Rating: 
Summary: You are summoned to read this one!
Review: Virginia yuppie lawyer is summoned by his father, the small-town judge. The old man is a political fixture and social pillar of this small-pond, Mississippi town. He and his estranged brother meet at the judge's home only to find him DOA. No last words are shared, no forgiveness, no regrets, but Dad seems to have been hoarding a very special message for his sons. A secret so very, very peculiar in his study and personal sanctuary..... millions in cash! Where did it come from? Who should they tell? What should they do with it? Here is another family who finds that great inheritance just isn't what it is cracked-up to be. The ending may be predictable, but dear reader doesn't realize the moral dilemma until the very last chapter.Grisham steps up to the plate and bats yet another one right out of the park! He is now the Sultan of Literary Swat.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Best Grisham
Review: Not the best Grisham book. The storyline is o.k. but in my mind I was always a page or two ahead. Usually Grisham can keep you in suspense until the very end. His courtroom books are his best. I hope he returns to it for his next installment.
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Summary: thin plot, ok pace....not the best, but good
Review: A far cry from the legal dramas that one can expect from Grirsham. A fairly thin plots with a flood of turning points in the end. Good narrative style as in other books of his, but the plot is not sufficient enough to keep a quick pace. Nevertheless, it is a story with few characters well told and leaves a feeling of existence of divine justice after one has read the book...One certainly expects a much better plot from Grisham and this book alone should not be held against him. There seems to be a slight change in his plot development methods from "painted house". Maybe the next book will tell. One can hope that it is better than "the summons". Overall, a good read, nothing to be really excited about....one for the lazier weekends..
Rating: 
Summary: Boooooooooooooooring
Review: I've read almost everything by John Grisham. His early books were excellent. Some disappointed a bit, but still were quite a reading. This was the first one I could not finish. The endless trips to casinos and warehouses, all the same dejavu all over again...
Sorry, Mr. Grisham, you had to drag youself through this. Hope, you can afford to retire now.
Rating:
Summary: A tale of Morality!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: A real disappointment -- Where is Grisham?
Review: I've always been a great Grisham fans and found this book extremely disappointing. There was basically no plot at all, and the whole book could've been condensed to 10 pages telling the same story.
I had to struggle through the book and as I reached the end, I really wondered where the ending of the story was.
Where has the real Grisham gone????
Rating:
Summary: bookworm
Review: Another Grisham disappointment: predictable, slow, anticlimactic. It appears that Grisham is simply fulfilling his book contract as he laughs all the way to the bank.
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Summary: A Modern Fable
Review: Quite a range of opinion about this novel, I see. Personally, I enjoyed it. As others have indicated, the premise and plot are rather basic, yet I found myself compelled to follow the mystery to its conclusion. Even stayed up late to finish it, which I hardly ever do. He could have taken this any number of ways--indeed the average mystery writer spends most of a story leading us down false paths in order to deliver a surprise ending based on something that was briefly mentioned on page six--but, instead of being predictably unpredictable, Grisham actually delivers what we sort of suspected right at the start. I have to admire that. The twist--and what makes this fable-like--however, lies not in the solving of the puzzle, but in the motivation of the antagonist. As in any good fable, there is a moral here--and a poetic kind of justice. That's not something you find in your typical novel of suspense. Incidentally, I found the protagonist's challenge in dealing with the logistics of moving and hiding three million dollars to be totally believeable, as well as a bit humorous. I've on occasion pondered what I would do if I found a big bag of cash--say, some drug dealer's profits dumped in haste--and have decided it's a sticky problem. How do you explain sudden wealth? Where do you keep the money? Is it traceable? Will someone steal it? Did someone see you find it? Should you turn it in and hope for a reward? It's not that easy to figure out. Same goes for winning that [$$$] lottery. How will you really spend your days?
Rating: 
Summary: The Summons...........
Review: Well, to be honest, this is my first time reading a book by John Grisham. Not bad, not bad at all. An easy and fast paced read.
I see why most people compare Brad Meltzer to Mr. Grisham. Well, here's the skinny on "The Summons." Law professor Ray Atlee is summoned by his ailing father to discuss his father's estate. Reluctantly, Ray concedes but is in for a surprise when he arrives in Mississippi only to find that his ailing father is now dead! To make the situation more tense, is the discovery of 3 million dollars in his father's house. Albeit his father had a respectable occupation, it was impossible to think that the old man could accumulate that kind of cash during his tenure as a judge. Just as things couldn't possibly get any worse, Ray's brother forrest, who happnes to be the black sheep of the family, arrives at the scene and starts asking questions about their father's death and the future of their father's estate. Ray being the eldest and more responsible of the two is deemed the Executor of the will per their father's wishes. Ray explains this to his younger brother Forrest who concedes with the will. What Ray doesn't tell his younger sibling is that there is 3 million dollars in question found in their father's house. Instead of being truthful with Forrest, Ray takes it upon himself to conceal the whereabouts of the money, only to find that the old adage "Money is the root of all evil", is diffinitely true. I'd say, read it if you can get your hands on it! A very good read! Got cash? Get the book! :P
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing for Grisham fans
Review: Grisham's newest book "the summons" is a sad waist of time. You get the feeling reading the book that the author had to write a book but had nothing really to write about. The story never really begins, there is no suspense and questions and scenarios in the book get repeated so many times that the reader experiences a constant Desja vú. The plot is non existence and the way it unfolds is a boring and an uninteresting storytelling. You wait for 280 pages for something to happen and when it dose you know you have been tricked into reading ... As a reader of most of Grisham's book I was very disappointed. The book is far from his best and could have been written by a mediocre ... which was trying to write a Grisham style novel. But the sad part is that maybe it was written by Grisham himself, trying to write like himself - but some writers disorder has maid the outcome a disaster. The point is you expect more from an author that has shown the capability and talent to accomplice outstanding pieces - but the summons is everything but one of those.
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