A Nutty Billionaire, Hapless Heirs, Greedy Lawyers, a Brazilian Search for Livingstone, and Redemption

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	• The Testament John Grisham Island Books, 1999 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 1119 reviews view larger image
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Legal Wrangling, Adventure, Sleaze, Redemption

Grisham brings his page-turning style to a contested will. Aged billionaire Troy Phelan commits suicide, leaving behind a questionable hand-written will and angry heirs (six kids and three ex-wives) who get nothing beyond their debts erased. The beneficiary is Troy's previously unknown illegitimate daughter Rachel, who lives as a penniless missionary among the Indians somewhere in the vast wilderness of Brazil. Naturally, the greedy heirs and their unscrupulous lawyers contest the will (claiming Troy was insane), while the exector plucks an acoholic attorney (Nate) from rehab to seach for Rachel in Brazil. Grisham provides adventurous reading as Nate braves storms, floods, snakes, mosquito-borne diseases and hostile natives while traveling up the Pantanal River in search of Rachel. At the same time, we see how low the Phelan heirs and their sleazy lawyers will sink to grab part of that $11 billion estate. But lest you lose faith in human nature, some redemption is mixed in with the mounds of sleaze.

I like Grisham's page-turning style and legal adventurism, but felt finding Rachel was too easy, and he took too long to get to the tepid ending. Still, if this isn't the top Grisham effort, it still makes very good reading.

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A bit of a slow reader

First, I'm not much of a lawyer book fan although I do like the grisham movies. About the middle of this book I wondered if I ever would finish it but did not dislike it enough to stop reading. It sped up after I got through the middle and it was ok. Not sure why I have such a hard time with these books, whether it is the lack of human development or the mass amount of detail. It had an ok story though and is a readable book.

A lawyer is getting out of rehab and is facing IRS issues so his firm sends him to the jungle to find an evangelist that just inherited millions despite the fact that she is an unknown illegitimate child of the miserly man that just died.

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A Nutty Billionaire, Hapless Heirs, Greedy Lawyers, a Brazilian Search for Livingstone, and Redemption

Troy Phelan, worth $11 billion, loves his business and hates his ex-wives and children. Rumored to be suffering from terminal cancer, Phelan calls the family together to sign a new will. The heirs cooperate by providing psychiatrists to observe and verify that Phelan is in his right mind. That's the apparent game plan, but Phelan has a second and more shocking one. Thus opens The Testament.

Probate law isn't very exciting, and John Grisham decides to dress it up with a cast of characters that are almost parodies of parodies, so much so that they didn't resonate with me. As a result, the "exciting" beginning bored me.

The bulk of the story eventually shifts to recovering alcoholic and drug addict, attorney Nate O'Riley, who is sent straight from rehab to Brazil to find a missing heir, Rachel Lane, who is a medical missionary to the indigenous people there. His journey is harrowing and tests his limited strength to the limits. But the journey also is a beginning of his personal redemption through receiving Salvation for the Lord, Jesus Christ. As soon as the redemption part of the story begins, the book vastly improves. Without that element, I would have rated this as a one- or two-star effort.

It's unusual for a secular writer to put a major Christian theme in a popular work of fiction. I applaud Mr. Grisham for doing so.

May God bless you, Mr. Grisham!

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Great voice, so-so plot

Here's my review system--I score on four categories and average them together for the number of stars. The four categories are: character development (are the characters deep and complex, plot (is it interesting), voice (is the narration smooth and engaging) and cliche level (is it predictable.)

Characters: 5 stars-- I found the two main characters fascinating

Plot: 2 stars-- it went on an on to a predictable ending

Voice: 5 stars -- very smooth which I believe is Grisham's strong suit

Cliche: 3 stars -- good lawyers and greedy lawyers as JG does

Overall Score 3 stars

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Heart of darkness...

In a plush Virginia office, a rich, angry old man is furiously rewriting his will. With his death just hours away, Troy Phelan wants to send a message to his children, his ex-wives, and his minions, a message that will touch off a vicious legal battle and transform dozens of lives.

Because Troy Phelan's new will names a sole surprise heir to his eleven-billion-dollar fortune: a mysterious woman named Rachel Lane, a missionary living deep in the jungles of Brazil.

Enter the lawyers. Nate O'Riley is fresh out of rehab, a disgraced corporate attorney handpicked for his last job: to find Rachel Lane at any cost. As Phelan's family circles like vultures in D.C., Nate is crashing through the Brazilian jungle, entering a world where money means nothing, where death is just one misstep away, and where a woman--pursued by enemies and friends alike--holds a stunning surprise of her own....

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