Publication Date: April 1, 2025
The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your life’s story.
Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living.
As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live.
Thurber Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.
What happens when an obituary writer publishes his own obituary after a few too many drinks? If you are Bud Stanley, it’s the catalyst for embracing second chances.
Told in first-person from Bud’s perspective, I See You’ve Called in Dead is packed with dark humor. Author John Kenney adds a neat twist with an overly efficient HR system that classifies Bud as being dead, which technically means he can’t be fired.
Leading up to that fateful night, Bud’s character is quite miserable. He’s been left by his wife, and his dating prospects are epic nightmares. Besides, he never meant to accidentally hit the keyboard, resulting in his self-inflated fake obituary being posted to the website of the world’s largest wire service news organization.
Bud’s situation is so awful that the only thing to do is laugh, especially since he was rather creative with the byline. He learns valuable life lessons in the aftermath.
I See You’ve Called in Dead offers a humorous look at a man’s struggle to make sense of love and find his place in the world.
John Kenney is the author of two novels and four books of poetry. His first novel, Truth In Advertising, won the Thurber Prize for American humor. He is also the author of Talk to Me, which received a starred Kirkus review, and the New York Times bestseller Love Poems for Married People. He is a long-time contributor to The New Yorker.
