Our story begins with the introduction of Zane, a dissolute man who decides to commit suicide. As he raises the gun to his head, even beginning to squeeze the trigger, Death enters. Zane manages to yank his arm away from his head and shoots Death in the face, killing him. Fate promptly arrives to explain to Zane that since he killed Death he must now take over the office of Death.
And the adventure begins! Death, as an office, is a peculiarly complicated job. Death is only called for a personal appearance when the soul of the person to die is in perfect balance between good and evil. Death then analyzes the soul, decides which way it must go and sends it off. If Death cannot get a valid 'reading' he drops the soul off to purgatory (which calls to mind the office setting/personal of the DMV), where exhaustive accounting takes place. Aside from the office of Death, there are five other Incarnations; Fate, Time, War and Nature. After some interaction with these other office holders, Death learns that he has been set into his office on purpose.
He is called to the death of a powerful magician who basically wills his daughter to Death. This woman, Luna, is destined to thwart Satan in twenty years. Satan, however, has no intention of letting Luna live long enough to prevent his 'master' plan. Of course he sets it up so Luna will die early. Ah, only Death can save her now!
This book is quite interesting in that it examines the place of death in life. The dialogue Death has with others, as well as internally, treats death as a puzzle and the attempt to solve it moves the storyline forward quite well. There is definitely a strong Christian bias in the portrayal but it manages to leave most doctrine at the door. While God and the Devil are certainly individual actors (especially the Devil as we meet him) the focus is mainly on the concepts of good and evil and there is a good smattering of relativism tossed in for fun.
I would definitely recommend this book. It is entertaining and thought provoking and provided you aren't too sensitive to the Christian slant, it would be suitable for most any reader.
Grade: A+
