The Testament
Reviewed by John Burwell Stone, April 1, 1999
When a proflic best-selling author, whose popularity translates into box office movie hits at the local quadraplex, writes a Christian conversion scene into his latest page-turner, one wants to cheer loudly and encourage everyone to head to a bookstore to pick up a copy.
Such is the case with Grisham’s latest novel, one of his book-a-year efforts whose characters and plot line seem capable of an easy move to the cinema.
The Testament’s title refers to the main metaphor of the book: The truly last will of several wills and testaments of billionaire Troy Phelan whose final “holographic” (handwritten) will, written moments before his own bizarre suicide, will be challenged by a gang of losers related to the man through his serial-failed-marriage lifestyle.
Phelan in his last moment decides to leave his $11-billion estate to a long-lost daughter, a Christian medical missionary who resides somewhere in the jungles of Brazil. The lawyer-protagonist, Nathan O’Riley, a philandering alcoholic we first meet in a tony detox center with his personal health guru, Sergio, is the man picked to find the unexpected heiress. Yes, a beautiful heiress named Rachel, and one begins to think, “Ah, romance!” I will quit telling the story and let you read for yourself the surprisingly poignant twist at the end.
For there is a greater romance involved in this book. Suffice it to say before the novel’s end, Nate comes to the true beginning of himself with these words, “Nate saw the face of Christ, in agony and pain, dying on the cross. Dying for him. A voice was calling Nate, a voice from within, a voice leading him down the aisle …”
The Testament crosses the unseen line from a tale of modern morality for the “upscale, materialist-baby-boomer” in each of us to an invitation to Grisham’s millions of readers to consider Jesus Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life,” and thereby, consider giving one’s life away for God and neighbor as a better testament.
Hurray.
John Burwell Stone is a Presbyterian minister in Chattanooga, Tenn.