I recently completed my second reading of John Grisham's The Testament. The Testament was published 11 years ago in 1999 and it chronicles the search in the Pantanal region of Brazil and Bolivia for an heir to a fortune, while other potential heirs jockey to the get their "slice of the pie." The search, though, is what is intriguing to me. The heir being sought to apprise her of her incredible wealth is a missionary for World Tribes Mission serving in that isolated part of the world with Indians who have not advanced beyond the Stone Age. The one enlisted to find the heir is a lawyer who has lost two families to two major destructive "ism's" -- work and alcohol. The one being sought needed nothing; the searcher needed something to fill his empty life.
Grisham's book has the clearest presentation of the gospel I have ever read in a non-religious book. I was struck by the emptiness of greed, selfishness, neglectful parenting, and addictions that animated the characters developed by Grisham. At the same time, it is made apparent that God's grace is real and at work in the darkest corners of the map, and in the darkest recesses of sinful man.
It was worth the re-read, and is my favorite of all of John Grisham's books. I have just learned that after a decade of "no's", it appears that a contract has been established to make a movie of The Testament. Only time will tell if the movie carries the message that Grisham apparently wanted to convey.
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