Book Spotlight: Valet: A Novel
By J.P. Lacrampe
Synopsis
Cy wants nothing more than to be useful, raise his utility score, and receive the next update for his operating system. But that’s easier said than done when he’s tasked with helping his owner’s thirty-five-year-old son “get out of his funk.” (Simon & Schuster, 2026)
Grayson is nothing like his go-getter, CEO sister Charlotte. He didn’t inherit the family robotics company when their dad passed last year, he doesn’t have a master’s degree, and he just can’t seem to figure out the San Francisco dating scene. He’d rather eat synthesized mozzarella sticks and make pottery at his studio, Kilning Time.
When Grayson learns of Charlotte’s plan to sell the company to a tech conglomerate, he panics. It’s not just the family business at stake, it’s all the technology—like Cy—their dad invented over the years. So he does what anyone would do: he steals the flash drive with his father’s most important work stored on it and plans a corporate takeover. If only he knew what that meant.
To make matters worse:
- A fellow VALET deserts his owner and asks Cy to help him hightail it out of town.
- Grayson’s first real date—and her dog—keep showing up at inopportune times.
- The behemoth tech company wants this deal closed yesterday.
Grayson, Cy, and their trusty golden retriever, Sasha III, must go on the lam until they figure out exactly what to do, and whom to trust.
A hilarious, madcap adventure that is as tender as it is insightful, Valet asks not just what it means to be human, but what it means to be family.
Read This If You Love:
- Vibe: A whimsically speculative ode to Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster.
- For Fans Of: Kevin Wilson (Nothing to See Here) and Andrew Sean Greer (Less).
- Core Tropes: A helper robot, his thirty-five-year-old ward, and a madcap adventure to save the fate of a family empire.
“Valet is a hilarious and bracing examination of the near future, where Cy, a techbot servant, must navigate the complexities of humans to maintain his utility score. What makes this such a winning and openhearted novel is that J.P. Lacrampe goes beyond the initial premise by looking at the universal anxiety of family, of being tied to people with whom you will rise and fall, either toward a new update or into obsolescence.” — Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and Run for the Hills
About the Author
J.P. Lacrampe received his MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary’s College. His short fiction has been published by Glimmer Train, McSweeney’s, Instant City, and in Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit. He is a teaching professor at Santa Clara University, where he teaches courses in composition, fiction, and screenwriting.
