The Testament, by John Grisham

Read and reviewed in July, 2007. Released in August.

I finished reading it last night. It was great! I have avoided John Grisham, because a couple of his books that I read were too explicitly detailed and violent for a squeamish person like me, but this one was okay in that regard. The description of the old man's death was unpleasant, but bearable.

A lawyer for the estate is assigned to find the missing heir, a Christian missionary living with a primitive Indian tribe in the backwoods of Brazil. His journey is arduous, and when he finally finds her, she has no interest in the money, nor other worldly matters. Her step-brothers and step-sisters are the polar opposite - they are jealous, greedy, impatient, and wasteful. Who will get the money in the end?

Mr. Grisham is an excellent story-teller. He researches his subject very thoroughly, and his characters are very real.