Dying For a Second Chance in ‘I See You’ve Called in Dead’

Obituaries are meant to be the final word — a tidy summation of a person’s existence, polished and neatly packaged for print. But what if the obituary runs before the person is actually dead? Or worse — what if they wrote it themselves?  

In “I See You’ve Called in Dead,” released April 1, John Kenney spins a morbid hypothetical into a sharp and darkly funny novel about self-sabotage, second chances and the confusion of learning how to live. 

The story centers on Bud Stanley, an obituary writer whose life is as unthrilling as the dull, formulaic death notices he churns out. Divorced, uninspired and numbed by a steady diet of Scotch and self-loathing, Bud drunkenly pens his own obituary one night — then accidentally publishes it.  

Bud’s fallout is both absurd and liberating. Due to a clerical glitch, Bud is officially listed as deceased in his company’s system. With HR unable to fire a dead man and his coworkers unaware he’s still alive, he’s left in a strange limbo — collecting paychecks while being effectively absent from office life.

With unexpected time on his hands, Bud makes the questionable decision to attend strangers’ funerals, convinced observing the dead might offer some clues on how to live his life.  

Kenney’s razor-sharp humor wrings laughs from even the bleakest moments. Bud’s self-deprecating monologues make him both tragic and strangely likable, with plenty of gallows humor peppered throughout. 

“The good news, of course, is that someone died today,” Bud says. “That came out wrong.” 

Bud’s bone-dry cynicism borders on charming. Even in his most pitiful moments, Bud offers up brilliantly sardonic one-liners on his own reckless obituary stunt. 

“I should add that it wasn’t entirely out of the blue,” Bud says. “On occasion, I write my own obituary. I know what you’re thinking. How is this guy single?” 

But while the novel is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, its structure reads more like word vomit. Kenney’s stream-of-consciousness style makes it less a tightly plotted narrative and more like a diary, overflowing with Bud’s scrambled thoughts. 

Bud’s thoughts spiral through tangents and fragmented musings, creating a narrative as scattered as his midlife crisis. His rambling reflections often overshadow the plot, making for a disorienting reading experience.

Bud’s funeral tour forces him to confront his own irrelevance with his eulogy is nothing more than a polite formality. It’s in this hollow reckoning that the novel’s humor finds its counterweight — as Bud stumbles through the absurdity of grief and self-pity, his wit becomes less of a shield and more of a reflex to grapple with the uncomfortable sincerity of living. 

Kenney lets the humor and earnestness bleed into each other, neither overwhelming nor softening the other, but instead creating a friction that makes Bud’s crisis feel both intense and painfully human.

The novel’s message, hidden beneath its eerie wit, revolves around Bud’s search for a meaningful life. Kenney uses Bud’s story to deliver a snappy, almost jarring realization — how unsettling it is to reduce an entire life to a 200-word obituary, forcing the question of what truly makes one’s life memorable.

“I realize, at first glance, that the idea of writing one’s own obituary while still alive may sound morbid. It’s not, though. I promise you,” Bud says. “It’s a needed reminder of who you are, of what truly matters. Because it’s your life and there’s still time to write it. Before I have to.”  

Kenney captures fleeting existentialism through humor and diary-like confessions, to ultimately remind readers while death is inevitable, there’s still time to rewrite the story leading up to it.

“I See You’ve Called in Dead” is available for purchase at all major bookstores.