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The Will
A senior partner at the most powerful law firm in Chicago has taken associate Henry Mathews under his wing and is determined to quash whatever troublesome morality and shreds of conscience might prevent the young lawyer from being a success. By the author of The Wind in the Wheat. 50,000 first printing.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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139 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 9, 2011
A very good book is rare, and this is a very good book. Engaging, it manages to weave seemingly disparate threads into a satisfying conclusion. The characterisation of Matthews and the Birdman must be especially noted as being very good. What started as a very simple concept and idea was quickly and successfully expanded into a multi-layered plot where there was almost as much enjoyment discovering the characters as in the overall plot being revealed. This is a very good book that is definitely worth sharing.
July 2, 2012
Wasn't sure if I was going to like this story, but in the end I loved the storyline and thought it had the makings of a very good movie. It could be a good story to read for someone that has lost faith in themselves and humanity. There are a number of characters involved in this complex deception to avoid the law, but Arvin makes it easy to keep up with who is who and what is what. If there is faith at the end of a jagged road, the reader will find it here in this story. A page turner if you are looking for a little bit of mystery and a jolt of redemption for something gone terribly wrong. Interesting reading.
October 15, 2008
Excellent legal mystery with a nice touch of spirituality. It gave me a strong appreciation of the Council Grove area and the beautiful plains. I also like how the main character rediscovers God.
July 16, 2011
I picked up this book only because my mother is from Council Grove. Turned out to be a wonderful read and I will look for more from this author.
August 14, 2025
Eigelijk beoordeel ik dit boek met 3,5 maar niet meer. Het was niet supper spannend en de verhaal over jonge advocaat Henry Matthews die wordt door een ingewikkelde erfenis questie teruggeroepen naar zijn geboorteplek en moet tussen de groot/ grof geld en een meisje kiezen en aangezien het boek door een christelijke muziek producent is geschreven. Het is dus geen groot verrassing waarvoor hij gaat kiezen. En daarom is dus geen ala Perry Masson moment in de rechtszaal geen echt verrassende element die de bloed van de lezer zal gaan sneller doen vloeien.
Ik zeg niet dat het een slecht verhaal is.
ik zeg alleen dat het heel erg niet echt verrassend boek is. De vergelijking met de boeken van John Grisham zal ik ook liever achterwege laten.
Ik zeg niet dat het een slecht verhaal is.
ik zeg alleen dat het heel erg niet echt verrassend boek is. De vergelijking met de boeken van John Grisham zal ik ook liever achterwege laten.
April 4, 2013
This was an okay story, I found it a little boring in parts but overall it was really not too bad. It had enough mystery to keep me turning pages until the end, the plot was good and the characters were interesting there was just too much technical information regarding the oil wells and geology information that was extremely boring.
Currently reading
July 10, 2009Having a difficult time putting it down so far!
June 27, 2009
Reminded me of John Grisham's earlier books. This is a very satisfying legal thriller.
March 8, 2022
Legal Eagle!
This a story about Henry Matthews, the son of a small-town Kansas lawyer who has left his hometown to attend a seminary in Kentucky. After his parents are killed by a drunk driver in Kansas, Henry loses his faith and drops out of seminary to attend law school. After graduation and Law Review, he joins one of the nation's top mergers and acquisitions law firms headquartered in Chicago. After two years of hard work and a steadily improving career at the firm, even though working for a totally ruthless boss, Henry is advised to travel back to his hometown because, in his father's stead, he has become the executor of the estate of a very wealthy and powerful man who owns most of the town.
When Henry arrives, gathers the family, and reads the will, everybody is shocked to learn that the bulk of the man's estate has been left to the local lunatic who lives in the park and is known to the locals as "Birdman." There are oil wells on the land, as well as cattle and crops. The eldest son decides to contest the will, and he recruits powerful assistance from Topeka, including a state senator and a top-notch lawyer. The plot becomes more complex as Henry discovers something strange about the oil wells, but ultimately he prevails. The book was a bit slow reading, but I generally liked it and will award four stars.
This a story about Henry Matthews, the son of a small-town Kansas lawyer who has left his hometown to attend a seminary in Kentucky. After his parents are killed by a drunk driver in Kansas, Henry loses his faith and drops out of seminary to attend law school. After graduation and Law Review, he joins one of the nation's top mergers and acquisitions law firms headquartered in Chicago. After two years of hard work and a steadily improving career at the firm, even though working for a totally ruthless boss, Henry is advised to travel back to his hometown because, in his father's stead, he has become the executor of the estate of a very wealthy and powerful man who owns most of the town.
When Henry arrives, gathers the family, and reads the will, everybody is shocked to learn that the bulk of the man's estate has been left to the local lunatic who lives in the park and is known to the locals as "Birdman." There are oil wells on the land, as well as cattle and crops. The eldest son decides to contest the will, and he recruits powerful assistance from Topeka, including a state senator and a top-notch lawyer. The plot becomes more complex as Henry discovers something strange about the oil wells, but ultimately he prevails. The book was a bit slow reading, but I generally liked it and will award four stars.
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January 3, 2020Good set-up! The richest man in town dies and leaves the bulk of his fortune to the Birdman, the guy who hangs out in the park, mumbling, sometimes preaching and gesturing. The hot-shot lawyer from Chicago comes back to this little Kansas town to help resolve this extraordinary will, written by his dad. He reflects on the values of his firm in Chicago and his life there and of what his dad worked for all those years, and quits the firm in Chicago. Surprising amounts of theological considerations and "God talk" -- some of it too heavy-handed, some of it well-done.
The trick is that the old oil wells are just there to cover for the natural gas that's sold illegally by a state legislator and the attorney who opposes the will.
The trick is that the old oil wells are just there to cover for the natural gas that's sold illegally by a state legislator and the attorney who opposes the will.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2024
Ik nam het boek vast uit verveling en was in het begin niet enthousiast: barokke beschrijvingen van de natuur en nogal cliché types in de hoofdrollen: de knappe, hardwerkende jurist met zijn wondermooie vriendin, de cynische, rijke baas, een corrupte oliemagnaat, de dorpsgek... het leek allemaal nogal voorspelbaar.
Sommige verhaallijnen waren dat ook, maar de plot was toch beter uitgebouwd dan ik verwachtte. Op een bepaald moment komt er ook wat psychologie en geologie bij, en vanaf daar werd het dan toch interessant.
Ik denk dat ik de volgende keer toch maar weer een beter boek uitzoek, maar het was ontspannende literatuur, geschikt voor sombere regendagen.
Sommige verhaallijnen waren dat ook, maar de plot was toch beter uitgebouwd dan ik verwachtte. Op een bepaald moment komt er ook wat psychologie en geologie bij, en vanaf daar werd het dan toch interessant.
Ik denk dat ik de volgende keer toch maar weer een beter boek uitzoek, maar het was ontspannende literatuur, geschikt voor sombere regendagen.
January 5, 2020
First time reading this author. A little draggy in places
March 19, 2020
Interesting small city setting with sometimes stereotypical characters and a little more religion than floats my boat. But I got behind the drive to save the Birdman.
December 19, 2020
Het verhaal las prima weg. Niet expliciet spannend, maar wel boeiend.
June 26, 2021
A hotshot lawyer goes home to execute a will. The will uncovers a sinister plot and lots of secrets. Henry rediscovers his faith and loses his old life - the one he only thought he wanted.
September 4, 2025
Engranaje de la trama perfecto pese a su complejidad. Maestría enorme en jugar gota a gota con su desarrollo y su desenlace final.
March 28, 2014
Our protagonist in The Will, Henry Matthews, Jr., is an up and coming attorney in Chicago, working his tail off to make partner at a prestigious law firm. He has a beautiful girlfriend, just as driven as he is - she's a financial advisor/broker - and both are seeking the proverbial brass ring, i.e. lots of money. Both characters read like 1980's throw-backs. Out of the blue Henry is called back to his small hometown of Council Grove, Kansas to execute a will his late father had prepared for the richest man in town - "the King of Council Grove". The contents of "The will" are not what anyone expected, particularly for the King's shortchanged family, and Henry is sucked back into the politics, feuds and small town machinations he thought he had escaped. So begins this very lengthy and very vanilla legal "thriller".
The crux of this story is why the "King" left most of his assets, including most of Council Grove's businesses, to a seemingly insane homeless man, aka "the Birdman". Due to a lack of character development, the story's premise - Henry's "need" to solve this "riddle of the will" - is simply never plausible. There is no compelling reason - personal, professional, financial - for Henry to stick around his hometown, yet he does. So right from the get-go, the story-line has the reader scratching his head with this less then believable quandary.
The supporting cast - the King's bully of a son, a crooked politician, a willful, young woman working for the state's environmental agency, the townspeople and even "the Birdman" - are all one dimensional. And as they are introduced while Henry uncovers his hometown's "deep dark secrets", the reader knows exactly how they will fit into the book's predictable, cookie-cutter, plug-and-play plot.
To compound the issue, this book is also woefully bloated. Scenes that at best would merit paragraphs meander for pages and even chapters. The Will is a long, very dry, superficial tale of redemption and is anything but a thriller.
Pass on this one.
The crux of this story is why the "King" left most of his assets, including most of Council Grove's businesses, to a seemingly insane homeless man, aka "the Birdman". Due to a lack of character development, the story's premise - Henry's "need" to solve this "riddle of the will" - is simply never plausible. There is no compelling reason - personal, professional, financial - for Henry to stick around his hometown, yet he does. So right from the get-go, the story-line has the reader scratching his head with this less then believable quandary.
The supporting cast - the King's bully of a son, a crooked politician, a willful, young woman working for the state's environmental agency, the townspeople and even "the Birdman" - are all one dimensional. And as they are introduced while Henry uncovers his hometown's "deep dark secrets", the reader knows exactly how they will fit into the book's predictable, cookie-cutter, plug-and-play plot.
To compound the issue, this book is also woefully bloated. Scenes that at best would merit paragraphs meander for pages and even chapters. The Will is a long, very dry, superficial tale of redemption and is anything but a thriller.
Pass on this one.
February 8, 2015
Actually a little more than a three. Son downloaded onto my iPod. Grisham-ish, but not as polished. Fairly predictable in relationships, although the central deception was not.
The hero returns to a Kansas small town because of a will written by his deceased lawyer dad. The major bequest is a shock to all, of course, and it plays out with the requisite attractive and dedicated female environmentalist and the wicked son of the bequester. Very black and white.
A couple things snagged the continuity such as the hero's overwhelming rudeness to the town sheriff and the fact he is instantly able to practice law in another state. If there was an explanation, I missed it. Oh, well.
It held my interest enough to finish.
The hero returns to a Kansas small town because of a will written by his deceased lawyer dad. The major bequest is a shock to all, of course, and it plays out with the requisite attractive and dedicated female environmentalist and the wicked son of the bequester. Very black and white.
A couple things snagged the continuity such as the hero's overwhelming rudeness to the town sheriff and the fact he is instantly able to practice law in another state. If there was an explanation, I missed it. Oh, well.
It held my interest enough to finish.
April 24, 2008
Interesting story very, very long and wordy book. Story of fortune left to local "crazy man" known as Bird Man. Intricate story that holds interest, but needed a good editor!
May 6, 2009
Actually "read" the audio cassette version.
November 18, 2012
The book is a thriller. Though the book starts very slowly after sometime it become a real page turner. Overall it is a nice book and it has got suspense.
April 13, 2013
Excellent book, one of the best things I've read in a while.
January 3, 2016
A great read - lots of twists and an ending that shocks to the core. Gets to the gritty underbelly of small town life.
February 7, 2016
Just in Grisham's style, I couldn't put it down. Reed Arvin is a very talented writer.
March 19, 2014
An excellent legal thriller! Couldn't put it down!
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December 5, 2018very good
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews