Athough John Grisham’s reputation for suspenseful legal drama is solid, I was one of the uninitiated until I read The Testament. The experience proved to be less onerous than expected.
A small group of sympathetic characters, supported by a blotchy tableau of bit players, moves the reader through to a satsfying and not entirely predictable conclusion. The plot about an inheritance wrangle hinges on the legal and moral need to locate the unknown heiress, Rachel Lane, while keeping her greedy siblings at bay.
Finding her provides narrative tension and pace; time is running out, the deeased’s legal counsel is getting nervous and the family is growing impatient driven by overwhelming debts and legal costs.
It’s refreshing to meet a ‘heroine’ who is not glamorous nor an automatic love interest. Rachel turns out to be a missionary working in the remote Brazilian jungle as a doctor. Her character is well drawn, a likeable woman whose unhappy family history is ameliorated by her genuine faith.
Nate O’Riley, the man sent to find her, is a middle-aged lawyer battling addictions and broken relationships. Expecting to change Rachel’s life with news of her inheritance, he is unprepared for the transforming power of God’s love in his own life. However he is completely aware of his need and the encounter between Nate and Rachel adeptly depicts the gentle work of the Spirit.
An author’s note reveals that Grisham researched the novel’s Brazilian setting accompanied by a Baptist missionary friend explaining why both the physical and spiritual details are so credible.
The word ‘misery’ appears in several notable places. The soon-to-be-dead tycoon sums up his life in the first chapter; “The money is the root of my misery.” Later, the lives of the disinherited family members are clearly marked by the misery of greed and selfishness. While Nate applies the word to his own misguided life, comparing it to Rachel’s purposeful existence.
But the real theme of the story is grace. The tycoon overlooks those who seem to be first in line and leaves his fortune to a woman who has never shown much inter- est in him or his wealth. Abhorred by the gift she ultimately comes to terms with it.
In a poignant echo of this struggle, Nate is confronted with God’s act of saving grace and, through the love of Christians, comes to see that he is free to accept the gift as well as to let it change him.
In this way the story was unexpectedly uplifting. However, for readers, I suspect this level of meaning was lost. No doubt hardened Grisham fans were unmoved by his portrayal of faith, perhaps regretting the fact that the protagonists never get beyond ‘greeting each other with a brotherly kiss’.
