In a word......yes.

Eccentric billionaire Troy Phelan's greedy relatives are anxiously awaiting the moment of his death. And a more deplorable set of relatives would be impossible to imagine...
cold, grasping, bickering ex-wives and children who want only to get their hands on their share of his eleven billion dollar fortune.

But Phelan enjoys one final moment of grim satisfaction. After leading his avaricious family to believe he will leave them his entire estate, he holds a meeting in front of relatives, attorneys and three psychiatrists who pronounce him sane. In a shocking move, he produces a previously unseen holographic will which disinherits the vultures and leaves his entire fortune to an illegitimate daughter no one knew he had. He then arises from his wheelchair long enough to take an leaping swan dive off the balcony of the 14th floor of his office building.

The attorneys for the estate try to keep the shocking inheritance a secret while they scramble to find Rachel Lane, a missionary physician in the Pantanal, a remote, primitive region of Brazil, who has suddenly become quite possibly the richest woman in the world. After much thought, they find just the right man to undertake the arduous journey.

And their choice is.....Nate O'Riley, a washed-up medical malpractice attorney, in trouble with the IRS, out of touch with his ex-wives and children, just finishing his fourth turn in rehab. And what Nate finds in the Pantanal will change his life.

In an intriguing twist, Grisham has taken an above average legal thriller and thrown in an adventure story. He then adds a touch of faith to the story. Yes, faith as in...God, but don't worry, there is none of the preachy self-righteousness of The Street Lawyer.

The Testament is just a well-written, entertaining tale of Nate's incredible (but slightly overlong) journey, complete with a plane crash, anacondas, a lapse in sobriety and a life threatening bout of dengue fever, alternating with fascinating, often funny chapters of the back-street machinations of Troy Phelan's bumbling relatives and conniving lawyers. (I finally understand why my husband rarely mentions he's an attorney.)

And while the saintly and serene Rachel may be too good to be true and we can only hope the boorish assortment of Phelan relatives is definitely too pathetic to be true, it still makes for the best John Grisham book in a very long time.

--Dede Anderson