Testament

Rating:
Summary: An Excelent Novel
Review: I barely read. I had to choose a free reading book for school. I didn't know what to choose. My dad got me a bunch of books he read and highly recomended this book. As it turns out it was great. I normally hate to read because I loose interest in the book I start. However, this book got off to a fast start and I couldn't put it down. I really enjoyed reading it, adn I hope that I will be able to find another great book just like it!

Rating:
Summary: The man and his wife, his daughter and his son....
Review: I have not read a Morrell novel in many years. In fact, I have only read all of the Rambo novels plus one other titled BLOOD OATH, and I personally did not like it. Now this book grabbed me by the throat and did not let go until 3 days later when I was done with the book. I love books about raw survival mixed with lots of action and adventure - and this book gave me some of that. The story of this man's life turning to hell in a handbasket is a fast-paced read with some sad surprises near the end that I personally did not expect. There were times where some of the stuff became a little redundant, and I wish that the main bad guy - Kess - was introduced along with his faceless cronies chasing this poor man and his family. The revenge part of this book was written a lot differently than I thought it was going to, and folks thats about all I can tell you about it without ruining it. This was a very strange and bizarre look at the extremes a person can go when his family is in deadly danger.

Rating:
Summary: Too close to Hemingway for comfort...
Review: I recieved this book on a Saturday morning and was finished with it that sunday afternoon. Very good reading!!!

Rating:
Summary: Haunting and gripping - A must read for all
Review: I will never look at a snowcapped mountain the same way again! This is David Morrell's finest page-turning book ever. Definitely prepare to ignore the rest of the world from the gripping first chapter until the final word. David Morrell is superb at making you feel you are in the hearts of his characters and the story. You can literally feel and taste the falling snowflakes on your face and your muscles will ache in this, I think, his best and most thrilling novel to date. You will shiver again and again from cold fear while you are caught up in the extremely suspenseful story. The cold and snow will definitey haunt me forever.

Rating:
Summary: Dark, wrenching, visceral read
Review: Just Incredible! I recommend this book to anyone who has a tough time getting fictionally jolted, this one will shake you up and turn you inside out! THIS...THIS IS POWERFUL LITERATURE! Thank You Dave

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This book is extremely fast paced and somewhat disturbing. It is one of those page turners that keeps you up all night reading and tired at work the next day. The introduction by Morrell makes you wonder about the stories ending. It's ending is unexpected and if you go back and read the last 2 or 3 paragraphs of the introduction, you have something that keeps you thinking about the book for 2 or 3 days. I highly recommend this book and any other book written by Morrell

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book is very disturbing. Early in David's career he wrote stories where the hero didn't always win, and the line between the heros and the villains was much less easily seen.

Interestingly enough this book is somewhat 'hypothetically autobiographical' (I think I made that up). The story involves a character who is a writer who has studied survival skills for his first book (like David did for First Blood) and is then put into a situation where his life and his families depend on those skills. And it's not just survival skills like living off the land and finding shelter, it's dealing with weapons and booby traps and also how to evade a pursuer.

Considering the somewhat disturbing turns of events in the book it makes the autobiographical nature seem a little odd. Suffice it to say that I understand that David's wife did not like that the book depicted them so well in light of the direction the story takes. I think for that aspect the book is fascinating.

FYI, this book was not actually written in 1993 as the publication date suggests but was actually written in 1975 and was David's second book after First Blood.

If you like good suspense and action, and David always delivers on both fronts, then you should try this book.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable!
Review: This is the first time I have ever reviewed anything on the internet, I gues I never felt the passion that I feel about this book. There seems to be alot of mixed review of this book which surprises me. I remember the first time I ever read this book, I was interrupted by an exam I had to take and had to set down the book for several months. After finally getting back to the book months later, I picked up where I left off, to my surprize I remembered every last detail. It is just one of those books that creaps up on you and won't let you be. It has been a good 7 years since I read it and I have to say it is still the best novel I have read to date. I am a big fan of David Morrell, but this novel is the leader of the pack. To start off it has by far the most shocking oppenner I have ever read in any book and the ending leaves you thinking. Out of all the books I've read this one stands out the most, definately Unforgettable. I still to this date remember the book, and every scene vividly.

Rating:
Summary: Too close to Hemingway for comfort...
Review: When I initially read this book, I would have given it a higher rating--after all, Mr. Morrell was a prof at U of I; "First Blood" was an all-time favorite of mine; and the technical detail of "Testament" was superb. BUT... I later read Ernest Hemingway's "Big Two Hearted River" for a college lit class. The similarities between Morrell's Rueben dining on "canned beans and canned spagetti" were very, um, "similar" (eerily so...) to Nick Adam's dining experience in the wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninulsa... Right down to both characters uttering happily through a mouthful of hot food: "Crise, Jesus Crise..." Coincidence? Well, probably--after all, a couple of letters weren't quite the same (sub "t" for "e"). Still, I was pretty disappointed... It certainly tempered my enjoyment of Mr. Moreell's subsequent offerings. Has anyone else ever noted this coincidence??

Rating:
Summary: A book that makes me kiss my children each morning.
Review: When i turned the third page I had to stop for a breath. My god what kind of book will this be ? i had to ask. I looked over at my daughter in her high chair and had a compolsion to take her milk away , just for saftys sake.

The rest of the book caught me and held me tight "I" became the caracter and was trying to save my family.

Never befor has a book so profoundly affected me in the sence of "Do I have that type of courge and conviction? "

If you have never picked up a morrell novel before ..pick this one. then enjoy a read of your life...and maybe your familys as well.