Rating: Summary: Fast, Funny, And Riveting Review: The realism, though stylized and delightfully contrived and slightly melodramatic, is palpable. Greed overcomes a pack of very human lawyers and their respective clients, the heirs of a billionaire who executes a will bequeathing them a fortune, then moments later commits suicide on video tape. Immediately the spending begins as the assembly of losers sped their newfound wealth. Not so fat, there is a twist and turn, and finally, another heir deep in the wetlands of Brazil, an humble missionary, and the protagonist, a fallen attorney, facing tax evasion charges and his own demons with drugs and alcohol, is dispatched to find her. This he does with great adventure an some truly hilarious narrative. Thereafter, many of the chapters are predictable and the outcome slowly becomes foreseeable, too. It is a slight disappointment, however the fireworks and delightful legal wrangling keep the pages turning. What is troubling with this novel is some of the glaring errors about litigation and other routine facts that I wonder if are included by editors and not the author who of course, is a lawyer himself. Despite the inaccuracies, this book is a joy to read and quite exciting as well as humorous. There is at points, a heavy handed religious subplot that gets somewhat maudlin and is also over sanitized as not to, I assume, offend any specific denomination, but it belongs in the story and is palatable in this context. A good, fast read, well written and extremely entertaining, the author had his groove back!
Rating: Summary: Least favorite of Grisham's books Review: Seems like Grisham just got sick of writing this one and decided to abruptly end it. Still a pretty entertaining read.
Rating: Summary: Unpredicable ending Review: The story was intriguing, and the ending was totally unpredictable. That was what made the whole thing come together.
Rating: Summary: The Power of God vs Mammon Review: This is my first read of a John Grisham novel. I look forward to more. I enjoyed this one very much.What happens when an $11 Billion fortune is at stake in a legal battle where the obvious heirs have been written out of the will, which instead names a reclusive missionary who has no interest in the money as sole heir? Here we see in dramatic detail what money and power can do to spoil the lives of many and how irrelevant it is for the happiness and contentment of one. In between is a man, Nate O'Reilly, who learns the power of redemption after nearly destroying his life (no easy journey). The characters and their circumstances are realistically portrayed. The story has an exciting pace and a remarkable ending. Well worth the time spent reading.
Rating: Summary: John, take a break! Review: This book was a disappointment, I think John could of done better. The plot was how this old billionaire commits sucide just after he signs a new will. An alcoholic lawyer is sent into the jungles of Brazil to find one of the old man's daughters. The book needed more action, or SOMETHING interesting. Truthfully, don't read this book.
Rating: Summary: Couldn't Put It Down! Review: This was my first Grisham book, so I can't compare it to his others. But I do know that I couldn't put it down! The plot has plenty of attention-keeping twists, the characters are entertaining, and the "moral of the story" was great. What was the story? Without giving things away, it's about a multi-billionaire who, at the eleventh hour, writes his leechy family out of his will and writes his long-lost, illegitimate daughter in. The former fight for their inheritance and the latter, who is a tribal missionary, is indifferent. Any more hints would be too many... Definitely a worthwhile read!
Rating: Summary: take some time off, john! Review: I have been a Grisham fan for years, I loved all of his "early" books, but over the last few years he has become predictable and formulaic, writing only what will sell. The Testament fell right into those lines, making it extremely obvious that Grisham needs to take a little time off and try to figure out exactly what he wants as a writer, and stop writing for the money. The Testament is, so far, the worst of his books. It was overly predictable, boring in some parts, annoying in others, and the ending left me feeling like I never wanted to read another Grisham book again. Lets just hope that his success with a Painted House has given him a little time to rethink the way he has been writing the rest of his novels.
Rating: Summary: Suspenseful, intriguing, and just great!! Review: This one is my favorite of Grisham's so far. I really like the plot and the way the story was written. The Testament is about an old man who was very rich. So rich, infact, his self-made fortune was 11 billion dollars. Now, the whole story is about who his fortune will go to. The old man's name is Troy Phelan and a few minutes before he dies, he re-writes his will, naming the sole-heir of his fortune Rachel lane. No one knows who she is and Troy's 6 children are furious when they find out! Josh Stafford, Troy's lawyer needs to send someone to find this Rachel Lane. He finds out she's living in the jungles of brazil and sends nate O'Riley, a lawyer who was in rehab for alcohol addiction. Now, Nate must go to Brazil and face alligators, anacondas, and tropical diseases to find Rachel Lane. Excellent book, except the ending was a little fast and he could have slowed it down a little but other than that, excellent!
Rating: Summary: Terrific Story Review: Thank you John Grisham for giving me such pleasure in reading this book! I think it is one of you best. I am a christian and it was so refreshing to see Jesus and Christianity displayed somewhat realistically. Your writing skills keep me wanting to turn the page. Being from Memphis, I relate to all of your books on some level. I would love to see "The Testament" as a movie.
Rating: Summary: It's a decent read..... Review: The book started off very quickly. The first night, I read about 100 pages without stopping.... However, the story slowed down. It was still very interesting, but there was a lot of information that really had no relevance to the underlying plot. The end of the story was predictable. Thankfully, the final part of the book was only 25 pages long and ended swiftly. As with nearly all of his books though, it is worth the read. I recommend it.
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