Me, the Missing, and the Dead

Buffalo News

"An impressive debut. Valentine offers a rich cast of characters and marvelous writing."

Horn Book Magazine

"Valentine sets in motion a dark comedy. The mystery that unravels...will keep readers entertained."

ALA Booklist

"Lucas’ pitch-perfect voice and authentic family relationships, the mild psychic element, and the poignant, coming-of-age mystery will stay with the reader long after the book ends. Valentine’s debut novel shines richly."

VOYA - Jennifer Miscek

When sixteen-year-old Lucas Swain rescues an urn abandoned in a mini-cab office, he is unprepared for the journey that awaits him. Still struggling with the memory of his missing father, the declining health of his loving grandparents, and the knowledge that his mother regrets the life she has lived, Lucas is forced to confront all of these trials as they converge around the woman whose ashes he has adopted. As he comes closer and closer to the less-than-favorable truth about the father he idolizes, Lucas falls for the lovely Martha, who is struggling with the loss of her own mother, but still offers the support he needs to transition from ignorance to knowledge. In this well-paced and thoughtful novel, Valentine investigates the simultaneous joy and pain of learning the truth about the people we love, the people who are first and foremost mortal, fallible, and sometimes selfish. The ending is a deft balance of resolution and ambiguity that demonstrates how fraught Lucas's journey has been, a gratifying close to a sweet and sad coming-of-age tale. Reviewer: Jennifer Miscek

Publishers Weekly

It's difficult to pinpoint just what makes this British debut so quietly disturbing yet so compulsively readable. Valentine simultaneously attempts a detective caper, a commentary on euthanasia and a youth's pithy send up of an unfair world—and succeeds. Despite its oddball plot, in which 15-year-old Lucas inadvertently stumbles upon an abandoned urn of ashes in a cab depot and, in an uncanny twist of fate, unearths the truth about his father, who disappeared five years earlier, the novel raises serious questions about death even as it exposes the entrails of a broken family. Even with the heavy subject matter, Valentine gives humor free reign, as Lucas mouths off in cheeky British twang about his annoying sister, his lack of friends and his sense that he is the only one still holding a torch for his father. Ages 14-up. A memorable new voice. (Apr.)

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Children's Literature

AGERANGE: Ages 14 up.

Lucas Swain is almost sixteen when a family mystery begins to unfold. It has been several years since his father disappeared, and it is unknown whether the missing man is living or dead. At first, the answers seem to lie with a cremation urn, whose inhabitant, Violet, communicates with Lucas from beyond. In the end, the answers lie within. Violet's story is intertwined with his own, and in his search for his father Lucas ultimately finds himself. This title earns its status as a young adult novel with references to asocial sexual behavior and recreational drug use. The overall theme is to "know yourself" with an emphasis on time as the greatest teacher. Throughout the text, a variety of font styles set off lists and interviews, etc. Although they add visual interest, they may pull the reader out of the story to focus on the typeface instead of meaning. In spite of them, Valentine's writing rings true. Her characters take hold straight through to the end. Reviewer: Tina Dybvik

F. Todd Goodson

The first novel by British author Jenny Valentine is a carefully crafted portrait of a 15- year-old protagonist's search to learn about the father, who abandoned his family several years earlier. This quest begins with Lucas Swain's unlikely discovery of an urn containing the ashes of an elderly woman sitting on a shelf in the offices of a cab company. Immediately drawn to this woman, Lucas learns that she was abandoned in the back seat of a cab. With the help of his grandmother, Lucas takes possession of the ashes, and this mysterious woman in the urn seems intent on telling Lucas something. What he learns will change everything. Me, the Missing, and the Dead is a compelling study of a group of family relationships. The characters are well-developed, and the book offers adolescents an insight into the complex psychological workings of a dysfunctional family. Jenny Valentine is an author to watch. Reviewer: F. Todd Goodson

School Library Journal

Gr 8-11- Sixteen-year-old Lucas idealizes his father, Pete, who disappeared when the boy was six. Mum says they were abandoned, although Lucas makes excuses for his dad. On entering a minicab office one day, he finds himself drawn to an urn containing the ashes of a woman named Violet, which someone left in a cab years before. Part mystery, part magical realism, part story of personal growth, and in large part simply about a funny teenager making light of his and his family's pain, this short novel is engaging from start to finish. It feels like Frank Cottrell Boyce's Framed (2006) or Millions (2004, both HarperCollins) for a slightly older crowd-especially in the all-too-human quirky family members and their willingness to employ creative methods to secure their ends as well as in the contemporary middle-class London setting. Throughout, Lucas's tongue-in-cheek lists (e.g., "good reasons to make friends with a dead lady in an urn") relieve the seriousness of his family's situation and his relatively mature revelations about them and himself. Lucas steadily unravels the two mysteries-the deceased Violet and the missing Pete-and leaves readers with a highly satisfying surprise inside the final knot. Neither too heavy nor too fluffy.-Rhona Campbell, Washington, DC Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Deciding to hire a cab with the ten pounds his sister left in his jacket after borrowing it, Lucas enters a London cab company office to find himself mystically drawn to Violet, the dead inhabitant of an urn left behind by a fare years earlier. Lucas's own father had gone missing right about the time his younger brother was born, and his mother has never managed to let go of her anger and loss. Thus, the journey of discovery to find where Violet belongs becomes in part Lucas's attempt to come to terms with his own circumstances. Readers never learn whether it's his own loss that draws him to the answers, or whether Violet somehow leads him along through a series of interviews that enlighten both his and Violet's shadowed pasts. The voice is fresh and humorous, which keeps the melodrama low and the atmosphere light. Everyday quirkiness brings the secondary characters to life as distinct individuals, and fortuitous turns in the plot lead to the answers to Lucas's critical questions. Charmingly told, this mystery manages to be both frothy and nourishing. (Fiction. YA)

ALA Booklist (starred review)

“Lucas’ pitch-perfect voice and authentic family relationships, the mild psychic element, and the poignant, coming-of-age mystery will stay with the reader long after the book ends. Valentine’s debut novel shines richly.”