Testament
Author: David Morrell

Reporter Reuben Bourne has broken a promise--to cast a paramilitary white supremacy group in a favorable light. Now, one basically peaceful man, one with a paradoxical attraction for violence, must confront a force of unrelenting hate. Somehow, he must survive--as he leads his family on a desperate flight into a wilderness as unforgiving as the fanatical human beings who pursue him.

This is Morrell's second novel written in 1975. This came after writing his first novel, FIRST BLOOD, that was made into the Rambo movie starring Sylvester Stallone. I've read a few of his other novels and consider Morrell one of the top thriller writers out there. However, for me, TESTAMENT was not quite on par with some of his other works. It tells the story of Reuben Bourne, a writer and reporter who was able to get in with a white supremacy group and write a magazine article about them. Well he had promised the leader, Kess, that he would show the group in a favorable light but after seeing the reality of what the group was capable of, Bourne published a not so favorable story getting Kess very pissed off. Kess sends his men to take revenge on Bourne and his family which brings a very shocking start to what is essentially a chase novel with Bourne taking his family to the wilderness to evade the men sent after him.

Overall, this one had a good premise and started out well. But as the novel progressed it became somewhat tedious as Bourne is able to evade his pursuers in the high country of the west and must use survival skills to make it through a severe mountain snow storm. There are definitely some shocking moments in the story and the ending was somewhat surprising but only a mild recommendation for this one.

Headed to Bkind2books who selected it from the Mystery VBB. Enjoy!

I think this actually arrived yesterday but I didn’t see the mail until today. Thanks for sharing this with me, Frank. I look forward to reading this and Mr BK2B might like it, too