, into accompanying her. Handcuffed and guilt-ridden over his involvement in Omar's death, Andy becomes both a captive and a companion on this unconventional road trip. I think this is where the book begins to pick up because what we know about Andy's character up until this point is that he is a wet paper bag in metaphorical terms. He follows what he is told to do only happy to get an opportunity to be involved in something. It doesn't surprise me that Cherry coerces him into a road trip because he has absolutely no back bone whatsoever.

All in all, this is a great book that makes an observation on our modern times. As the two traverse the "badlands" of Southeast England, Cherry and Andy are relentlessly pursued by Freddie Barratt, whose violent tendencies and extremist views pose a constant threat to their mission. This is where we see that shift in dynamic that we were waiting for. I think that Andy is possibly one of the most important characters in the book because it shows us that in reality, there is nothing we have as humans but empathy for our fellow human being. Especially in times of horrifying crisis.