Following John Grisham's path is a testament to diversity of subject matter and location. In A Time to Kill, the reader is asked to consider Southern culture and the question of whether murder is justifiable as retribution. The Pelican Brief takes the reader to Washington for a chase that pits the environment against enterprise. The Street Lawyer forces the reader to focus on the homeless, and The Partner takes the reader to South America before placing the spotlight on greed.

Grisham's novels also vary in writing style from the relatively superficial The Firm to the earthy, compelling The Rainmaker. All are entertaining, and several are meaningful.

The Testament is a combination of Grisham's styles, and it ranges from the deep imagery of A Time to Kill to the shallow but swift-paced The Firm. The story is fascinatingly unusual.

Nate O'Riley is a burned out Washington lawyer who is drying out in a rehab center for the fourth time when his friend and partner Josh Stafford gets him out to track down an unlikely heiress to a multi-billion-dollar fortune. Stafford's client, Troy Phelan, headed an empire worth billions when he invited his ex-wives and his children to a reading of his will. The reading was attended by three psychiatrists who certified his competency as he signed one will, tore it up and signed another before jumping out of a window to his death.

The will left Phelan's fortune to an illegitimate daughter who no one knew existed before the will was read. Stafford has the job of probating the will against challenges by all the legitimate children and ex-wives and must locate the heiress, Rachel Lane, as quickly as possible to carry out Phelan's last testament. O'Riley is told Lane is a missionary living in the jungles of Brazil and that her exact location is unknown. He travels to Corumba, Brazil and spends days boating on a river to find the missionary heiress. As he travels, he fights his natural tendency to escape his circumstances through alcohol and drugs.

In another story of becoming lost to be found, the boat goes off-course, and O'Riley stumbles on to Lane's native village. She refuses to sign the documents necessary to probate the will, and O'Riley is forced to return to Corumba empty-handed. On the way, he becomes extremely ill. While recovering in a hospital that is a living horror of third world conditions, Lane appears by his bedside to comfort him. No one sees her but O'Riley and after his recovery, only he is certain she came.

When he leaves the hospital, O'Riley attempts to locate Lane and enters a church for the first time in years. He contemplates God and his own spirituality to discover that Lane's commitment of her life to the service of God has had a life-changing effect on him. O'Riley does not find her and returns to the United States where he decides to retire from practicing law. Before he quits, however, Stafford calls on him to represent Lane's interests in the estate. He goes through the litigation discovery process professionally while taking time out to help a minister build new Sunday school classrooms in the basement of a church. All the while, he tries to reach Lane with letters through her missionary organization.

Sound exciting so far? The story is moving in many ways but its pace is sporadic. There is no deadly intrigue so the book is not going to satisfy those who want action from beginning to end. The story is meaningful and satisfying in its irony and completeness. Nate O'Riley, lost in the beginning in a way that would ensure his mortality and eternal condemnation, locates himself when he locates Lane. Her living testament to her faith leads O'Riley to a new life that requires no alcohol, drugs or other vices to satisfy or amuse him.

In the end, what do you, the reader, have to show for a 435-page journey that ranges from Washington to the Pantanal of Brazil and from faithlessness to spiritual peace? Perhaps you will find the richest of Grisham's themes so far and a testament to substance over suspense.