In Will Leitch’s latest novel, Lloyd McNeil is an Atlanta policeman with terminal brain cancer who decides that in order to provide for his 13 year-old son after his death, he has to die while on duty. Telling no one about his diagnosis, he puts himself into increasingly more dangerous situations so that his son will receive his death benefits. This sounds like a depressing and stressful premise, but, just as he did in his novel How Lucky (reviewed here), Leitch manages to make Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride funny, life-affirming and poignant, rather than relentlessly sad (although there are plenty of moments of sadness). While How Lucky had a Rear Window element that propelled the story forward, Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride is a slower and quieter book that is as much about parenting and letting go as it is about Lloyd’s risky scheme.