David evidently has a humongous number of novels to his name, including a lot of movie and TV novels, and his storycraft shows in the ease with which this story sucks you in. It’s an informal narrative, with a number of asides as we find out about the titular character, known by his surname to pretty much everyone. He is a mellow guy, very much at ease, in his increasing old age, with his impending Death. But this ease rather puts Death off his stroke, so to speak, and the pair have to resolve this issue before things can be done correctly. There’s a touching end to the story, or perhaps that’s me in my maudlin middle age!
