The Summons

Grisham is very acute indeed on how the best of intentions lead Ray not to any significant crime or atrocity but to quietly unconscionable behaviour. And then he realises he is being followed... Grisham can build suspense out of remarkably little and has a real gift for understanding the quiet anxieties of an ordinary man. --Roz Kaveney

Reader Reviews:

Summons Not Right With This Book (0/0 people found this helpful)

Ray Atlee receives a letter from his father Judge Atlee to return to his home town so that they can discuss the Judge's will. On arriving Ray is in for more than one big surprise, not only does he find his father dead, but also over $3 million in unmarked bills hidden in the house. What is Ray going to do? Before spending any of the money he decides to investigate where it came from. Will he be able to keep the money secret from his addict brother and does someone already know?

'The Summons' is by no means Grisham's best novel and suffers from a lack of pace and direction. Throughout the book we follow Ray as he investigates the moneys origins, only for the conclusion to leave you wanting a better explanation. For the majority of the book you are entertained by the story and the tension is pretty good, it is just a shame that the final section ruins the experience somewhat. I was impressed with the moral quandary that the Ray was put under, but this again was counteracted by Grisham's obsession with the good ol' South mentality that can be a little cloying at times.

A Law School Hypothetical Problem Turned into a Slow-Moving Novel (0/0 people found this helpful)

One of the problems of being a lawyer is that you can start to think like one all too much of the time. For those who are most fascinated by the law, the favorite intellectual game is to pose ever more complex scenarios to test what is the right solution. John Grisham clearly thought he was writing a law school hypothetical problem when he penned this novel . . . which will leave those who aren't lawyers puzzled, troubled, and disgruntled.

From a legal and personal perspective, this book raises some nice ethical questions:

1. What is the obligation to protect the reputation and memory of a deceased person?

2. How should an addict be protected from hurting himself?

3. How far should potentially illegal activities be pursued by an attorney who is an executor of an estate?

4. How should protecting property be weighed against protecting life?

5. Can you overcome the temptation to run off with something that no one knows you have found?

Attorney and law professor Ray Atlee is faced with all of those issues and more when he returns home to find his father dead and the living room filled with stationery boxes bursting with cash. First, he wants to know if the cash is counterfeit or part of some illegal activity. Second, he is concerned that his brother not go on a long cocaine-sniffing holiday from which he might not survive. Third, he's afraid someone will walk off with the money. Fourth, he begins to think how nice it would be to avoid paying taxes on the money. Fifth, he dreams about having it all to himself.

But life isn't that simple. Someone else seems to know about the money, and they are getting aggressive about retrieving it. What will Ray do?

There's supposed to be a mystery here, but parts of it are pretty transparent. What isn't transparent eventually turns out to be far-fetched.

Except for tickling my memories of property class hypotheticals, I didn't find much to recommend this book. If you do decide to read it, I suggest that you listen instead to the Recorded Books reading by Michael Beck who makes a lot of the silliness sound more interesting.

Masterful from the master (1/1 people found this helpful)

I never tire of reading Grisham. This, I believe is his best yet. It always amazes me with Grisham that nothing dramatic ever happens in his books and yet, you continue to turn page after page. No grizzly murders, or shoot outs at the ok corral, yet Grisham keeps us there. He's a master, no doubt about it.
Well worth a read, I'd guessed the end half way through but it didn't detract from the enjoyment.

A tale of Morality (1/1 people found this helpful)

This book is not his best, and he could have done better. But he does follow his successful formula and gives us a fun fast read. The Summons is the story of two brothers, Ray and Forrest,and their father. Their father ,a retired Judge, was known for being very frugal in his personal finances. And not the best of fathers. Ray, a law professor of ethics, receives a "summons" to appear at his father's home. Forrest, a recovering drug addict, tells Ray that he too is expected at the house. Ray arrives and discovers his father has died and finds a will giving the two brothers everything equally. Ray then discovers $3 million dollars hidden away in boxes. And he can not figure out where the money came from, nor who he can trust. Now we follow Ray as he tries to determine where the money came from and who it belongs too. The more he looks the less he knows. The ending is rather ineteresting.

Brilliant! (1/1 people found this helpful)

I have been a big fan of Grisham's work for a while now, and this book is definitely up there with the best. Not only does it display his unique writing style, but it also captures the imagination in a way which will hold you in suspense.

Grisham creates a great story focused around Ray Atlee, a professor of law at the university of Virginia. The complexities which follow his decision to return home to his dying father help collectively with the intricate plot to create a very gripping storyline.

Whether you are interested in the law or not, this book is a must-read.

John Grisham

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