The Testament
By John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday, 1999
Genre: Fiction/Crime Thriller
Via: Library
It’s been a long time since I read a book just for the fun of it. Not to be the first to post a review. Not to inhale it in big gulps so I can hurry on to the next title – or rush to meet a deadline.
But to take my time. Creak open a cover. Smell the new book smell. Fan a few pages. Sip and savor the words slowly, like fine wine. Let the whole world melt away in the vast profundity and gentle joy of a good book.
John Grisham’s The Testament is that kind of a book. Yes, it includes plenty of legal drama and lawyerly maneuvering of the avaricious attorneys and greedy heirs to a fortune type. The kind who could care less about their eccentric, estranged dead billionaire father. The kids’ sole concern is how fast they can get their mits on Troy Phelan’s billion$ after he undergoes a thorough psychiatric evaluation, is pronounced perfectly competent and lucid, and swan dives out a 14-story window to his death.
Turns out old Troy Phelan didn’t have a brain tumor after all. A miserable old man, Phelan was just tired of living. He hated almost everyone as much as they hated him, especially his children and his three ex-wives and their rapacious broods. Troy wanted out. So he jumped. Seconds after he wrote out an iron-clad holographic will that superceded and negated all eleven previous documents.
Surprise!
The new handwritten will leaves almost his entire family out in the cold. Except for one illegitimate daughter: Rachel Lane. No Phelan nor any of their vulching hordes of attorneys has ever met or even heard of Rachel Lane.
But old Phelan leaves almost his entire fortune – some eleven billion buck$ – to Rachel Lane. And no one has Clue 1 who she is. Or how/where to find her.
Let the legal games begin!
And begin they do. In earnest. As soon as Troy Phelan’s holographic will is read about three weeks after his death.
It’s amazing the lengths some people will go to to try to get their hands on million$ they think they’re entitled to. Think feeding frenzy. With a bunch of sharks. Crooks. Cut-throats. Back-stabbers. The Phelan fam and their piranha-esque lawyers give pond scum a bad name.
This is all beautifully and masterfully written, by the way, with an underlying theme that, nope, money can’t buy happiness. Or love. Or forgiveness. Or redemption. Or second chances. When it comes right down to it, in fact, money can’t buy a single thing that really matters. Or has the slightest shred of eternal value.
Enter attorney Nate O’Reilly. He’s freshly out of his fourth drug and alcohol rehab. He has two ex-wives. Estranged kids he hasn’t seem in years. Is in debt up to his ears. Is about to be indicted for tax evasion. Is poised to lose his law license. And his only real romance is with booze.
In fact, O’Reilly is about as broken and washed-up and pathetic as they come. He’s more or less “expendable.” Which is why Troy Phelan’s long-time attorney and O’Reilly’s boss, Josh, has O’Reilly head down to the Brazilian jungle to find the elusive Rachel Lane. And get her signatures on a raft of legal documents related to her father’s will.
One Problem
There’s just one problem: Rachel could care less about the moola. She’s a single missionary woman living among a primitive Indian tribe in the jungles of Brazil. She meets the news that she’s suddenly the wealthiest woman in the world with a shoulder shrug. She’s perfectly content where she is, living in a thatched hut with handmade furniture, eating manioc, ministering to the Indians and making the four-day trip up river to the nearest outpost for mail and supplies once a year.
Rachel doesn’t want the $. Doesn’t need it. And could care less. Fact is, with nary a dime to her name; Rachel is the happiest, most contented person Nate has ever met. And he can’t figure out why. (Incidentally, alert readers will note that The Testament has a double meaning in this book.)
Mesmerizing
Brimful of well-rounded, three-dimensional characters who learn and grow and a mesmerizing plot that grips and won’t let go, The Testament is quite a ride. It’s a little legal drama. A little family dynamics. A little action/adventure. Some exotic travelogue. A lot love, loyalty, and forgiveness. Compelling and captivating,
Refreshing
The Testament also presents a Christian character who’s portrayed with respect, for a change. Faith-filled and down-to-earth, Rachel emerges as a real person instead of a pompous jerk, a cardboard cutout, or as the butt of a bad joke. How refreshing.
It took me way too long to get around to this book. But The Testament is the finest, most compelling Grisham book I’ve ever read. And I’ve read a ton.
As for the surprise ending? Can I get back to you on that? I’m still savoring the whole world melting away between the pages of a top-notch book. Ta!
Pages & Paws 