Tina Dybvik (Children's Literature)
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. 2008, HarperTeen/HarperCollins, $16.99. Ages 14 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2008 (Vol. 76, No. 6))
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. 2008, HarperTeen, 208p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 13 up. © 2008 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

F. Todd Goodson (The ALAN Review, Summer 2008 (Vol. 35, No. 3))
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. Category: Valentine Family Relationships. YA--Young Adult. 2007, Harper Teen, 201 pp., $17.89. Ages young adult.Manhattan, KS

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, July 2008 (Vol. 61, No. 11))
Five years after his father disappeared, Lucas Swain has turned him into an icon of sorts, idolizing his stylish demeanor, wearing his clothes, and refusing to believe that he might have been the type of man who simply walked out on his family. A chance encounter with an urn of ashes left in a taxicab sets Lucas on a quest that ends with his coming to terms with the fact that he may have been wrong to think so highly of his dad. The urn in question contains Violet Park, a woman of whom he has never heard, but who played a pivotal role in his father’s disappearance and who seems to be insistent on getting her story told to Lucas from beyond the grave. With gentle proddings—a sense of contentment here, a nagging unrest there—she nudges Lucas toward clues that reveal her own final wishes and cause him to ask questions of his father’s best friend that help him face who his father really was. Lucas’ narration makes Violet’s mystical presence seem perfectly reasonable, rather than a timely coincidence appearing just as a sixteen-year-old boy is finally ready to accept unpleasant truths about a cherished fantasy; the story is handily plotted to keep a level of suspense going through a fair bit of repetitive (and thus entirely credible) introspection. Lucas’s hard-won insights about the constellation of relationships that constitute his family have a level of depth and wisdom beyond the norm of this genre; likewise his own relationship with a new girlfriend offers opportunities for epiphanies and emotional growth at a time when both need a fresh perspective. Missing parents with grieving kids may be overworked ground in YA fiction, but Valentine harvests an impressive yield of insight in this debut novel Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2008, HarperTeen, 201p., $17.89 and $16.99. Grades 7-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2008)
The author sets in motion a dark comedy in which the two most vivid characters--London teen Lucas Swain's missing dad and Violet, who's been cremated--appear mainly in Lucas's mind. Lucas never knew Violet, but he repeatedly stumbles upon evidence that she and his father were connected. The mystery that unravels both inside and outside of Lucas's head will keep readers entertained. Category: Older Fiction. 2008, HarperTeen, 201pp, 16.99, 17.89. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.