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Overview
Henry Mathews is a young, ambitious associate at one of the top law firms in Chicago. Called back to his tiny hometown of Council Grove, Kansas, to execute the will of Tyler Crandall, the town's richest man, Henry becomes enmeshed in a web of long-hidden secrets. Tyler has chosen to leave his wealth to a homeless derelict called the Birdman. Soon it becomes clear that locked behind the Birdman's apparent madness is the key to the real history of Council Grove.
As he is sucked into a maelstrom of money, politics, and a tragic love affair, Henry discovers that right and wrong are more complex than he imagined. Those secrets hold the power to ruin lives. As black and white become gray, what began as a legal battle becomes a spiritual journey stretching back to Henry's mysterious experience at a seminary years before. Far more than a thriller, The Will is absorbing and deeply satisfying.
Synopsis
Henry Mathews, a young, ambitious associate at one of the top law firms in Chicago, is a man on the move. As lethal in a courtroom as a shark in an aquarium, he is rising fast. But his hard-driving mentor, the senior partner, is obsessed with a telling inconsistency on Henry's otherwise brilliant résumé: the year after he graduated from college, Henry enrolled at a seminary in Kentucky. Even more perplexing, Henry left suddenly three weeks before the end of the first year, and won't speak of the episode.
But Henry's past refuses to go away. Called back to his tiny hometown in Council Grove, Kansas, to execute the will of Tyler Crandall, the town's richest man, Henry gets enmeshed in a web of long-hidden secrets. Tyler has chosen not to leave his wealth to his grasping son, but instead has made a homeless derelict called the Birdman a sudden millionaire and Council Grove's most powerful resident.
The Birdman, scripture-spouting and delusional, prophesies a dark vision of retribution and hellfire. But soon it becomes clear that locked behind his madness is the key to the real history of Council Grove. When a grotesque and cruel act convinces Henry that powerful forces will do anything to keep those secrets hidden, he determines to protect the Birdman and uncover the truth. But the cost is high: Henry is in danger of losing both his job in Chicago and his beautiful, ambitious girlfriend.
Henry, given the opportunity to use his phenomenal legal skills for good, discovers that right and wrong are more complex than he imagined. Sucked into secrets of money, politics, and a tragic love affair—secrets with the power to ruin lives—Henry finds his own sense of morality under assault. As black and white turn to gray, what began as a legal battle becomes a spiritual journey stretching back to Henry's mysterious experience at the seminary.
More than just a legal thriller, The Will is an absorbing, deeply satisfying read.
Library Journal
This is both a suspenseful mystery and a deeply felt examination of truth and faith. The latter is not unexpected, since Arvin (The Wind in the Wheat) is a producer of Christian music. But the legal aspects will surprise readers, because in this regard the book is on a par with anything John Grisham has written in recent years. Henry Mathews Jr. has come to a second crossroads in his life. The first occurred when, while attending seminary school, his faith was shaken, and he chose to become a lawyer instead. Henry is working his way up the corporate ladder at one of the largest, most powerful law firms in Chicago when he is called back to Council Bluff, KS, to deal with a will his father drafted. He finds himself defending an extremely vulnerable client against some of the most powerful men in Kansas. What dismays him is how much he wants to help Raymond Boyd and how much he's willing to give up to do so. Readers who want a little heart in their legal thrillers will enjoy this one. Recommended for all public libraries.--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Our ReviewMoney and a Whole Lotta Madness
When the wealthiest man in the small town of Council Grove, Kansas, dies suddenly with a highly suspect last will and testament, the executor, up-and-coming Chicago attorney Henry Mathews Jr., must work to uncover dark secrets buried deep -- far deeper than six feet -- beneath his hometown. With The Will, Nashville-based music producer and award-winning composer Reed Arvin is playing a different tune, with a thrilling debut mystery of money, madness, and masterful courtroom drama.
Henry Mathews has been paying his dues to climb the ladder at the ruthless Chicago corporate law firm of Wilson, Lougherby, and Mathers -- although not without the nagging crisis of conscience you'd expect from a former divinity school student. But when Roger Crandall calls to say that his father, Ty Crandall, the multimillionaire who ostensibly ran the town where Henry grew up, is dead, Henry must put his breakneck career path on hold to execute the will written by his father, an idealistic lawyer who died in a car crash several years ago. No one could have predicted what the will reveals: The small-town mogul inexplicably left almost all of his fortune -- and with it, control of Council Grove -- to the local lunatic, Raymond Boyd, a.k.a. the Birdman, who has been proclaiming a mixture of Scripture and gibberish for 25 years. Now, Roger, who was almost cut out of the will entirely, will stop at nothing to get what he feels he deserves.
Although Henry has no sympathy for the Birdman, he knows his father would never have drafted such a will if Ty Crandall didn't know exactly what he was doing, and it is up to Henry to figure out the connection. He soon discovers that Raymond Boyd was a onetime employee of the local bank, one who approved the risky first loan that permitted Ty Crandall to purchase the oil wells that launched his success. Whatever else there is to know, however, is locked away in the Birdman's mind. Henry knows Ellen Gaudet, the past-her-prime pepper pot who has worked at the bank for decades, is hiding something -- but he doesn't know what, or why. And when Amanda Ashton, a whip-smart activist from the state Department of the Environment begins to investigate Ty Crandall's land, Henry learns that the ties between the millionaire and the madman could be even more haunting than he -- or anyone -- ever imagined.
Now, Henry must work to unravel the secrets his father and Ty Crandall took to their graves, and the search is one that will bring him face-to-face with the town's dark past, his own history, and his faith. In this intricate, thoughtful, and fast-paced novel, Reed Arvin has drafted a savvy, smart, gripping read, and we assure you: The Will is one book you won't contest.
Elise Vogel is a freelance writer living in New York City.