Rating: 
Summary: What a bore
Review: Grisham has committed the ultimate author sin. He has written a totally BORING book. Although I liked the basic premise of sons -vs- father (judge) and even the money plot (although overused) might have been interesting. But Grisham just goes on and on about absolutely nothing. There was almost no plot to this story and his narrative had me yawning away. I will not recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A thriller but no courtroom drama
Review: The Summons was supposed to signal John Grisham's return to the legal thriller. There are few courtroom scenes, but many lawyers. Rather Grisham's latest tackles human character. What would you do if you came home, found your father dead and $3 million sitting in the corner? That's the plot that entraps protagonist Ray Atlee.Greed and how a human handles the opportunity for sudden wealth has been a staple in some of Grisham's works (ie, Runaway Jury). While there is no big court case here, Grisham puts Ray and his brother Forrest on trial in real life. It produces a not so shocking but interesting ending. This is hardly a tour de force. It is not as thick as other Grisham thrillers, and because of that, The Summons lacks character and plot depth. However, it still has that Grisham stamp. Fans will be satisfied.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Summons this book.
Review: I think Mr Grisham spent to much time writing Skipping Christmas, he forgot this book. Like the other readers, I didn't care what happen to the lead character Ray. The story line was dull from start to finish. I hope he and other authors stop rushing to put out books that don't add up to much.
Rating: 
Summary: I was disappointed
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: The Last Straw
Review: 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!!
Rating:
Summary: Writing for Profit
Review: THE SUMMONS is not up to what we expect from Grisham. Definite feeling he had to fulfill his contract with the publisher and dashed something off. The characters, with the exception of Harry Rex, were poorly developed. The idea of Forrest, a drug addict, turning away from 3 million dollars as a "test" for his brother just wasn't credible.
Hopefully Grisham will wait until he has the time to develop a heart stopper like THE FIRM or THE CLIENT before publishing again.
Rating: 
Summary: What's the Scoop?
Review: Both this and the new Elmore Leonard book "Tishomingo Blues: A Novel" are set largely in Mississippi, involve casinos in Tunica, Miss., and have as a plot element Nathan Bedford Forrest! What's the scoop? Are these very different authors interacting on a different plane ala' Rupert Sheldrake's "morphic resonance?"
Rating:
Summary: What would you do?
Review: As I read this book, I balanced between mentally shouting at Ray to do the right thing and thinking of what I might do under the same circumstances. While I watched Ray work his way through a maze of figuring out who to trust and turn to, I thought of many alternatives to his choices. The book contains some elements of family history that could have been explored more fully. There is also some unfinished business, but I cannot envision an interesting sequel. Grisham gives us a platform to vicariously live out a dream of unexpected wealth, while building to a quasi-resolution that seems obvious once revealed. I enjoyed the book, but it will go quickly. I want more of a challenge from the next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Good idea but a two-chapter story stretched to far too many
Review: Although no author can continually be at their best, this just isn't worthy of Grisham's abilities. The kernel idea of this story is good (judge-father of estranged sons "summons" them to set his house in order before he dies, unexplainable hidden money, history of brothers.) However, the story unfolds too slowly with little real difference for far too many pages. The characters could have been interesting but aren't fleshed out. The origin of the money seemed thrown in like an impatient throwing in of the towel. Here's to next time
Rating:
Summary: Summons
Review: Who wrote this? This is the weakest Grisham book I have read and I generally like everything he has written. I kept waiting for it to grab me and it never did. And the end where he attempted to tie it all together was .... I was very disappointed. I got the feeling he had a deadline or book quota to meet so he just cranked it out knowing it would sell anyway. To make matters worse I was very disappointed that the publisher would allow a book to go out with so many spelling errors and mixed up words in sentences. In this day of computers and spell check there is no excuse for that.
| 
