Rating: 
Summary: Reader
Review: The Summons, in my idea, was a very well written book. It's not the "best of bests" but it hit the spot for me as a good book. The characters were developed fairly well and the plot is very exciting. The ending was great(very surprising). Don't let me tell you how good it is though, go and read it for yourself. Everybody has different tastes in books so you may/may not like this book. It just depends.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I thought Grisham had turned around his recent slump with A Painted House, but The Summons is just plain BORING. A cute ending in the last ten pages is not worth yawning through the 331 pages it takes to get there.
Rating: 
Summary: Fletch's Thoughts
Review: Having read all of Mr. Grisham's books, I was disappointed in this one because it did not hold my attention and move with the same suspenseful pace as his other "Lawyer type" novels. While his descriptions of characters and locations were really great, I found the thrill a minute pages missing. I believe this novel falls short of what I have come to expect. While I didn't consider this to be one of his better works, I will wait on pins and needles for his next book to hit the shelves, and will be one of the first in line to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Like previous reviewers, I found the story to be very disappointing. It had great potential, but never quite got there. I found myself wanting to finish it, only because I had already invested so much time into it. I was really hoping that the story would pick up.
Rating:
Summary: SLOW
Review: I am a fan of Grisham's first 3 novels, and haven't had the desire to read anything of his since. I should have stuck with that. The Summons was tedious and boring. I gave it three stars mainly because although I had my suspicions about the conclusion, it was tastefully done and somewhat suprising. Otherwise, this novel was not worth reading. It lacked depth and failed to hold my interest for long stretches of time. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: A Serial Not a Novel
Review: I love Grisham. However, this book is really only a chapter in a serial. The ending really doesn't resolve anything..only sets up the next novel.Where is the real DRAMA? Grisham can do a lot better. I would take a pass on this one
Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 stars
Review: When John Grisham comes out with a new book you just know the people will go out of their way to get it. I think after reading this one, the flock will dwindle. Ray Atlee is the protagonist. He is a divorced professor at a prestigious university. He and his brother Forrest, who is an alcohol and drug addict, are summoned to their father's home to discuss his will. When they arrive they find their father dead with a recently signed one-page will that splits the estate in half between the two brothers. When Forrest leaves, Ray stumbles upon over 3 million dollars in cash hidden in boxes in the house. Needless to say, this money brings Ray more trouble than pleasure. Grisham's effort seems to have waned here. From the boring protagonist to the dry storyline. Not to beat a dead horse but was this written in a month?
Rating: 
Summary: something different
Review: John Grisham's latest stars attorneys, but it is not about a trial. This book is about human nature and relationships. Grisham shows us that greed affects everyone (even members of the bar). Michael Beck gives a terrific performance especially in the scene in which there is dialogue between a character with a British accent and one with a southern accent.
Rating:
Summary: Rainy Afternoon
Review: Though not one of his better efforts, The Summons kept me interested. Grisham failed to develop a great ending, and he leaves the reader wondering, "Is this all?" Also, he should have put more effort into the development of Forrest's character - particularly since that would have supported Forrest's motives at the end. But overall, it's a cutesy plot that kept me guessing for awhile. I just wish he had spent more time on the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Enough Here For MAYBE 3 Chapters
Review: I am a short story writer. I've also been a die-hard John Grisham fan since "The Firm". I've read everything he's ever written, for the sheer enjoyment he has brought to this genre. He is an incredible story teller which is a rare gift these days. In "The Summons" a once powerful but dying Judge Reuben Atlee writes his two out-of-town sons, his only heirs, to come to see him on a specific date at a specific time to discuss his estate. Ray, the eldest son, is 43 years old, just divorced and still bitter. Ray is a professor at University of Virginia Law School. Forrest, the other son, is a hopeless drug and alcohol addict who has been in every rehab center around. The Judge has had a shaky relationship with both sons. When Ray arrives at Maple Run, the old, family home in Clanton, Mississippi, he finds that his father died probably just before he got there and left a simple will with little assets as expected. Ray in walking from room to room in his old home finds that the Judge, a personally-frugal, charitable-to-others, beloved though reclusive man in Clanton has hidden away in a cabinet a lot ofcash. Thus the story begins. Mr. Grisham is a fine writer, of that there is no doubt. Having said that, I do not understand why he would try to take his subject matter as is, and drag it out to novel length. There is just not enough background, character development or plot to involve a reader for so long. As far as background, Mr Grisham certainly paints Clanton Mississippi quite well - no zoning, Antebellum homes next to trailer homes, next to 7-11s, the requisite town square, the courthouse, the cafes and shops on the square. A town steeped in the past. I am glad to see Harry Rex Vonner again, fleshed out in all his usual color, but frankly, I have no sympathy for the rest of the characters. I don't feel they are well sketched out. I can't even feel pain for Ray over his divorce. He just never comes across as a real protagonist. Without giving anything away, there aren't many characters to deal with in the first place. As far as plot, it is fairly believable, but, again, it is not big. Not at all like the Grisham of a few books ago when I would actually spend a few minutes during the day trying to figure out where Mr. G. was going to take me next. Many small things in "The Summons" made me want to throw the book on the floor in frustration. There are so many strings pulled for Ray to attend rare meetings and then our Ray Atlee, as one reviewer said, and I kept thinking, leaves his small, smart car unattended, many times with the loot in the trunk! And to see if the money is counterfeit, Ray takes it to casinos to see if he will get caught with it instead of taking it to the 7-11 and having a bill or two scanned there. I've been vascillating on a rating for this book from zero to four and back again. It's hard to give one of my favorite writers a smashing blow on the head, but maybe Mr. Grisham needs to know that I expect more from him than he gave me in "The Summons". I expect him to write like, well............ like John Grisham!
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