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Song for the Dead
A young man and his mother grapple with the disappearance and possible death of his older brother who may have jumped off a bridge on the Jersey shore.
I AM NOT GONE is what the suicide note on Mason’s pillow says.
His seventeen-year-old brother, Declan, finds it just before police arrive to search Mason’s bedroom for clues to his several local business CCTV cameras in the New Jersey shore beach town have recorded a video of a young man fitting Mason’s description jumping from a bridge. But was it Mason? Police divers haven’t found a body. As Declan and his frantic mother endure local news coverage of the missing young man, nearly a week passes and the words I AM NOT GONE remain lodged in Declan’s memory.
As he tries amidst his deep grief to return to his life as it was before Mason disappeared, Declan begins to hear about a group of people called The Liberators who are committing terrorist acts all over the U.S. And then suddenly he receives an unnerving direct message from Mason’s Instagram account. Then another message, both telling Declan to come find him. Convinced Mason’s account was hacked, Declan blocks the sender. But then he feels compelled to reconnect and finds that not only does the person sound like his brother, but they also know intimate things about Declan that no one else could possibly know. Is his brother still alive somewhere? And if so why would he do such a thing to the family? Then there is yet another a song Mason wrote for the four-man band that he and Declan are part of, a haunting song that when performed posthumously, mesmerizes audiences.
As the novel builds to shocking conclusion, Declan is forced to make sense of the mystery of his missing brother and to understand just what compelled Mason to write his cryptic note and take leave of his tightly knit family.
I AM NOT GONE is what the suicide note on Mason’s pillow says.
His seventeen-year-old brother, Declan, finds it just before police arrive to search Mason’s bedroom for clues to his several local business CCTV cameras in the New Jersey shore beach town have recorded a video of a young man fitting Mason’s description jumping from a bridge. But was it Mason? Police divers haven’t found a body. As Declan and his frantic mother endure local news coverage of the missing young man, nearly a week passes and the words I AM NOT GONE remain lodged in Declan’s memory.
As he tries amidst his deep grief to return to his life as it was before Mason disappeared, Declan begins to hear about a group of people called The Liberators who are committing terrorist acts all over the U.S. And then suddenly he receives an unnerving direct message from Mason’s Instagram account. Then another message, both telling Declan to come find him. Convinced Mason’s account was hacked, Declan blocks the sender. But then he feels compelled to reconnect and finds that not only does the person sound like his brother, but they also know intimate things about Declan that no one else could possibly know. Is his brother still alive somewhere? And if so why would he do such a thing to the family? Then there is yet another a song Mason wrote for the four-man band that he and Declan are part of, a haunting song that when performed posthumously, mesmerizes audiences.
As the novel builds to shocking conclusion, Declan is forced to make sense of the mystery of his missing brother and to understand just what compelled Mason to write his cryptic note and take leave of his tightly knit family.
230 pages, Paperback
Published September 9, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 21, 2025
Such a beautiful read about the complexity of growing up and managing through grief. Loved it!
October 4, 2025
Declan is seventeen, when his older brother Mason commits suicide, turning his life upside down. Mason also left a cryptic note- “I am Not Gone”, which adds to Declan’s grief and confusion. Is he alive somewhere. To add to Declan’s misery, he starts receiving text messages from someone claiming to be Mason. This is a dark tale about a boy dealing with his immense grief, along with trying to solve the mysteries of his brother’s death. Not an uplifting book but a well-written one.
October 26, 2025
Very poignant read with a unique point of view. Highly recommend
September 21, 2025
Hard to put down despite how dark the story is. Evokes certain parts of the Jersey Shore in powerful ways. Cinematic. Feels nostalgic but also of the moment. Strong recommend!
November 12, 2025
Would give six stars if I could.
September 15, 2025
Andrew Cusick was my English teacher during my senior year of high school. Because of this, and because I like the guy, a part of me was a bit worried that I might have to give a pity 5-star review and move on.
Thankfully, I don't have to do that.
Simply put, this book rocked. Maybe you have to be some combination of the following things to really get what this book is:
1. From the Jersey Shore
2. A current or former Catholic school student
3. Even more specifically, a student of the school that Cusick not so subtly winks at, "the Institute"
4. A current or former teenage boy
5. The kid who said dark things or sometimes acted a bit too grown-up for their age
If you're any of these things, then great, read the book. If not, read it anyway. I don't think you have to be any of those things. Plus, you can read it in a day.
Maybe you won't get every reference if you didn't just so happen to belong to the cross-country team imitated within these very pages, but you'll catch the important stuff. Grief and loss aren't easy. They're even harder when you're young. Love radically and love well, if you can.
I love a book that does a lot of things at once, and Song for the Dead is no exception. It's a mystery that isn't really a mystery. It's a love letter to a million different things. It's about growing up and the journey that might entail. The human experience tied together in a New Jersey-shaped bow, wrapped in grief and some pretty heavy stuff.
I think you should read it. It's worth it, I promise.
Thankfully, I don't have to do that.
Simply put, this book rocked. Maybe you have to be some combination of the following things to really get what this book is:
1. From the Jersey Shore
2. A current or former Catholic school student
3. Even more specifically, a student of the school that Cusick not so subtly winks at, "the Institute"
4. A current or former teenage boy
5. The kid who said dark things or sometimes acted a bit too grown-up for their age
If you're any of these things, then great, read the book. If not, read it anyway. I don't think you have to be any of those things. Plus, you can read it in a day.
Maybe you won't get every reference if you didn't just so happen to belong to the cross-country team imitated within these very pages, but you'll catch the important stuff. Grief and loss aren't easy. They're even harder when you're young. Love radically and love well, if you can.
I love a book that does a lot of things at once, and Song for the Dead is no exception. It's a mystery that isn't really a mystery. It's a love letter to a million different things. It's about growing up and the journey that might entail. The human experience tied together in a New Jersey-shaped bow, wrapped in grief and some pretty heavy stuff.
I think you should read it. It's worth it, I promise.
September 23, 2025
While it deals with some dark topics, this was an enjoyable book to read. The stream of conscious style of writing was effective and made the pages fly by (I finished the book in less than a day). The writing style is different from the great John Grisham, but similar in that it was efficient and easy to read. The author has a great sense of humor and some of the descriptions were awesome. Two of my favorites: “Taylor is tall and thick, bigger than big, his face tan and seared with spaghetti veins and flushed skin full of Michelob Ultra, nachos, cigarettes.” “If you cut down from Ocean Avenue from Highlands to Pt. Pleasant from May to September, it was an endless sequence of unaffordable real estate, bars overflowing with white boy heroes, flashing neon and circulating greens of various beach clubs, fairs, and concerts in Asbury Park . . .” Readers from Monmouth County will enjoy picking up inside references. The overall message is powerful, especially given that (as noted in the book) “[i]n the last few years, for whatever reason, Monmouth County has endured a seemingly endless onslaught of dead teenagers.” For lack of better words, the author simply “gets it.” My only complaint is that I wish the book was longer - there were a few subplots that do not get resolved and are left for interpretation. And finally, the characters drank enough alcohol that I think I got a little drunk just reading about them drinking.
February 7, 2026
A poignant story of grief and coming-of-age for modern day America. What makes this story unlike any other is author Andrew Cusick's ability to seamlessly weave together tragedy, mystery, and the relatable search for adolescent identity, all on the backdrop of a hauntingly familiar polarized America. What drives this story is living on knife's edge between an adolescent's hope and cynicism surrounding his brother's apparent suicide, but Cusick also manages to hold a mirror up to our lived reality of apathy and acceptance amidst a bombardment of the humanitarian horrors we witness in our hands every day. This novel successfully tackles complex themes that include grief and death, sexuality and relationships, and political demonstrations and violence without pandering, alienating, or patronizing the reader, and without taking away from the mystery that keeps the pages turning. It invites the reader to share the experience through a tone that is honest and true, characters that are relatable and three dimensional, and emotions that are palpable. This story is for anyone that has experienced loss of a loved one and the existential struggle to find peace.
September 27, 2025
Required reading for anyone who spent their teenage summers on the Jersey Shore drinking Lairds vodka from a Poland Springs water bottle while on their way to the Stone Pony Summer Stage. The nostalgia I’ve been craving, even if parts were too painfully relatable. Loved the writing, especially the first time the band played Song for the Dead (which happened to be in the shore town I was raised… pretty cool). Recommend to Bennys as well!
February 12, 2026
Thank you for writing this book.
I always knew this man had something important to say — and this story most definitely says much of it with style, substance, and grace.
This book is not only a coming of age story. In my humble opinion this story is also a deep retrospective on youth development in the 2000s-2020s. Within this story you’ll find elements from great classics of old, with a modern surface.
Once again, thank you for writing this Cusick!
I always knew this man had something important to say — and this story most definitely says much of it with style, substance, and grace.
This book is not only a coming of age story. In my humble opinion this story is also a deep retrospective on youth development in the 2000s-2020s. Within this story you’ll find elements from great classics of old, with a modern surface.
Once again, thank you for writing this Cusick!
April 30, 2026
Song for the Dead is an emotional story about grief, mystery, and trying to find the truth. It’s definitely not a light read, but it’s powerful and worth it.
September 23, 2025
While a little dark at times, the reader rides the ebbs and flow of Declan, a junior in high school, who is trying to believe (and not) that his older brother killed himself. Set at the Jersey shore in Monmouth County, the writer provides detailed information on Declan’s life and Mom that you can place yourself into one or both characters. If you live in Monmouth County, many of the sites, schools and lifestyle will be very familiar. The story is not only heartbreaking in many ways, but it shows how families, relationships and everyday life of those left behind changes when a loved one commits suicide.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews