Customer Reviews

The Summons

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(150)
3 star:		(159)
2 star:		(174)
1 star:		(192)

 

 

What would you do if you suddenly found three million dollars? And what if that money came from a deceased parent's home? This is the dilemna at the heart of this book.
If you're expecting another Grisham legal thriller, don't buy this one. This one is far less about legal battles than moral ones. Unfortunately, the plot just doesn't hold together all that well and even the moral struggles, as described here, aren't all that engaging. Grisham isn't in top form here.
For one thing, Ray Atlee, the dead judge's son who finds the money, isn't even that riveting or likeable a guy. Secondly, there are plenty of plot holes and illogical moves. Ray, for instance, discloses the whereabouts of the money to people who are almost complete strangers. Why would he do this? Made no sense to me.
Still, this book did make me wonder what I would do with a sudden windfall of three million plus change. But I've read a much better book about this, A Simple Plan, a book about three men who find a fortune in a crashed plane. A Simple Plan is wonderfully written, suspenseful and darkly realistic. But save your bucks and avoid The Summons.

I have read almost all of Grisham's books and really enjoyed them. The Summons was so slow and never really got started.
I stayed with it thinking it had to get better. It didn't.
The characters were weak and the plot didn't have much to offer.
I ended up skipping parts because they were so boring. As I turned the last page, all I could think was what a waste of time.

I am an avid Grisham fan and have been waiting anxiously for him to return to the legal thriller genre. However, I just finished the book (two days to read) and am more than a little disappointed with this effort. The protagonist, Ray Atlee is a law professor who is summoned, along with his brother, to their estranged, dying father's house in Mississippi to discuss his estate prior to his impending death. What is discovered only by Ray (you think) is that the old man had more than $3 million hidden in his house. Where did the money come from? Who else knew about the money? This is the set-up and Ray's quest to hide the money while trying to find out its origin really did hold my attention throughout the book. But, it was the last 30 pages that hacked me off. Mr. Grisham cut things way short here. The relationship between the brothers was in serious lack of development given the ridiculous ending that he throws at you. Beware, this book will leave you asking, "What was Mr. Grisham thinking when he hit the 'print' button on his latest work?"

Ray Atlee is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. He's newly single, and about to find out a shocking family secret.

Judge Atlee is a beloved and powerful judge, but he is sick, very sick, and it's a matter of time before he dies. Knowing his time is coming closer to an end, the judge summons his two sons, Ray, and Forrest, the black sheep who is trying desperately to stay sober. Wanting to settle the matter of his estate, Judge Atlee awaits the arrival of his sons, but unfortunately he dies before he sees them, leaving behind a deadly legacy.

Ray, being the first to arrive, is shocked by the news of his father's death, but even more shocking is the discovery of a bag containing an obscene amount of money hidden in the house. Keeping the money a secret from Forrest is the first of Ray's obstacles, for as he begins tracing the origin of the money he finds he is not the only person aware of it...

Desperate, and on the run, Ray must find his answers, or he will die trying.

`The Summons' is not a good book at all; not only is it boring, but it's confusing, and where the plot could have been suspenseful it's dry. The story opens quickly, but takes major turns with the introduction of various characters and sub plots. If the story stayed focused on the main plot it would have been interesting, instead it takes detours and becomes tiresome.

John Grisham is a good storyteller, but where he was the king of the legal thriller he is now opting to spread his wings and lead his stories into straight fiction, and it's not working. After a series of major bestsellers, Grisham is losing steam, and the punch of his earlier novels is lacking in his newer titles.

Fans of the novels `The Firm', `The Client', and `The Partner' will highly disappointed with `The Summons'.

Nick Gonnella

I was so excited for another legal thriller - but found that this had nothing to offer....no hooks, no suspense, nothing that I felt kept me reading. I could have easily put it down and not picked it up again. I recently finished "A Painted House" and felt more for Luke than I did for Ray Atlee. Sorry John, seems that since you have started with a new genre, you have forgotten what made your earlier works so great....suspense along with a cat and mouse game thrown in.

Having read all of John Grishams books I had becomed spoiled. In The Summons he did fairly well at developing some of the characters. Most of the detail was good. However, [here it comes]it was as if he had written so much and decided he had to wrap this story up.

This he did in the last 15 pages of the book. All of a sudden the book was over and I went whaaaaat? That's it? Come on John, you can do better than that. Maybe it was too much to expect after such a run of really good books with strong characters, clever plot lines and dramatic endings. Oh well, there's always next February when his next thriller hits the street. Let's hope its better than this years.

Story:
Ray and Forrest are the sons of old judge Atlee, who's health is rapidly declining. Ray is a successful law professor who widely respected and popular with his students. Forrest is the black sheep of the family and has proably tried every illegal susbstance there is and been to every detox facility on the map. Both son's are summoned by the judge to hear what he has in his will before he passes. Both come reluctanly due to the strained relationship that they have, for various reasons, with their father. Ray arrives first and find that the old judge has passed away. In his shock and grief he starts rummaging around looking for the will the judge left when he stumbles upon some boxs he has never seen before. To his amazement these boxes contain over 3 million dollars. Before Ray has time to think his brother shows up. What does Ray do? What follows is a story about family secrets, greed, and judgement.
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To me this was a pretty good story. It follows a group of people who were family but were never very good at communicating with each other. The father passes away and the "good" son finds some money that old man had stowed away. Almost imeediatley the son becomes paranoid about the money and doesnt tell his brother about it. The thing with that was that before the judge passed away he had written a new will saying that a good amount of any money found or in the estate was to go in a trust find for the "bad" brother to be used to help him get his life straightened out and the "bad" brother knew this while the "good" brother didn't. How Forrest "tests" Ray and how the book ends was different and interesting. I would recommend this to any one who likes John Grisham and any one who likes stories where who was right and who was wrong is a little unclear.
-m.a.c

Ray Atlee and his delinquent brother, Forrest are summoned by their father to return home. Their father is a judge of very high standing within his Mississippi community, and he is dying. Before Ray arrives, his father dies, leaving Ray to discover the body. While alone in the house with his dead father, he also makes another discovery which turns his life upside down.

From this point the story could have gone in one of two directions. We could have been treated to a What would you do if scenario with an accompanying roller-coaster ride of spine tingling thrills and an intriguing ending in a finale that was completely unexpected. Alas, this is not the case. In fact, it all gets rather mundane with no real memorable moments or startling events.

Although its written in the unmistakable Grisham style making it an easy-reading story, its rather like a poorly made wine. The plotline promises so much, yet is thin and disappointing. It leaves the palate quickly with no lingering aftertaste and ends up being a pretty forgettable experience.

And, by the way, who stole the ending?

Don't get me wrong... I am a huge fan of Grisham, but I just really disliked this book. I think the very first sign that this book was going downhill was the fact that the title character was far from likeable. In all of his other books, the reader rooted for the lawyer/juror with enthusiasm, but in The Summons you really didn't care what happened to this guy. The anti-climactic ending upset and mystefied me. I guess I just expected a better "legal effort" after the surprising success of Skipping Christmas and A Painted House.

That's it! I'm done reading John Grisham. Joining a long line of bad books (The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer & The Partner) that he has attempted to use his equation and just plug and chug his way to the Best Seller's List, Grisham's latest novel, The Summons, is so trite it represents everything that is wrong with modern American writers. Seriously lacking any character depth, anything along a plausible story line and containing no plot twists which can't be seen three chapters beforehand, this story insults anyone with the intelligence above the average 8th grader.
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY SUPPORTING BAD WRITING!!